Hillsboro Primary School Uses SchoolReach During Fire

By Sarah AuBuchon
Suburban Journals

A new emergency evacuation plan was put to the test at Hillsboro Primary School Tuesday, as 880 kindergarten, first and second graders were evacuated after a small kitchen fire.

Assistant Superintendent Tom Muzzey said the fire started in a storage area off the kitchen around 12:50 p.m. There were no students in the cafeteria at the time.

"A cafeteria worker was entering a mechanical storage area and knocked an aerosol can off the shelf," Muzzey said. "The top broke off the can, which sprayed its contents. It landed near a gas water heater and the pilot light ignited the contents."Students stood outside the building for about 10 minutes, Muzzey said, then were relocated to the high school gym for the rest of the day.

"The whole evacuation went beautifully," he said. "We've been working on a new emergency plan and the principal and teachers executed it flawlessly. When I got there teachers were there with grade books taking roll. Teachers did an outstanding job with the kids."

Muzzey said parents were notified of the fire via the SchoolReach system, the same system used to reach parents during inclement weather.

Sheri Wolfe, like some other parents, picked up her 7-year-old daughter, Rachel, after being notified. She said she was also impressed with the way school officials handled the situation. "Everything was so organized," she said. "They even checked my ID even though a lot of people at the school know me. I had no reason to be concerned."

Muzzey didn't know the exact amount of damage, but said a restoration crew came in that night and the fire marshal approved classes to resume on Wednesday. The kitchen will not reopen until Monday.

Students were served sack lunches the rest of the week.

"We sent another message through the SchoolReach system notifying parents of the sack lunches," Muzzey said.