Students and staff safe after kitchen fire at SPHS

One oven sustained burn damage after a kitchen fire at South Putnam High School late-Monday morning.

Courtesy South Putnam Schools

After what was a brief scare at South Putnam High School, students and staff are safe after a small kitchen fire prompted an evacuation.

According to statements provided by Superintendent Bruce Bernhardt during a call from the Banner Graphic Monday afternoon, students in A lunch were just sitting down to eat their meals at approximately 11:15 a.m. when an oven in the kitchen began to shoot flames and issue smoke. Staff reacted quickly and used extinguishers to put out the fire, which Bernhardt described as "short-lived."

Bernhardt said that administrators and other staff were then alerted to the incident, and students were escorted to Central Elementary as the Cloverdale Township Volunteer Fire Department and the Greencastle Fire Department arrived on the scene. GFD was disregarded soon after, but CTVFD then inspected the kitchen and the rest of the building, according to Fire Chief Kerry Shepherd. CTVFD checked the air quality and allowed students and staff to return to the building at about 11:45 a.m.

In what seemed to be an efficient case of teamwork, Bernhardt relayed that Food Service Director Lori Boyce arranged to have frozen food cooked at Central Elementary for students to eat.

Ultimately, teamwork is what kept everyone safe and accounted for during the incident.

"Everybody worked quickly, and everybody was safe," Bernhardt told the Banner Graphic. "Everything went off like clockwork during the evacuation, and it all worked out as we expected it would."

Retardant residue is left over on the kitchen floor after staff used extinguishers to put out the fire.

Courtesy South Putnam Schools

The fire was caused by a malfunction of the oven's electrics, but it was the only item that was damaged.

Bernhardt said that the kitchen will be cleaned soon, and that he anticipated the space would be approved by the Putnam County Health Department by Tuesday morning. The cleanup will mainly address retardant material left from the extinguishers that were used.

"I want to thank the fire department for getting to us so quickly, and I want to especially thank our cafeteria staff and administrators," Bernhardt concluded. "Everybody has to pull together, and we did so to make sure our kids were safe."