A fire broke out underneath the football-field bleachers at Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School on the afternoon of Saturday, December 2, melting a hole through the aluminum stands and damaging an athletic equipment storage container and its contents.

According to Detective Lieutenant Brian Donnelley of the Scotch Plains Police Department, emergency dispatchers received a 9-1-1 call at 2:30 p.m. from a jogger at the high school track. The fire, Donnelley said, originated from two plastic trash barrels that were underneath the closed bleachers.

No one was injured in the fire, and the school building received no damage. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. The high school, according to Principal David Heisey, Ed.D., is currently conducting its own investigation within the student body to determine the cause of the fire.

The Scotch Plains Police and Fire departments and the Union County Arson Squad and Crime Scene Unit were present at the scene. The arson squad took debris samples to determine whether any flammable agents were used to start the fire.

By the time the fire was extinguished, a section of the aluminum bleachers had melted, and the steel frame of the bleachers was scorched. The side of the steel storage container holding athletic equipment belonging to the track and field and football teams bowed out from the heat of the flames.

The heat from the fire also destroyed the majority of the contents of the container. "I would say that a conservative estimate is $40,000 worth of damage to the equipment that was in the storage containers. That's not including damage to the bleachers," said SPFHS track coach Jeff Koegel.

The football team's tackling dummies and other padded practice equipment were destroyed in the fire. The track and field team lost 39 poles used for the pole-vault, valued at approximately $300 each, along with the team's supply of javelins.

An official report of the damaged inventory and its costs is currently in progress. The results of the report will "hopefully be available very soon," said Heisey.

"The board's insurance will cover the majority of the damage. In addition, if we should find the individuals responsible for the fire, we will take legal action to recover any uncovered costs," said District Business Administrator Anthony Del Sordi.

Heisey explained that the district's insurance provider will hire a private investigator to go over the police and fire reports before the school will receive compensation.

According to Del Sordi, construction plans for the Turf-It project will carry on without delay.

At this point in time,   Heisey commented that it was too early to determine the repairs required for the bleachers. He added that he hoped only minor repairs to the melted sections of the aluminum bleachers were necessary to fix the damage.