Lightning from Saturday's storm managed to cause a fire at the Dolgeville Central School District. Officials say the damage will not delay the opening of school. But as Melissa Krull explains, the incident, coupled with a lot of construction projects, has made the run up to September extremely busy.
DOLGEVILLE, N.Y. -- When Dolgeville students return to school in a few weeks, it'll look a little different and not just on the outside.
"We've completely reconstructed the cafeteria, both elementary and high school, and the kitchen which was original to the 1956 building," said Dolgeville Central School District Superintendent Christine Reynolds. "We also did all of our girl's locker room suite, our boy's locker room suite, music room."
And after Saturday's storm, school officials might have more work to worry about. A fire started in the school's green room over the weekend. The room was mainly used to store theater props.
"The fire we determined was actually caused by lightning, which hit outside the building and traveled through an air duct and came in contact with the wires. So, it basically formed sort of a slow fuse into the air handling unit," Reynolds said.
She said responders put the fire out quickly.
"I really credit them with keeping the damage to a minimum. It could've been much worse," Reynolds said.
Still, the room has smoke and water damage.
"There's a great deal of damage on top of the air handling unit on the duct work," Reynolds said.
But officials are happy that the setbacks won't delay opening day at the school. The superintendent said the room is being tested for asbestos. She says the results will come back Thursday.