Crime & Safety

Crews Assessing Extent of Fire Damage at Wheeling High School

The fire occurred late Tuesday afternoon.

Officials are still assessing the extent of the damage at Wheeling High School from a fire that occurred Tuesday afternoon, but district officials don't anticipate the damage delaying the start of school on Wednesday, August 21.

Wheeling High School Principal Angela Sisi said Wheeling Fire Department officials arrived at the school around 4:15 p.m. "to contain a minor fire in the building.

"The fire department responded swiftly and no one was injured," Sisi said.

She added that while the exact cause is unknown, officials think a tar kettle parked by the main entrance of the school caught fire and spread to the building. Sisi said the tar kettle was onsite due to a scheduled summer facilities project.

"While district officials are working with the fire department to assess the damages, we do not anticipate that this will impact the start of school," said Sisi.
 
Classes are set to start Aug. 21, according to the Wheeling High School website.

"While this is an unfortunate situation, we are grateful that no one was hurt," said Sisi.

Venetia Miles, director of community relations for District 214 said at the scene that summer activities were being held on school grounds at the time the fire was identified, but both students and staff were safely evacuated. 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.