Fire damages church, causes power outages in west suburb of Chicago
DOWNERS GROVE, Ill. (CBS) -- A fire damaged a church and knocked out power to around 1,500 ComEd customers Monday morning in west suburban Downers Grove.
ComEd officials said a car hit a pole with a transformer on top, causing a fire around 6:15 a.m. It sparked what a church spokesperson said they believe was a surge inside the building, which may have started the blaze.
The fire damaged the roof of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church on 63rd Street.
"I'm told that the fire started on the back of the building back there, which both our electric service, and unfortunately, the gas main were, and when the electric fire started, the gas main blew," said Bill Merchantz, the church president.
No one was inside the building when the fire started.
Downers Grove firefighters said they put out the flames with help from some neighboring fire departments. Officials said most of the damage was focused on the part of the church that holds a school. Except for some water damage, the sanctuary and the part that houses the grade school was in good condition. However, the school's preschool facility had the most damage. The roof caved in during firefighters' response.
"It's heartbreaking. I mean, the first thing we saw was the roof caved in right where his classroom was. The whole roof was just caved in over it," said Jonathan Vanwyngaarden, whose son attends the church's preschool. "I know his teacher said pretty much everything in her classroom is gone."
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church had recently celebrated 45 years of educating students.
As of 9 a.m., ComEd had restored power to all but about 200 customers.
The school is assessing the damage and hopes to come up with a plan to open for the first day of school on Aug. 21. The school will hold a meeting Monday evening to discuss with parents what happens next.
Editor's Note: ComEd originally reported that approximately 130,000 customers lost power as a result of this fire. The utility later clarified that only about 1,500 customers lost power.
