Fire at Allentown High
Senior cafeteria to remain closed until next week
By Jennifer Kohlhepp
Staff Writer

A fire broke out in a kitchen at Allentown High School after school let out on Oct. 7. Vice Principal Constance Embley reported that faulty equipment in the senior cafeteria both started the fire and kept the blaze going longer than it should have. She said the fire started around 5:45 p.m.

“The grease fire in the senior cafeteria caused a tremendous amount of smoke,” Embley said. “People witnessed flames from outside. The alarms went off and the fire department responded.”
Allentown’s Hope Fire Company and Monmouth County’s fire inspector and health department responded to the blaze. Embley said officials determined “unintended cooking” caused the fire.
During the investigation, officials learned that cafeteria workers had been having trouble with a knob on one of the stoves.

“This was the first time we heard about it,” Embley said. Due to the faulty knob, the stove had not turned off properly.

Embley also reported that the hood above the stove, which is supposed to extinguish a fire, also did not work properly.

“The hood should have sprayed and retarded the fire,” Embley said, noting that it had recently been inspected and worked at that time.
“We have to see what went wrong,” she said, noting that it could have been a faulty fuse.
Embley also said, “It took going through all three fire extinguishers [in the area of the fire] to find the one to put out the grease fire.”
The high school will schedule a fire extinguisher training session for employees in the near future, according to Embley.

“We are really lucky that the amount of damage is minor,” she said. While the cafeteria has to be cleaned, the walls do not need painting. Embley said the faulty knob and hood would either be fixed or replaced. She also said the district has to replace the three used fire extinguishers.

The senior cafeteria will remain closed for the rest of the school week. The school will be closed on Columbus Day and the district hopes to reopen the cafeteria Oct. 13.

Embley said the high school would close half of the “old gym” for the seniors to use as a cafeteria in the meantime. She said the main cafeteria would serve all lunches and that the lunch period would be extended by 10 minutes to ensure that all students have enough time to get and eat their lunch.

“We already have trouble serving lunch in the two cafeterias,” Embley noted.
Superintendent of Schools Dick Fitzpatrick noted that Embley was still working in the school building when the fire broke out.

“Connie is often in the background,” he said. “She really deserves our thanks and praise. She was here when it happened because she is always here.”

Embley said the incident shook her. “I was happy that the building evacuated quickly,” she said. “My main concern was that everyone got out safely and no one got hurt.”