Crews at fire-damaged Swiftwater school wipe down everything

Spraying, sweeping, wiping and scrubbing, an army of workers continued Wednesday to clean up fire damage at Swiftwater Elementary Center in a bid to get the school open by next week.

"We'd of course love to have the building open by Monday, but we won't open it until we can be sure it's healthy for our students and staff," said Pocono Mountain School District spokeswoman Wendy Frable.

About 125 workers from the emergency cleanup company Servpro sprayed nearly every item inside certain classrooms with a special solution to remove dust and any particles of soot that may have trickled down from the roof.

They arrived Monday, a day after a lightning strike ignited a fire on the school's roof.

Removing soot is usually of chief importance when it comes to cleaning up fire damage because soot is a carcinogen. But parents of Swiftwater Elementary Center students can rest assured, Frable and Servpro workers said, because a metal firewall beneath the roof's shingles essentially caught almost all the debris and soot and prevented it from reaching the rest of the school. Frable said the school's ventilation system was off when the fire started.

Still, workers took pains to wipe down walls and lockers with special sponges. Workers also removed the thousands of corkboard tiles that compose the ceilings above many classrooms. Corkboard is a porous material, and cleanup crews believed it wise to replace the tiles because hazardous particles might collect in them.

Servpro was most concerned with water damage that the building had sustained, but workers suctioned the big puddles left behind by firefighters putting out the blaze.

Many industrial-strength air purifiers were working to remove particles and a faint burnt scent from the air. Frable said school officials will have air quality test results this week.

The cost of the fire damage still hasn't been figured out, she said. A roofing company will eventually rebuild the roof, but the status of the roof will have no bearing on whether officials decide to open next Monday. It's the cleanup inside the schools halls and classes that counts.