Fire in Fenwick High School parking garage blamed on electric vehicle

A fire that damaged at least five cars in the parking garage at Fenwick High School in west suburban Oak Park on Monday afternoon was caused by an electric vehicle parked in the facility, village officials said on Tuesday.

The fire started around 1:30 p.m. on Monday in the parking garage at Fenwick, at 505 Washington Blvd. 

"The ignition source of the fire was an electric vehicle parked on the garage's third floor," village spokesman Dan Yopchick said in a statement on Tuesday.

Village officials confirmed that the school was briefly evacuated because of the fire, which was put out within 15 minutes. No injuries were reported, and the fire did not cause any structural damage to the garage, but at least five cars were damaged.

Students said they heard a loud boom while they were in class.

Videos recorded by witnesses showed dark smoke coming from the third-floor windows of the parking garage. A Fenwick student also shared pictures from inside the garage.

Fenwick student Sean Soriano said his car was on the third floor. His car was not damaged, but he said he had a little bit of smoke inside his car.

"I was like, did a car accident happen in there? It looks like totally like someone planted a bomb inside the car, and I was like, 'Wow,' because there's just three cars just fully burned," he said.

Classes resumed as normal for students on Tuesday. School officials said the upper levels of the garage would remain closed after the fire.