New School In Superior Sustains $1 Million Fire, Explosion Damage

Fire and an explosion have caused an estimated $1 million in damages to an elementary school still currently under construction - set to open next school year.  Fire officials and authorities were on the scene late Sunday night at Cooper Elementary in Superior, battling a fire of unknown origin.

While the firefighters were scrambling to put the fire out, an explosion made the situation more severe.  While no injuries were reported, the fire and explosion took a long time to put out and firefighters were still at the scene in the middle of the night.

Work on the new Cooper Elementary was started about a year ago - in an effort to replace the existing school building.  Work had progressed and the timeline called for the new building to be open this fall at the start of the 2018-2019 school year.  The existing Cooper building would be torn down over the summer, leaving only the new facility.

At this time, school officials aren't sure of what effect on the timeline last nights fire and explosion would have on the plans to open the building to students in September.

The School District released the following comment about the event this morning:

As you no doubt have heard, there was a fire and explosion at the construction site for the new Cooper building last night. We are grateful to the Superior Fire Department who responded to the situation so quickly and effectively, and thankful that no one was injured.

We are working with the Superior Fire Marshal, the appropriate authorities, and our insurance company to assess the damages and ascertain the cause of the fire. We will share more information as soon as it becomes available