Crater Stadium home locker room left with smoke damage from ice machine fire
DOVER (WJER) (March 8, 2023) – Dover School District officials are thanking firefighters for their prompt response to a fire in the home locker room at Crater Stadium this morning.
There were no injuries.
Dover Fire Captain Brooks Ross says a couple of district workers first got to the fire involving a large ice machine and mostly got it out with extinguishers.
He says firefighters were called around 10:15 a.m. and arrived at a lot of black smoke coming from the locker room under the bleachers but quickly finished the job.
Ross says the fire damage, which included melted coolers, was limited to the room with the ice machine.
However, there is significant smoke damage to the rest of the building, which includes coaches’ offices and training rooms with practice equipment and jerseys.
“…unsure exactly what the cost of the damage is going to be. It could be kind of significant as far as some cleanup,” Ross said.
Superintendent Karie McCrate says the home locker room will be closed until further notice while the district moves to get it cleaned.
“We need to get the professionals in there to make sure that it’s safe and healthy for kids to be in there again,” McCrate said.
Ross says he doesn’t know if that could be done by the start of track season.
He says the cause of the ice machine fire is under investigation.
