Fire evacuates Mattie Lively – Statesboro Herald

A faulty transformer caused an electrical fire and evacuation at Mattie Lively Elementary School Wednesday morning, but no one was injured and classes resumed as normal after about an hour.
“We had a little bit of excitement this morning,” Principal Jennifer Herrington said as she left the school Wednesday afternoon. “The kids thought it was a regular fire drill.”
Assistant principal Carolyn Vasilatos was outside the school after her bus shift when she noticed sparks in the grass near the school campus, said Hayley Greene, public relations and marketing specialist. Bulloch County School Board Marketing.
Looking closer, Vasilatos noticed that a transformer on the northwest corner of the property was “glowing,” she said. Vasilatos notified the office and someone called 911, Herrington said.
Statesboro firefighters arrived on scene around 7:30 a.m. and contacted Georgia Power authorities, who also responded, Greene said. They inspected the transformer and the school, then left, she said.
But after school administrators noticed “a strong electrical odor and smoke coming from a classroom computer,” they began emergency fire evacuation procedures and called the fire department back from Statesboro to school around 8:10 a.m., she said.
“A power surge resulting from a faulty transformer caused an electrical short in the computer,” Greene said. “School officials unplugged all electrical equipment and closed all electrical panels to prevent another surge once power was restored.”
Herrington said 12 computers were damaged and will need to be replaced.
Fortunately, no one was injured and the students all reacted as if it was a routine fire drill, she said.
“They took everything calmly. They didn't panic or lose control,” she said. The teachers were “all very professional, they followed all the evacuation procedures and kept the children very calm.”
Once power was restored and the school passed a fire inspection, students returned to class and the day continued “as if it never happened,” Herrington said. Students returned to class around 8:45 a.m. and Georgia Power restored power to the school at 9:15 a.m., Greene said.
“All students, faculty and staff followed the established fire evacuation plan,” she said. “Fire evacuations are practiced throughout the year. In fact, the state requires schools to conduct two such drills within the first 10 days of school.”