Classes were cancelled at the Estevan Comprehensive School on Friday after smoke was detected at the building.
In a letter sent to parents Friday morning, principal Nathan Johnson said that out of concern for safety, classes would be called off for the day. Students are expected to be back in class Monday.
“When our caretakers got here, there was some smoke in the building. They did a check themselves, but weren’t able to find anything, so they called in the fire department,” said Johnson.
Members of the Estevan Fire Rescue Service were called to the school at 6:50 a.m. due to the smell of smoke inside the school, and spent nearly 90 minutes at the scene. Crews talked to the staff, then tried to locate the source of the smoke.
“Upon arrival, there was no smoke encountered, but the smell of hot electrical was present at that time. Due to the size of the school, we had a hard time pinpointing the area," said Fire Chief Dale Feser.
After an hour on site, the fire department located a hot bearing in an air return portion of the HVAC system in the boiler room of the school’s basement.
Johnson noted the smoke left a haze in the building.
While the situation occurred before the start of the school day, and firefighters were out of the school well before 9 a.m., Johnson said they kept students out of the school today because they wanted to give the school time to properly ventilate.
Both Feser and Johnson praised the staff for how they handled the situation.
