There was a buzz on the Burlington, MA: Residents’ Network Facebook feed regarding electrical issues at Pine Glen Elementary School on Tuesday, September 6th.
BNEWS spoke with Burlington Public Schools Director Of Operations Bob Cunha who stated around 5:00pm a call came in from the head custodian of a smell inside of Pine Glen Elementary School. A heating unit in the cafeteria was found smoking.
“Simultaneously the Fire Department was attending to a fire on a pole outside the school,” said Cunha.
The Fire Department was retrieved and they learned that a transformer blew on the pole causing it to catch fire, leading to a partial power outage in the school.
“Because we lost some voltage lights were flickering and whatnot,” Cunha said.
As a precaution after school students and teachers were evacuated into the parking lot by Burlington Police and Fire. Parents were notified and the students were picked up.
It was determined that without enough power to the heating unit, it began to compensate and melted itself causing the smoke. The breaker to the heating unit was shut off as was all power to the school. The electricity was down for about two and a half hours. Eversource was called and repaired the issue. The voltage was tested and all was good.
“The Fire Department cleared the building, everything was good, there was no actual fire inside of the building,” stated Cunha.
Superintendent Conti sent out an email Tuesday evening regarding the incident noting the BPS electrician will be checking all of the electric motors to make sure that they are functioning properly. Pine Glen Elementary School opened on time the following day.
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