Staff Report
The Brattleboro Reformer
BRATTLEBORO, Vt. — Academy School was briefly evacuated Thursday afternoon just before Brattleboro firefighters put out a small fire in the art room.
Brattleboro Fire Chief D. Michael Bucossi said crews responded to the school at 1:34 p.m. after receiving a first-alarm for smoke in the hallway.
“What they found was, in the art room is a walk-in closet and in that storage area is a kiln. A roll of art paper had been inadvertently leaned up against the kiln and that caught fire,” he said. “The sprinkler head in the closet put the fire out. We had some smoke removal to do, firefighters helped school maintenance staff clean out a hallway and three classrooms of water.”
Firefighters had the incident under control in about 10 minutes and permitted students to return in less than a half hour.
On the school’s website, Academy Principal Andy Paciulli said the kiln in the art room malfunctioned and began smoking, triggering the fire alarm and sprinkler system.
“The building was immediately evacuated, the fire department was called to secure the scene. Once the fire department indicated the building was safe, all students were returned to their classrooms to resume classes,” he said. “There was not a class in the Art Room when this occurred and all students and staff are safe. School will be in session and on time on Friday.”
Bucossi said it was a very orderly fire drill and the administration had a very good handle on the situation.
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