Gas Odor Prompts Brief Student Evacuations At School In Vernon

VERNON, CT — Students at Vernon's Lake Street School were briefly evacuated on Thursday morning while authorities investigated the odor of gas, police said.

The call came in at 8:24 a.m., police said.

A parent on the curb directly across from the school said a motorcade of buses took students to nearby Vernon Center Middle School. School administrators said it was a precautionary measure.

A Lake Street School staff member smelled natural gas inside the school building, administrators said. Facilities and maintenance staff members, police officers, firefighters and a crew from Eversourse Energy were at the scene investigating. Administrators said responders "did not find any combustible gas or gas leak in or outside the school."

The source turned out to be a faulty valve on an oven burner, administrators said.

Emergency crews began leaving the scene at about 9:30 a.m. and students returned to the school sortly after.