Havre de Grace Schools Evacuated

UPDATED (1:30 p.m.)—Students and staff at all four Havre de Grace-area schools were temporarily evacuated shortly after noon on Monday.

Havre de Grace Police spokesman PFC Jeff Gilpin said the school was cleared as a precaution in relation to . Four middle and three high schools in the Bel Air area were evacuated Monday due to a suspicious phone call placed Monday morning.

There were no threats made specifically to Havre de Grace and no suspicious items were found. All four schools in Havre de Grace were evacuated as a precaution as directed by Harford County Public Schools, according to Gilpin.

"We have no bomb threats here in Havre de Grace. What we did was all precautionary," Gilpin said. "All school activities are returning to normal."

Harford County Public Schools' Manager of Communications Teri Kranefeld told Patch that Havre de Grace schools were not ordered to evacuate by the school system, rather the schools practiced fire drill procedure while police did a scan of the buildings under the direction of the school resource officer.

A "fire pre-alert" message from the Susquehanna Hose Company noting activity at 700 Congress Ave.—the address of —was sent out at 12:03 p.m. Monday. Susquehanna Hose Company Chief Scott Hurst said there was no dispatch for his crews to report to the building after the initial pre-alert. Students and staff were returning to the building as of 12:22 p.m. Monday, according to a high school staff member.

Another "fire pre-alert" message was sent out at 8:21 a.m. Monday sending equipment to . Aberdeen Fire Department trucks left the school by 8:30 a.m. The activity at Aberdeen High School was in response to an odor of gas in one of the classrooms. Kranefeld said Aberdeen High School was not ordered to evacuate.

Patch will provide updates as information becomes available.