Why Newton South High School Was Evacuated: Principal

NEWTON, MA — Complications on account of cold weather prompted Newton South High School to evacuate Tuesday afternoon.

"What started in the morning as a major water leak due to a frozen, split coil in a heating unit became in the afternoon a short in an electrical box in the basement boiler room due to the water, prompting the fire alarm system to sound and forcing an evacuation into the cold weather around 1 pm," wrote the principal on the school's PTSO website.

Students were outside for about 15 minutes as the fire officials assessed the situation and determined that it was safe to return.

Students in the "9,000" building where the boiler room was situated was deemed not safe for a bit longer, wrote the principal.

Eventually, this was cleared too, and students and teachers in 9000s were also allowed to return to their classroom prior to the end of the school day.

Students and staff responded promptly (if reluctantly) and the evacuation was very smooth. In the end, painful, but hopefully there are no lasting effects from the cold. In case you were wondering, had the fire department not been able to allow us to re-enter we would have moved all students to the middle schools and dismissed from there.

Police and Fire responded to the alarm and were discussing a second potential evacuation just before dismissal time on reported recommendation by the electrician on scene. They looked into a shelter for anyone not headed home during dismissal would be the gym, according to radio transmissions. By 3:05 p.m. the power company had reportedly arrived at the school.

This is a breaking news update.

Photo by Jenna Fisher/Patch