Smoking Backpack Found at Chatham High School, Situation Deemed Safe

CHATHAM, NJ — Early this morning, Chatham Police and Fire received a call about a smoking backpack found in a second floor classroom at Chatham High School, which caused students and faculty at both the high school and Lafayette School to briefly evacuate.

Officers arrived to the school at 9:26 a.m. and found a black backpack outside the building near the auditorium. A maintenance worker removed the bag from a the classroom and brought it outside, police said.

All students and faculty from the high school and Lafayette School were safely evacuated from the buildings.

Officers spoke to the student who owned the backpack, and it quickly established that the smoke was the result of an apparent malfunctioning battery device inside the backpack that's used to recharge a cell phone, police said. The device contained three batteries.

The backpack was brought to a grass area away from the building and officers and a Morris County Sheriff's Department Bomb Squad technician rendered the scene safe.

At no time were any students or staff at either school in immediate danger as a result of this incident, police said.

Students from both schools returned to their classrooms to continue the school day.

Photo courtesy of Chatham Township Police Department