Faulty A/C forces schools to evacuate

By Chad Ruiz
St. Tammany News
Published on Wednesday, August 27, 2008 10:38 AM CDT

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Children at the Tchefuncte Middle and Pontchartrain Elementary schools in Mandeville had an exciting start to the school week Monday thanks to a smoky air-conditioning blower-motor.

“We got a call shortly after 8 a.m. reporting smoke in the building,” Chief Rick Tassin with Fire Protection District 4 said. “We sent every unit we had to the school.”

Tassin said crews arrived to find the school’s children and teachers already outside the buildings.

“They did the right thing and followed the right procedures,” Tassin said of the two joined buildings at 1500 W. Causeway Approach.

After crews arrived, they immediately scoured the building and found a blower motor on one of the A/C units shorting out, belting smoke into sections of the school.

Tassin attributed the faulty motor to a possible electrical surge.

School resumed shortly after the ordeal while fire crews worked to rid certain sections of the buildings of the smoke.

No children or staff member was harmed in the incident, Tassin said.

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