A school in West Haven canceled classes on Friday after an incident with a squirrel led to a fire and power outage in the building.
May V. Carrigan Intermediate School lost power on Thursday morning when a squirrel came into contact with a power line and landed on a transformer, which led to a small fire in an unused area of the school, West Haven Public Schools said in a statement. Members of the West Haven Fire Department responded to handle the fire.
According to school officials, the building was evacuated. The school teaches grades 5 and 6.
“At no time was there any threat to the safety of students or staff. Everyone is safe and accounted for,” the district said.
The school had no power immediately following the fire because of a tripped breaker that was connected to a generator, school officials said. The building’s facilities team tried resetting the breaker, and students and staff were allowed to reenter the school.
School officials said power to the third floor was not restored after the reset. Students were dismissed early for the day before the district announced that classes would be canceled on Friday.
A new circuit breaker is expected to be installed over the weekend. Classes are expected to resume as normal on Monday.