Hundreds of N.Y. Students Evacuated Due to Barn Fire
Source The Daily Star, Oneonta, N.Y.
Feb. 27--About 450 students were evacuated from Sidney elementary and middle school classrooms to the high school gymnasium when fire broke out in a pole barn, the superintendent said Tuesday.
A tractor was destroyed, Superintendent Bill Christensen of the Sidney Central School District said. The origin may have been in the tractor's battery, he said, but an investigation continues.
The barn had smoke damage, and investigators will determine the extent today, the superintendent said. He credited Sidney firefighters with putting out the blaze quickly.
An employee walking across a parking Tuesday afternoon reported seeing smoke to the office, where staff called 911, Christensen said. When the fire was called in at 12:48 p.m., the district followed its evacuation plan, he said, and pupils were back in class at about 1:10 p.m.
Copyright 2013 - The Daily Star, Oneonta, N.Y.
