Crime & Safety

Smoking Wire Forces Brief Evacuation of RHS

Cause of malfunction determined to be a circuit breaker, school officials say.

A smoking electrical wire caused by a malfunctioning circuit breaker forced a brief evacuation of Ridgewood High School Wednesday morning.

According to a message sent to parents from Superintendent Daniel Fishbein, school officials said a wire in the basement area of the high school overheated, smoking the wire casing and tripping alarms.

Students were evacuated in an "orderly manner" at around 10 a.m. and returned to classes about 45 minutes later.

Find out what's happening in Ridgewood-Glen Rockwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"It was determined that the cause of the problem was a malfunctioning circuit breaker," Fishbein said. "The damaged wiring and the circuit breaker are in the process of being replaced."  

There were no reports of injury.

Find out what's happening in Ridgewood-Glen Rockwith free, real-time updates from Patch.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.