Electrical Surge Triggers Fire Alarm at Woodrow Wilson Middle School

In an apparent repeat of an incident that occurred in November, a blown electrical transformer and overloaded power line caused an outage at Woodrow Wilson Middle School, triggering smoke and a fire alarm that sent excited students out of the building before the usual end of their school day.

 The outage also affected the Board of Education’s administrative offices across the street at 311 Hunting Hill Ave.

 Asst. School Supt. Barbara Senges said officials’ first hint of a problem was the outage, which occurred at approximately 1 p.m.

 Woodrow Wilson’s principal, Dr. Charles E. Marqua, said when the outage first occurred, students were allowed to finish their lunches, then told to get their coats. The plan was to lead them to the gymnasium.

 Then, shortly before 2 p.m., the school’s fire alarm went off.

 Students were led outside and eventually down to the parking area across from the administration offices where they waited in a misty rain for their buses to come pick them up.

 The normal departure time for middle-school students is 2:41 p.m.  By 3 p.m., the last of the buses were leaving. Students appeared happy and excited at the early end to their day.

 Back at the rear of the school in the utility room, a small separate brick building,  city electricians huddled and looked at the gray metal panels housing the school’s electrical works.

 Near the doorway stood Kendall Jackson, director of facilities for the schools. He told Patch the problem appears to have been almost identical to the one that triggered a similar incident in November.

A transformer in the vicinity of the Stop & Shop supermarket on East Main Street Extension apparently blew, causing a surge of power on the line leading to the school, he said. He attributed the transformer problem to weather-related causes.

Jackson expressed confidence Woodrow Wilson would be back in session Thursday.