
Photo From Derby FD On Facebook
Fire crews at Derby High School on Oct 13.
DERBY — Derby High School closed early Monday after part of the school lost power and a staffer smelled something burning.
Classes are scheduled to return Tuesday morning.
A staffer reported a burning smell at about 8:30 a.m. Monday in the lower level of the high school. The lights flickered and parts of the building lost power.
The staffer initially suspected it had something to do with the heating system.
Further investigation showed the problem was with the UI electric lines that carry power to the high school on Chatfield Street.
“We discovered the problem was on Coon Hollow Road — a fuse blew on a line that supplies power to the high school,” Superintendent Matthew Conway said. “There are three lines that supply power from UI to the school, and a fuse on one of those lines blew, and the other two transformers were only receiving partial power.”
Coon Hollow Road is behind the high school. The building and the road are separated by a hill and wooded area.
“There’s speculation that what caused the fuse to blow to cause the power outage could have been wet leaves or even a squirrel,” Conway said.
The decision to close the school and send students home was made about 9:15 a.m. because the fire department at the time was still trying to track down the source of the problem.
Students waited in the Derby Middle School gymnasium across the parking lot from the high school until buses arrived to pick them up around 10 a.m.
Derby police, the fire department, a fire marshal, a building inspector and UI crews all responded to the scene.
Conway said UI repaired the blown fuse and power was restored to the school.
The fire marshal checked out the interior of the building. The electrical or burning smell was reported in an area where the lights were flickering, Conway said.
Monday’s incident was the second time this month the high school closed early due to an electrical problem.
On Oct. 13 a tree fell on Coon Hollow Road, snagging an electrical line. Power was knocked out at the middle school, too.
The high school’s emergency lighting system malfunctioned due to a power surge during the incident, Conway said.
The backup lighting system is old and replacement parts are tough to find, Conway said, so the board of education has started the process to upgrade the system. The backup lights worked during Monday’s incident.
Ansonia High School also dismissed early Monday, after the fire department received several reports about a natural gas odor on Ansonia’s hilltop neighborhoods.
Ansonia Mayor David Cassetti’s office issued a statement on social media explaining that a company called Tennessee Gas Pipeline, LLC was performing routine maintenance on the company’s gas lines one town over in Woodbridge.
No one told Ansonia government the work was happening, Cassetti said in the post.