Broken boiler forces Philipsburg-Osceola Area Middle School to evacuate

A broken boiler at Philipsburg-Osceola Area Middle School forced an evacuation Thursday morning.

Philipsburg-Osceola Area Superintendent Gregg Paladina said more than 530 students were bused to the high school where they were provided with lunch.

It also resulted in about two hours of lost instruction time before students were bused back to the middle school.

Paladina said it was a district decision not to send the students home due to several factors, including poor weather and many parents or guardians who were not home.

But everyone is safe, he added.

School administrators noticed the boiler backfired at about 8:30 a.m.

Paladina said the middle school is equipped with two boilers. When one stopped working and released fumes, it forced the backup boiler to operate.

Under warranty, the boiler is expected to be repaired and be in full use, Paladina said.

Paladina said the broken boiler only affected certain areas of the school, but the student body was evacuated as quickly as possible as a precautionary measure.

The evacuation took about 10 minutes, Paladina said.

Hope Fire Company responded to the school for testing, made sure the school was safe and then gave the district the OK to bring students and school faculty and staff back to the building.

This story was originally published December 15, 2016 at 5:47 PM with the headline "Broken boiler forces Philipsburg-Osceola Area Middle School to evacuate."