Parents and students at one Mesquite middle school remain in limbo Thursday after a fire near the campus temporarily put the school out of commission.
Mesquite Independent School District announced that a transformer near Vanston Middle School caught fire during the early afternoon hours of August 22. All students and staff were evacuated from the building out of an abundance of caution.
The Mesquite Fire Department quickly extinguished the fire, and no damage was sustained to the school building. However, the fire caused damage to the school’s electrical wiring, leaving the entire school without power.
Students and faculty returned to the campus for the remainder of the school day on Tuesday, even though there was no electric service or phone service. In an emergency alert, the school district assured parents that the children were safe and the temperature inside the building was comfortable despite the absence of air conditioning.
Children were dismissed on schedule, and all buses and pickup procedures proceeded as usual.
Later that evening, the school announced the campus would be closed the next day, Wednesday, explaining in a social media post, “There is no damage to the building structure; however, significant rewiring must be completed to ensure we can safely reoccupy the campus.”
On Wednesday evening, the school notified students and parents that the repairs were not completed and the school would be closed again on Thursday.
“Although our facilities personnel worked tirelessly throughout the day & this evening to replace wiring & restore connections to electrical systems at Vanston, they have not yet completed the extensive testing that must occur before students & staff can reoccupy the building,” said Mesquite ISD on social media.
As of 4 p.m. on Thursday, the status of the repairs had not been updated on the school website. A message on the website promised to provide further updates on Friday.
