More than 60 students were forced to evacuate Lynn Camp Middle/High School Monday afternoon when smoke was reported in a hallway.
West Knox firefighters were called to the building at the corner of U.S. 25E and Ky. 830 about 3:10 p.m.
Most of the students had already been dismissed for the day. However students participating in sports and extra-curricular activities that were still in the building quickly evacuated and gathered in the parking lot.
Firefighters used heat sensors to find the source of the smoke, which was reported in the front of the high school wing of the building.
Frank Shelton, a spokesperson for the Knox County School System, said that area houses a variety of traditional classrooms.
“The school is no departmentalized,” Shelton said.
West Knox Fire Chief Daryl Baker said the smoke was traced to a motor in the heating system.
As a result, a sensor in the heating system set off the fire alarm.
Baker said it took so long to reach because of where the motor was located.
“There is just so much stuff in there with all of the utilities and stuff,” Baker said. “After we got in there, we had to take the panels off the heating system to get in there to see if that was where the smoke was coming from.”
By 3:35 the building was cleared and students were permitted to go back inside.
No one was injured.
