Students and staff at Pleasant Valley Primary School made an orderly evacuation shortly after 9 a.m. Wednesday after someone smelled gas fumes, said Firefighter-spokesman Jim Flaherty with the Vancouver Fire Department.
“The situation was created when some unburned fumes escaped from a heating and air conditioning unit on the roof of the school at 14320 N.E. 50th Ave. and were sucked back into the unit via an outside-air intake,” according to a bulletin from Gregg Herrington, spokesman for Battle Ground Public Schools. “A new part has been ordered.
“In the meantime, that one unit cannot be used for heating, although air conditioning and ventilation will continue to operate. The unit serves offices, the library and music and reading rooms at Pleasant Valley Primary, but not classroom wings.
“Thanks to mild weather at this time of year, the temporary lack of heating should not be a problem,” Herrington added.