KERSHAW, SC — A Lancaster County elementary school was evacuated Monday morning after a teacher spotted smoke and flames coming from an air-conditioning unit.
Firefighters from four fire stations were called to Kershaw Elementary School on North Matson Street around 10 a.m.
The unit was outside of Fran Graves’ classroom.
"I looked over and I saw smoke coming out of the vent, so I stood up to turn it off and there were flames inside," she said.
The unit was destroyed, and smoke spread through the hallways.
More than 400 students were evacuated from the school.
Parents and grandparents were called to pick up their students early.
School officials plan to seal off two classrooms for the rest of the year so they can be repaired.
Classes will be on a normal schedule Tuesday.
The cause of the fire in the air-conditioning unit is under investigation.
No injuries were reported.
The fire happened two months after a fire that started in a closet did more than $3 million of smoke damage to nearby Andrew Jackson Middle School.
Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/LH3JSJEF3VBLRJLJQESEAG34AM.png)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/SKXSLKHT3FB3NPORZ37MOTANTI.png)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/CPEHEMYETVGMXPGPMRCU32QFJM.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/IECLZ25KHBB2RL4UE2PRALJAZA.jpeg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/NHND6ZJC65ERPGQX25WN57TX24.png)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/V2LHQ3SVK5DWNA7NL7MLKJ5MQ4.jpeg)