Roncalli Junior and Senior High School evacuated after exterior electrical fire Tuesday morning

Roncalli Junior and Senior High School was without power Tuesday after a major electrical line failed at the school.

Aberdeen Fire & Rescue was called to the school at 1400 N. Dakota St. at 9:43 a.m. Battalion Chief JR Huebner said there was a failure in the main electrical line going into the school. He said the cause of the failure is still unknown, but electricians were on site working to restore power.

The failure caused some charring to the outside of the building, and some leaves near the building caught on fire. But that was the extent of the fire damage, Huebner said.

Students were evacuated to Good Shepherd Lutheran Church across Dakota Street to the west of Roncalli. They were eventually dismissed.

Roncalli President Tim Weisz said the fire did not extend inside the building.

School will not be in session for grades seven through 12 for the rest of the week because of the Thanksgiving holiday, Weisz said.

Classes remained in session Wednesday for preschool through sixth-grade students at the other two Roncalli schools. But the power outage affected phone and internet service at the preschool/primary school and the elementary school, which are at different locations than the junior high/high school.

Weisz said the district was making arrangements with Midco to have phone lines forwarded to other numbers.

This article originally appeared on Aberdeen News: Roncalli High evacuated after an electrical fire outside the building