Cascade Middle School power failure, electrical issues and smoke cancel last day of classes

(Update: Adding Bend Fire info about outage, electrical issue)

Modified field day planned for graduating eighth-graders

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – Thursday was the last day of school for most Bend-La Pine Schools students – except at Cascade Middle School, where a power failure caused electrical issues and smoke in the building, canceling the final day of classes.

Bend Fire & Rescue crews were called twice to the school on Mountaineer Way, first shortly before 8 a.m. on a report of smoke in the building. Crews eventually found that a power failure had caused a rooftop HVAC unit to fail, resulting in electrical equipment smoke in the building, officials said.

The unit was shut down and isolated, but about an hour later, a main transformer serving the school failed and smoke was seen coming from an electrical panel.

As a result, school officials canceled classes for the school’s 650 students; no students were on site yet, as middle school classes begin around 10:30 a.m.

Bend Deputy Fire Marshal Dan Derlacki said a Pacific Power outage knocked out a phase of power to the school, where a few staff members were on hand.

"That loss of a phase caused a motor in one of the heating/cooling systems on the roof to fail and start to smoke," he said. "We were able to shut that off and help clear the smoke. Most staff had arrived by the time we cleared. When we left, the school was working on a plan to allow students in for the last day of school.

"The power loss continued and (Pacific Power) is still working on restoring power to the area. After about an hour of being on a single phase of power, a small transformer inside the school began to fail and smoke. We arrived with all staff evacuated and no students at school yet. We worked with the district electrician to isolate that transformer. There is no damage to the school other than the HVAC motor and transformer," Derlacki said.

"With the repeated incidents and still without power, the school made the decision to cancel school for the day in an abundance of caution," he said.

School officials later invited eighth-graders to a modified last-day field day from 1:30-3 p.m. on the school's front lawn, where staff will hand out T-shirts, have students sign a banner and provide free food.

Transportation to the school will not be provided, they said, but buses will be available to take bus riders home after the gathering.