NEWPORT — Sam Case Elementary School has evacuated the school twice in the last week, due to failing parts in their fire alarm system.

“We had a hot water line in the tunnel break that caused the detector heads to fail,” said Tim Kaufman, facilities manager for Lincoln County School District. “The last week a failed head was replaced. This time another head had failed. We are now replacing all the tunnel detector heads to make sure they are all good.”

Principal Shelley Moore noted that this occurred twice last year, as well. This year, things went as smoothly as they could in the event of a false alarm. The Newport Fire Department responded in both events and quickly assessed the situation, and staff followed the plans laid out for the event.

“He (Kaufman) was notified each time and he sent staff to support repair or management,” said Moore. “All staff and students evacuated safely following protocol.”