A small fire in the Quitman High School IT server room was extinguished on the morning of Sept. 24.

A battery backup device caught fire and was put out with a fire extinguisher before the fire department arrived. Quitman Volunteer Fire Department was called to check for chemicals as a precaution, QISD Superintendent Rhonda Turner said.

“There was a small fire that started when a battery in the server room ignited. Scott Turner, Director of IT, was able to quickly extinguish the fire. Students were evacuated for precautionary reasons. The QVFD arrived on scene quickly and evaluated the situation,” Turner said. “They determined that there were no additional fire hazards and that any smells or fumes were not dangerous. The students were out of class for about thirty minutes. Once the fire department gave us an all clear, students returned to class and resumed their normal day.”

QVFD Captain Kyle Wheeler said the department was paged at 8:24 a.m. to the electrical fire in the server room.Wood County Fire Marshal Tully Davidson said everybody evacuated well.

Wheeler said QVFD ventilated for the smell and removed the battery backup outside of the school.