Two area schools faced issues during the first week of school.

Nicely Elementary School in the Greensburg Salem School District was evacuated at 1 p.m. Thursday after an electrical motor inside overheated and began smoking, according to school officials.

“There was no fire. There wasn’t a whole lot of smoke, but you could definitely smell it,” said Superintendent Gary Peiffer.

No injuries were reported.

Multiple Greensburg and Hempfield fire units were called to the school about 1 p.m.

Meanwhile, the K-5 students were initially moved to an outdoor playground and then taken to the nearby senior high school.

“Our principal Chris Thomas did an excellent job evacuating the students right away and making arrangements to take them up to the senior high school,” Peiffer said.

It is the second day of classes in the district.

Students and teachers at Maxwell Elementary School in the Hempfield Area School District were without Internet or email for about an hour and a half Thursday afternoon. It was their first day of school.

According to a post on the school’s website, a transformer issue in a local neighborhood caused the school to lose power around 1 p.m. Emergency lighting allowed school to continue as normal. Almost an hour after power was lost, phones also went out. Parents were sent a phone number they could call if they needed to get in touch with the school.

All power and phone service was restored by 2:25 p.m.

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