ASHTON PETERS/FOR THE EXPRESS A stray ember in a ventilation system of the Keystone Central School District’s Career and Technical Education Center’s agriculture mechanics classroom led to an evacuation Thursday morning. No injuries were reported.

MILL HALL — Students at Central Mountain High School were sent home early on Thursday following reports of smoke and fire in the building’s Career and Technical Center in the morning.

At around 10 a.m., fire companies were called to the school — which is connected to the district’s administration building — along Administration Drive for a reported fire.

Superintendent Dr. Francis Redmon told The Express the fire originated in the ventilation system of its agricultural mechanics classroom.

“According to the fire department, a hot ember got into the ventilation system and started smoldering,” he said.

Though a large fire didn’t break out, Redmon said the staff exercised caution and evacuated the building.

In particular, Redmon thanked CTE instructors Ryan Broughton and Bill Probst, who are qualified in fire safety, who helped ensure the issue was contained until fire crews arrived.

“After everyone was cleared out they put on fire protective gear and went to handle the fire until emergency services arrived,” he said. “We have a very talented team and they’re very experienced in emergency management.”

He also offered kudos to the staff and students who exited the building in a calm and safe fashion.

“It was a scary situation but because we have the right people and right systems in place everything turned out okay,” he said. “And a big shoutout to our fire departments that responded quickly to get to the root cause.”

No injuries were reported as a result of the fire and students were sent home as staff evaluated the level of smoke that spread throughout the facility.

Redmon said he believes classes will resume as normal on Friday.

“We’re diagnosing to make sure there are no longer term problems with smoke anywhere,” he said. “We should be back tomorrow morning.”

In closing, Redmon emphasized one more time how proud he is of the professional staff at Keystone Central.

“They really leaned in and had a perfect response to the emergency. They made sure people were safe and then went in to make sure it wasn’t an ongoing fire issue. They kept things contained until the fire departments arrived,” he said.