TURNER – Leavitt Area High School students were dismissed early Monday because of smoke in the building, said Principal Patrick Harnett.

The smoke came from the school’s furnace, which burns wood chips as an alternative to oil. The wood chips provide heat and hot water to the school.

Normally, smoke from the furnace goes out the chimney and gets carried away, Harnett said. But with Monday’s wet weather, the smoke hung around the building, and the school’s ventilation system pulled in smoky air.

Smoke filled the cafeteria and some of the second floor, Harnett said. “It was pretty cloudy, but you could see. You definitely could smell the wood smoke.”

The smoke alarms were silenced before they went off, preventing students from having to do an emergency exit in the rain. Students were dismissed at 10:40 a.m. to allow smoke to be cleared from the building, and the smoke alarm system to be reset, Harnett said.

The school was never on fire, he said.

Smoke in the building from the wood-chip furnace happened once before, but school wasn’t in session. This is the first time that furnace smoke caused school to be dismissed, Harnett said.

The dismissal interrupted final exams for seniors, who will graduate on Saturday. Underclassmen will be dismissed for the year June 14.