Students were evacuated from Mounds Middle School Monday, after a student’s Chromebook caught fire inside a classroom.

Mounds Public Schools (MPS) says students were safely evacuated after the Chromebook overheated and caught fire.

The school district says no injuries were reported and students and staff were moved to the high school gym while the building was being ventilated.

MPS says emergency protocols were followed and they are investigating the cause with the manufacturer.

Mounds Superintendent Stephen Sturgeon says this is a first for the district and thankfully, no one was hurt.

“We have never had a problem with this before. We’ve been [using] this particular model of Chromebook; we’ve got numerous models of it,” Sturgeon says. “We’ve never had such a problem before.”

Sturgeon says staff acted quickly and got everyone out safely. They evacuated to the highschool gym while the building ventilated.

He says a crew is now cleaning up to ensure it is safe for students to return to learning in that specific classroom, which will hopefully be sometime next week. Sturgeon says teachers will be checking each laptop for any issues.

Chromebooks, like most laptops, are powered by rechargeable lithium batteries. These batteries are potentially dangerous if not handled properly.