By Rupert Howell
A chemistry experiment “gone bad” was the cause of a fire alarm at South Panola High School Monday morning, according to South Panola’s Public Information Director Jeff Eubanks.
The automatic alarm alerted Batesville Fire Department who responded as the building was being evacuated.

“The chemistry experiment caused smoke alarms to go off which initiated an automatic call to the fire department,” Eubanks explained, stating, “The building was evacuated as standard procedure.”

Eubanks estimated approximately 10 minutes of class disruption.

The high school is the district’s most recent school to be constructed and is equipped with updated fire alarms.

The July 10 fire that destroyed the long kindergarten wing of Batesville Elementary School was not so equipped, with that building having been originally constructed in the mid-1950s.
The new building presently under construction to replace that building as well as the ninth-grade wing at South Panola will not only meet current fire protection regulations, they will also have secure entryways complete with bullet-proof glass and remote locks.

Both of those buildings are under construction with hopes that they will be ready for the 2016-17 school year.