Four juveniles were arrested over the weekend after allegedly breaking into Schoharie high school and setting off fire extinguishers in the halls Saturday night.
The Schoharie Village Police said four juveniles were arrested on charges including burglary, criminal trespass and criminal mischief after they entered the high school and discharged fire extinguishers which set off fire alarms.
Those alarms resulted in an emergency response from multiple fire departments, including Schoharie, Middleburgh and Central Bridge. Huntersland was on standby for Middleburgh. Schoharie responded to a fire alarm activation at the school at 10:03pm.
The four juveniles have been referred to Family Court for further action, police said.
Schoharie County Sheriff Tony Desmond said Monday that three of the four were SCS students and the other was visiting from another area.
The four apparently entered the school through a door which they either had propped open or had tampered with the lock, Sheriff Desmond said.
They were riding bikes in the hallways and then set off the fire extinguishers which set off the fire alarms.
When fire personnel arrived, the dust from the fire extinguishers made it look like there was smoke on the first floor of the school, he said.
Three of the four students were from SCS. Fire personnel saw several young adults running from the school when they arrived.
Superintendent Tony Desmond said school was not delayed Monday morning and cleanup was done by noon on Sunday.
At least one exterior door and possibly several more were damaged, he said.
The doors are due to be replaced this fall as part of a capital project.
One entire hallway was covered in chemical dust and the lockers had to be opened and cleaned, Mr. Sherman said.
They had to call in the fire alarm service to work on the alarms because of the amount of chemicals in the smoke detectors.
Mr. Sherman said two of the three SCS students were identified through surveillance videos.
The video shows the students entering, within, and exiting the building and the alarms going off due to a fire extinguisher setting off the smoke detectors, he said.
There were four students involved within the building and one that stayed outside, Mr. Sherman said. All are minors (15 and under), and three are students at Schoharie High School.
The Schoharie students will be given due process disciplinary hearings, Mr. Sherman said.
"What I hope the children suspects learn is how dangerous the situation was when the call went out for mutual aid and fire departments from around the region had to respond, or respond to cover other fire departments who responded directly," Mr. Sherman said.
"On a wet evening, with thousands of people downtown in the village at the celebration, it is a credit to the police and fire departments that no one was injured during the response."
Mr. Sherman was impressed with the response time from emergency personnel.
"The response time between the alarms going off and the arrival of the first fire responders was nothing short of incredible," he said.
The police and Sheriff's Department did an equally impressive job in setting a perimeter and checking the area, he added.
Mr. Sherman said he was "tremendously relieved" that there was no fire at the school and there was no disruption to the routine of the students.