Students at Baldwin Elementary School Intermediate Center were evacuated today because of an electrical malfunction around 1:30 p.m.

There was no fire and no one was hurt. The roughly 250 students and staff were transported by bus to the district office and then back to the school where parents could pick up students at 2:45 p.m.

Supt. Paul Dorathy said Principal Tom Mundinger smelled smoke after a partial power outage. Mundinger immediately sent the students outside to the shelter area. Firefighters, police and ambulance personnel quickly responded.

Dorathy said two breakers in the electrical system had malfunctioned causing the outage and smell. City workers were checking the equipment, but it’s unknown when power would be restored.

“It appears we had two main breakers that tripped,” Dorathy said. “You could smell a heat smell. It shut off part of the power. We then determined to turn off the rest.”

The company that installed the electrical system at the school was in Baldwin City working on the Downtown Streetscape project and also rushed to the school. Crews were looking at electrical boards to determine what happened.

It’s unknown when power will be restored, Dorathy said, and also whether there will be school on Wednesday.

“It’s too early to tell about tomorrow,” Dorathy said. “We’ll let the parents know as soon as we can if we’ll be in business out there tomorrow.”