No Fire at HHS – Social Media Claims were Misleading during Power Outage

HEDGESVILLE, W.Va. — Students at Hedgesville High School are being dismissed two hours early today due to a power outage.

Berkeley County Schools spokeswoman Elaine Bobo calls social media posts that said there was a fire at the school ‘disheartening’ and said they caused panic.

Bobo shared a letter from Hedgesville High School Principal Ron Lyons that revealed power was out at the school, but that students were safe.

Lyons said, “Contrary to posts seen in social media groups within our community, there is no structure fire. An insulator at the pole caused an issue. Work is happening to patch the line to feed power to the school which is anticipated to take a few hours. ”

The note indicated students would be served lunch prior to dismissal.

Principal Lyons cautioned parents to look for specific communication from the school or look at official school websites for information.

A moderator  of one of the social media pages that follow scanner traffic responded that they post the calls as they come in with and the original post referenced a possible structure fire at the school.