Posted on 12/09/2011 12:23:29 PM PST by nickcarraway
The story of the vandal squirrel lives on in the Manatee County School District.
Long after the rascally rodent pulled his stunt — setting off a fire alarm that led to the evacuation of an elementary school last year and an investigation into who pulled the false alarm — the squirrel's actions came up at a School Board budget meeting this week.
In defense of why the district maintenance department needs a contingency fund, an official pointed out that almost anything can happen at any time in a school district with 44,000 students and 60 schools and other buildings.
Such as a lightning strike, the official suggested, or a hurricane, or — believe it or not — the squirrel who pulled the fire alarm, and had its act caught on a security camera.
Students were evacuated and fire trucks rushed to Blackburn Elementary School in Ellenton in August 2010 when a fire alarm inside the school kitchen went off.
Firefighters searched the school and found no fire. Baffled officials questioned kitchen staff who all said no one was in the kitchen when the alarm was triggered.
The mystery was finally solved when maintenance staff reviewed security camera footage. The culprit was a squirrel who had taken up residence in the school kitchen.
Video footage showed a move that would not look out of place in a "Mission Impossible" movie. The critter climbs vertically up 5 feet of plastic moulding that covered the wires of the alarm, known as a pull station. Then it hung onto the lever, setting off the alarm; it immediately flees the scene.
"We've had kids pull fire pull-stations; we've never had an animal do it," said Todd Henson, director of maintenance and operations.
The footage was played to bemused North River Fire Department officials to convince them the false alarm was not the district's fault.
As for the squirrel? A pest control unit was dispatched to the school kitchen to trap it.
"He was released but he was given a stern talking to not to do it again," Henson joked.
Doesn’t a squirrel have the right to yell “fire” in a crowded theater?
Secret Squirrel!
Squirrel pulls fire alarm at school ping. Too funny!
Well, that explains the quality of the food
Bookmarking
I always think of Zelda Fitzgerald who once jokingly pulled the fire alarm at her house in Long Island. When the firemen asked her where the fire was, she slapped her chest and said “Here!”
That Squirrel should fry!!! (pun intended) LOL
Maybe it's my time in fine dining restaurant kitchens, or my time ensuring proper sanitation in field feeding situations with the military.... BUT RODENTS DON'T BELONG IN KITCHENS!!! Especially kitchens feeding kids! ARGH!
Make a joke about the cute critter pulling the fire alarm, but he never addresses how that diseased critter was allowed into where food was prepared for children.
I would be firing a kitchen manager, and having compulsory sanitation classes for the remaining staff.
/johnny
Squirrel problem? Solve it and have fun doing it. We just got ours;
http://www.drollyankees.com/videos/70-yankee-flipper.html
That squirrel was just Occupying the kitchen. It’s already well known that many Occupiers are squirrely. Now, it seems we have video proof that some squirrels are Occupiers.
Did they discuss how many kitchen staff they fired because they believed they were lying? Zero tolerance for lying you know.
After he pullled the alarm did he give a high pitched laugh like Alvin and the Chimpmunks then run away?
That bird feeder is incredibly clever. I love it! The video is really funny. Bye, bye squirrel.
They’ve been making em a long time...we have tons of them out in our back yard...they don’t give up when there’s feed in the feeders either. Some will hold on and I swear they don’t fall off til they’re too dizzy to hang on anymore. Good way to kill some time in the evening.
The only use a squirrel has in a kitchen is fileted, dredged in seasoned flour and fried just right.
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