Tansey school closed due to electrical power; expected to reopen Monday

“We had a main breaker for the building burn out,” said Kenneth Pacheco, chief operating officer for the schools.

FALL RIVER — Tansey Elementary is without power or students Friday.

“We had a main breaker for the building burn out,” said Kenneth Pacheco, chief operating officer for the schools. “There was no way we could have repaired it quickly enough, so we had to close schools.”

The main breaker steps down the electricity going into the building from the grid to levels that can be used in the building. It protects the building from power spikes coming in from the outside and will shut down if the demand for power is too great for the system to handle.

“We are waiting for the power company to come in to shut off power to the building so we can get in, find the breaker and figure out what went wrong,” Pacheco said. “We’ll be ready for Monday.”

ATTENTION TANSEY Families - due to a malfunction in the main breaker / no power, school at Tansey has been canceled today, Friday, October 19, 2018.

— Fall River Schools (@frpsinfo)October 19, 2018

The school, at 711 Ray St., has an updated electrical system.

“It’s old, but not that old,” Pacheco said. Most of the schools have a 400 amp service, Pacheco said.

Once the faulty main breaker is replaced, technicians will try to determine why it failed.

No other buildings in the neighborhood experienced problems, leading technicians to believe the problem is with the breaker, Pacheco said.

“We’ll get the power back on and the school ready by Monday,” Pacheco said.

Email Kevin P. O’Connor at koconnor@heraldnews.com.