Yellowknife’s École Allain St-Cyr will reopen on Thursday after sending students home because of a foul smell on Wednesday.
Displeasing classroom smells are more commonly associated with the occupants. This time, a furnace appears to have been at fault.
“There was a little bit of an issue with one of the furnaces. Because of that, there was a strong smell in the building,” said the school’s principal, Geneviève Charron.
“There was a piece that was broken on the furnace and some kind of leak. It smelled like gas – I don’t know – not gas, like oil, burnt oil.”
Online, some locals compared the stench to sewage.
By 9:20am, children were being sent home for the day while the school used fans to shift the smell.
“[Workers] came in and observed the issue, then we had an assessment to make sure the air quality was OK,” explained Charron.
“Because of the strong smell, we thought that for the wellbeing of our students it would be better to close the school – but it was never hazardous to the kids or anything.”
