Middletown High evacuated for bomb threat

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MIDDLETOWN – A bomb threat Tuesday caused officials to evacuate hundreds of students from Middletown High School.


South Lake County Fire Protection District Battalion Chief Jim Wright said his agency, along with Cal Fire and the Lake County Sheriff's Office, responded to the incident, evacuating students and staff and accounting for everyone who should have been on campus.


The bomb threat was called in at about 1 p.m. Tuesday, said Kevin Colburn, public information officer for Cal Fire.


The caller reported that a bomb was located in one of the lockers, said Colburn. The voice in the message was muffled and officials couldn't make out if it was male or female.


All students and personnel were evacuated to a nearby field, said Colburn.


Middletown High School Principal Chris Heller did not return a phone call seeking comment. Also unavailable for comment Tuesday afternoon were sheriff's officials.


Lake County Office of Education reported that Middletown High has approximately 574 students, 30 teachers, two administrative staff and one counselor.


“We went in and did a cursory search,” said Wright.


Fire officials said the search took about a half hour, and included all of the lockers.


Sheriff's investigators eventually concluded that the threat wasn't credible, said Wright.


In all about 20 personnel from the various agencies assisted in the evacuation, said Colburn.


E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..


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