It was a frightening moment for one Whittier Elementary School parent Thursday morning when she went to pick up her pre-k student.  Heather Tenike said she walked over from her home and when she got to the school she could see and smell smoke."When we got over the hill, I could see like a grey mist around the play yard.  We actually got into the building and I was getting ready to sign in and the custodian was saying to the office, he was asking, should I just pull the fire alarm and called 911 now,"  Tenike continued.

The principal, Amy Schwiegerath, said fire officials determined that there wasn't a fire. " We went through our safety procedures.  We activated the fire alarm. We evacuated the building.  The fire department came and determined that our air handler system was pulling in smoke from an outside fire that was not on school property," said Schwiegerath.   

The kids were only outside for about 20 minutes, she added.