A cell phone tower is out of service in Howell after it caught on fire. It also created a disturbance at a local school district. Flames and thick black smoke billowed from the cell phone tower in Howell.

Mike Peterson: "It looked like a huge chimney fire, flames were coming out, paint was coming off, it was a pretty dramatic sight."

It started when officials say maintenance work was being done on the tower and it somehow caught on fire.

Mike Peterson: "During the actual fire, when the metal was hot, I had a strong inkling it was going to fall over."

Mike Peterson is with the Howell school district, which owns and leases the land where the tower is located. He says concerns about the tower falling led to the evacuation of several buildings on the district's campus.

Mary Scheldler: "We just grabbed the things we needed and got out of the way."

Practices on a baseball field were also canceled because the tower is leaning in that direction.

Mike Peterson: "It's close to 200 feet tall, there's a lot of weight there and lot of potential for flying objects if it falls."

American Tower, which owns and operates the tower, says their focus right now is fixing the tower and making sure it doesn't fall over. They say that means taking the tower apart piece by piece

Mike Peterson: "The danger of it will be greatly reduced and I don't think any of us will have to worry about it as much."

For now, the school district is waiting for the work to be done so things can get back to normal. Even though the tower is out of service, American Tower says they have had no reports of service being disrupted.