It was just another fire drill that would be over in a few minutes – or so students thought. At around 1:35 p.m. on Oct. 1, students heard the blaring sirens, which was unusual for an ordinary drill. There’ve been two drills in the past month, which could’ve been deceiving to students that there wasn’t an actual fire in the school.
Soon after filing out of the school, students and teachers heard the fire department rolling down the access road – not one but two trucks followed by the fire marshal’s SUV.
After 20 minutes of waiting for the fire department to clear the school, students were allowed back inside to get their possessions and go home.
According to several witnesses as well as the police officers on the scene, a toilet paper dispenser was lit on fire inside the men’s bathroom across from room 133. One of the witnesses, junior Suzanne Case, said she saw “smoke coming out of the boy’s bathroom as well as the part of the flame.”
Language instructor Robin Cogburn was teaching in room 133 at the time, and just moments before the dismissal, heard students in the hallway arguing over who should pull the alarm. When her class was on their way out the door she, and several of her students saw “smoke rolling down the hall towards the outside.”
The stall itself was completely charred on the left-hand side, reaching all the way up to the ceiling. Burnt pieces of toilet paper were scattered all over the bathroom from wall to wall, possibly due to the pressure of the fire extinguisher the firefighters used.
If any student has information regarding the incident, Campus Resource Officer Heidi Froisland requested that the student contact her in the main office.