A fire alarm was triggered on campus grounds Wednesday September 9th near the end of school. The alarms were louder than usual and was quite difficult to hear the announcements over the noise.

It started after lunch and Ms. Irene Zuniga, ASB Student Banker, was busy doing her accounting work at her desk. Then there was a strong odor, and a few minutes later, she noticed the room was filled with smoke. Ms. Zuniga immediately called the Activities Director, Ms. Kelly Phillips to go over to the student bank and help locate the problem. Ms. Zuniga also called the Principal’s Secretary, Ms. Melissa Marquez who in turn called 911 and as well pulled the fire alarm in the Principal’s office.

AIM Coordinator, Ms. Mary Jennison went to the clear counter in Student Bank who was assisted by Campus Police Officer, Rick Cardenax who found the cord from the fridge smoking. After this, firemen arrived on campus to take control over the incident.

Not only were firemen involved, but other responders, such as the District Office and Mechanical Foreman, Mr. Van Deron, was also called. A new outlet with other safety upgrades will take the place of the faulty outlet in the Student Bank and a new fridge that will be delivered soon.

This situation has not stopped the Student Bank from running school business, therefore the store will still be continued to be open. No one was injured in the incident and was handled well. All students, staff, and faculty were all evacuated safely. With the weather being 99 degrees that day, however, made students very frustrated how hot it was. Thankfully complete evacuation took around 10 minutes, and after this time period, students had permission to go home. Students, staff, and faculty were well prepared for a problem like this and handled it as it should have.

Irene Zuniga said, “Everyone [was] calm and responded quickly to the situation and [we] hope this issue won’t happen again.’’