Unplanned fire alarm disrupts middle and high school classes
At 12:08 on Tuesday February 4, the fire alarm went off. However, this was not a routine drill. The alarm went off without warning, and was followed by a thorough evacuation of Meridian and MEH students. The fire department was called, and after 15 minutes of nervous waiting, students were allowed inside the building.
Currently, it is unclear why the alarm was triggered. FCCPS has not yet issued a statement to students explaining the disruption.
The timing of the alarm was especially confusing, as it went off during student’s A lunch. While students do practice fire drills during their lunch periods, drills are much more common in other blocks, because they cause less commotion.
“I was a little bit confused because it went off at 12:08, which is a weird time for them to do a drill,” said freshman Henry Sanford, who was eating his lunch at the time of the alarm. “So I was just like, ‘put all the stuff in the bag, organize it later,’ because I had to leave.”
Outside the issues with students having lunch, the alarm also caused a level of confusion in classrooms.
“I was in ASL four, and at first my class was joking about it… and then Ms. Psaki starts storming out of her room yelling ‘this is not a drill,’ so we start speedwalking down the stairs… most of us were slightly panicked, but then we just moved on,” recalled sophomore Andrew Olavarria.
Similarly, the teachers had little idea what was going on. All they knew was that this was not a routine drill.
“I have absolutely no idea [the reason for the alarm], but I know it is not a practice drill, because the administration would send staff a notice if there was a fire drill… there wasn’t any notice,” explained Lang & Lit teacher Mr. Brian Walsh.
Although the fact that some students were at lunch caused confusion, it also made thing easier for some teachers.
“For me it was a very easy transition. I had two students who were coming in from A lunch, but they left,” reflected Walsh.
In fact, many students agree that the emergency went smoothly.
“I think that this proves that fire drills are effective. We were really pretty orderly, and we were really prepared,” pointed out sophomore Julia Henrikson.
However, despite this preparedness, so students thought that this was actually proof that Meridian had too many fire drills.
“We have done [fire drills] so often that everyone just assumed that this was a drill, even if it was not necessarily one… you tended to go ‘doesn’t matter, I have time to go get my stuff. I have time to go get my phone,’” noted junior Lorien Jackson.
Jackson was not the only one to notice that students were taking their time in what could have been an emergency situation.
“The people in my class thought my teacher was joking when he said it wasn’t a drill,” said Irving Lynch. “I do think that it is helpful to have them frequently, but maybe not once a month frequently. Maybe like once every other month.”
However, while there were some questions as to the frequency of the fire drills, the consensus among students remains that they are incredibly important.
“I think that we might do them too much to a point where they start to lose their meaning, but fire drills in general are good, so people know what to do when a fire is actually happening, and no one is hurt,” explained junior William Anderson.
Having knowledge of what to do is an important part of fire safety, and has the potential to keep students safe in many dangerous situations.
“I think in general [fire drills] are important to have some of the time, especially as it meant students knew the right routes to get out, to get away quickly,” remarked Jackson.
