On Tuesday, Jan. 7, at approximately 11:10 a.m., the fire alarm went off at Loy Norrix. In science classroom B-14, an accident occurred in the adjacent storage room, causing a bin of paper to catch fire. The fire alarms quickly went off, and students and staff were able to evacuate the building in a calm, orderly manner. The fire department showed up less than ten minutes after the fire alarm went off.
“The fire marshall approved that the fire was fully extinguished before students were allowed back into the building,” said Principal Christopher Aguinaga.
One key factor that helped keep people safe was the mandated fire drills almost everyone knew what to do and did what they were supposed to do.
“The students acted in a good and timely manner to get out, and the fire alarm was pulled quickly,” said government teacher McKenzie Roman. “Teachers reacted calmly and got the fire put out, so I think it was well handled.”
As students began evacuating, rumors started to spread, and a video of the fire was circulated on social media and later on Channel 3 News. The video showed a large fire located in the storage room, with flames rising above the door frame.
“I’m disappointed by it. I understand people’s desires to place things on social media, but it put the school in an inappropriate light and invoked chaos in the community that was not necessary,” Aguinaga continued. “Our priorities here at the school are 1. Everybody is safe. 2. Everybody was back in the building. 3. Everybody was fed. And the school day continued. 4. Was to communicate outside of the school.”
“With that social media video going out, it hampered the effects of the first three priorities that we listed because people were demanding information, and they do so when they are panicked which is a human reaction,” said Aguinaga.“[In the] absence of that social media video, that panic wouldn’t have happened, and it actually slowed the time to get the kids back into the building and getting the school day back on schedule.”
While the video was being circulated, math teacher Rachel Wagner jumped to put out the flames by using a fire extinguisher.
“We heard that kids were yelling fire, and one of my students ran out and then came back and was like, ‘No, there was really a fire,’ said Wagner. “I went out there, and I was trying to get the halls cleared out because the flames were really large.”
“When they [the flames] started to go down a little bit, Ms. Ault grabbed a fire extinguisher and then she looked at me and she’s like, ‘I’m not sure how to use it.’ So I was like, ‘it’s okay, I got it,'” Wagner continued. “So I grabbed it [the extinguisher] and Mr. Bumstead opened the door for me, and by that time it was pretty much contained.”
English teacher Alexa Ault assisted Wagner with putting out the fire by quickly getting the fire extinguisher.
“I was so in shock, but I knew my immediate thought was we needed to put it out, so I grabbed the fire extinguisher, and I guess when you’re in just such high-stress situations, I kind of panicked, looked over, and good thing my good coworker Mrs. Rachel Wagner was there,” said Ault. “She helped me out, and then I was helping students get away from the blazing fire.”
