A fire alarm startled many students during fourth period today when it went off at about 2:30 p.m., prompting evacuations to the field. Principal Bjorn Paige said over the loudspeaker that there was a “small fire” in the Performing Arts Center, and Vice Principal Brieahna Weatherford said that in was in the girls bathrooms there. Students were dismissed back to their classrooms at about 2:45.

Police and firefighters were both on campus after the alarms went off.

Despite Paige’s announcement that the fire occurred in the theater, drama teacher Stephanie Siers said that she was conducting auditions at the time when the alarm went off, and believed “everything was safe in [her] part of the theater,” and had no idea that there was a fire in her building.

Over the last week, there have been other disturbances in the bathrooms, including smoke and ashes in the girls bathroom near the Media Center, students said. After the alarms went off today, students also reported seeing ashes in the bathrooms by the girls’ locker rooms.
Weatherford urged anyone with information to come forward, saying that the administration was “still investigating” the fire, and is “trying to keep our school safe.”