Students and staff are safe after being forced to evacuate the school at around 11:15 a.m. on Thursday when smoke started coming from the ceiling of a classroom during sixth period AP Chemistry due to a broken motor in the AC, according to campus staff.

Senior Angelina Devayev was in the class where the smoke was noticed. Devayev said while students were taking a test, they noticed an unusual smell. Shortly after, smoke started pouring out of a vent in the ceiling. 

“I really don’t know how to describe [the smell],” Devayev said. “Some people said it smelled like burning plastic. I was like ‘oh my gosh, I hope I didn’t get poisoned from breathing it in’.”

The fire alarm was pulled, and the school was evacuated through an announcement over the intercom. Senior Brynn Fowler, who was in AP Biology at the time of the announcement, left all of her belongings, including her phone, in the classroom.

“All of my friends left their stuff too, so we couldn’t contact our parents, and it was stressful,” Fowler said. “It was scary because I didn’t know [what was going on], and I couldn’t find anyone because it was a big crowd.”

The fire department arrived after about five minutes, and students were let back into the campus, excluding the science building, at around 11:30 a.m. By around noon, students were allowed back into the science building to gather their belongings.

“[I was hoping I would] at least get my stuff back by the end of the day,” Devayev said. “I didn’t [originally] know what I would do in my other classes. I was able to go back to Mrs. Trueblood’s class and grab it all [though].”

This was the first real evacuation incident this year. Students were prepared for what to do in case of an emergency through drills, including one that happened Tuesday. 

During the evacuation, an AI-generated photo of the science building on fire circulated among students, leading to some confusion and worry. Campus staff confirmed there was no fire.