On May 18, 2011, a fire alarm blared throughout the campus of North Hollywood High School as students hurriedly blocked their ears and teachers abruptly stopped their lectures. Rather than heading to the grass field in orderly fashions, the calm students sat in their seats, groaning at the piercing noise and staring at the flashes from the alarm on the wall.
This is a frequent event at North Hollywood High, as well as at many other schools today. As some students roam around campus during class hours, looking for something exciting to pass time with, triggering the fire alarm is a worthwhile hobby to these students. As false alarms ring now and then, students no longer feel the panic that they once felt when they heard the alarm going off- rather, it is a common occurrence that is not anything more than a pestering, even amusing, happening.
However, when the fire alarm at North Hollywood High rang everywhere on May 18, nobody suspected that there was an actual fire in one of the building bathrooms. It was not until the period was over, and lunch began, that students began to gather outside one of the buildings, watching smoke float out of the boys’ bathroom window. Everyone was surprised and some were even excited that a fire finally occurred at their school, after the countless false alarms that failed to fool students so many times.
“I can’t believe there was actually a fire,” said Leslie Henriquez, a junior at North Hollywood High School. “When the alarm went off, everyone just rolled their eyes and blocked their ears, because we all thought some kid pulled the fire alarm again.”
Though the fire at North Hollywood this time was a small one caused by a male student’s prank, this matter is not one to brush aside. It is a critical issue that fire alarms are no longer a useful tool in warning the school of a potentially dangerous situation, and signaling a need to evacuate. It has become a laughing matter to the students, and an annoyance to the teachers who treat them as disturbances. As this continues, schools will face dire consequences as they risk the possibility of facing a real, large-scale fire while people ignore the warnings once again.
“There is a strong need for a better system,” said Mr. Paul Landau, a teacher at North Hollywood High School. “We need to make sure students treat this issue more seriously.”
Some schools have begun enforcing stricter rules in punishing students who trigger false alarms. Beverly Hills High Schoolhas recently created a system in which they can identify who triggered the alarm by examining the finger print left behind on a type of paint they put on the alarm system. This kind of system serves to show that the school treats the alarms seriously, and makes sure the students understand that anyone caught would face heavy punishments, including suspension.
As various schools approach the issue in different ways, many remain inactive in finding a solution to the problem. It is in the hopes of many parents, teachers, and students that a safer, more effective fire alarm system will be enforced in the future that will no longer interrupt lesson plans or put students in potential danger.
Hey Sally! The article was very descriptive making it easy to follow and imagine. I really like how you started with a concrete incident and supported it through out the article. Nice job! 🙂
This was really well done. I really liked reading this article: it’s such an important issue in so many schools and no one really knows just how serious it is. Great job!