On Wednesday, April 7, a fire alarm went off after school hours at approximately 3:17 PM. Students quickly evacuated the school, and five minutes after the drill went off, firetrucks arrived at the scene. A large ladder from a firetruck was used to get near the building, while students present reported smelling an unusual, smoke-like smell when they got outside. This caused nervousness and tension to rise about what exactly was happening. After the firemen came out of the building, they reported that the fire alarm was a false alarm, but they had discovered a gas leak within the school.

During the school day, it was announced that the fire alarm might randomly go off due to some maintenance. This report was proven to be correct, as several minutes after the announcement, the fire alarm went off before quickly being turned off. This caused students and teachers to not suspect any danger when the fire alarm went off again later in the day, but soon concern and confusion about the fire alarm grew as they were then told to leave the building about a minute after the alarm began.

Chorus teacher Mr. Botwick was there on the scene, and he discussed what occurred. “We were getting ready for our dress rehearsal and the alarm went off, but what was peculiar about it was that we were told earlier in the day that they were going to be testing the alarm, so we weren’t sure if it was a fire drill or if there was something actually going on or if we were supposed to stay inside or go outside. After a couple of minutes of just scrambling, the firetrucks came and did their thing. I didn’t smell anything, but the fire department did confirm that there was a gas leak,” he stated about the events.

After the fire alarm had been cut off, firefighters came out of the building and the equipment like the ladder used to get them inside was retracted. A firefighter named Larid Van Gordon, after coming out from the building, stated, “No fire, fire alarm approximately 5 minutes before a unit got on scene. There was a sprinkler system notification, but it’s a false alarm.”

Despite the unexpected evacuation, students in their extracurriculars were able to go back to their regular pastimes unaffected, save for a small amount of missed practice time. All after-school activities, along with regular school day schedules will proceed as they normally would without this event, thanks to the efforts of the Cary Fire Department.