At 2:35 this afternoon, a student in the East building notified a teacher that there was a fire in one of the boys bathrooms. The teacher then reported the information to the East Resource Center staff, who called it in to school security.

“It smelled so bad, I knew it was a big fire because it had a lot of smoke,” Senior Bitanya Haile, who was in the East building at the time, said. “They were saying that a boy lit toilet paper on fire in the boys bathroom.”

This rumor has yet to be verified, but Principal Silva confirmed that the fire did originate in the boys bathroom.

East Resource Center staff member Kelly Albada said the building was evacuated “in about 30 seconds to one minute.”

Students were eventually relocated to the theatre, the IC café, and the west cafeteria. Security guards were sent into the school to ensure that the students were socially distanced. Multiple fire trucks, ambulances, and other emergency vehicles soon arrived on scene to extinguish the fire.

Over the PA, Principal Silva announced that the firefighters had successfully put out the fire, but they were still trying to clear the smoke out of the hallways.

“We are working with the fire department to see if we will be able to get back into the East building for classes,” Silva said.

Later, Silva updated students, telling them that they could go back into the building to get their personal items at approximately 4:15 pm. Cohort B students attending school tomorrow will not be affected by these events. 

The materials used to start the fire, how large the fire grew, and the extent of damage caused is unclear at this time.