By Jahiem Hopper – Staff Writer
What if it was real? With all these false fire alarms being triggered the students and staff are desensitized to the danger of a real fire. Just the week of 3/8/19 there were 3 alarms triggered all with no fire or hazard, two were in the library where on Wednesday the fire alarm was assumed to be triggered by body heat due to the abundance of people searching for warmth and shelter from the rain in the library. The second occasion on Thursday was actually pulled by a student, unfortunately the coperates were not caught. The other alarms that everyone has heard or seen were presumed to be triggered by smoking and vaping in the bathrooms and kids falsely pulling alarm stations around campus. Students need to seriously be aware of the danger of a real fire and understand that the fire alarm is no toy and no joke.
“Most students don’t even know where to go if it’s a real fire or hazard,” said sight assigned maintenance worker, Charles Norman.
In case of a real fire, Carson High student report to the quad grass field, the students of the Academy of Medical Arts reports to the softball field, and students from the Academies of Education and Empowerment reports to the football field. This is knowledge that every student should know but most unfortunately don’t. This is another reason why false fire alarms are such a big issue; if you haven’t noticed, when people on campus hear a fire alarm, most people either continue on with our work or complain about the loud noise- no one shows concern for an actual fire. Teachers are forced to stop the lesson or try their best to talk over the alarm until it stops. In fact, Dr. Schuetze-Coburn has headphones within reach to block out the obnoxious noise. We’ve yet to see one of my teachers check to see if it was a real fire; students and teachers just assume that it’s another false alarm. If there were a real fire, we wouldn’t know until someone checks and announces it on the overhead, and by then, the fire may have spread. If desensitizing our students and staff isn’t enough to deter you from pulling the alarm just because, then maybe it’ll be enough to know that the California Penal Code section 148.4 states “any individual who willfully tampers with a fire alarm apparatus or transits any false sense of a fire is punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for a year or less, and or by a fine less than $1,000”. You may doubt you that you could be caught and forced to suffer the consequences, but that’s it’s what happened to three students attending Miller Jordan High School. They faced state jail felony charges after pulling a fire alarm for non-emergency reasons in two separate incidents.
As CHS Librarian, Mrs. Nguyen, said “[Kids triggering false fire alarms] don’t realize how dangerous it could be. [They] are desensitized to it. You’re not triggered that it’s a real alarm, but if it doesn’t was a real on there wouldn’t be a response; we need a strong consequence and we need an announcement to get kids aware.”
There has been 3 fire alarms the first week of March and 5 the second week, and 0 announcements were made on why the triggers were pulled or whether or not the fires were real; there have been no notice of consequences for the students that continue to pull the alarms, or even if those students have been caught. Students need to be aware and be cautious.
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