After seeing a soap dispenser on fire in the third floor girls bathroom, senior Jung-Duk Seo pulled the fire alarm, sending students and staff scrambling out of the building at 1:50 p.m., just 20 minutes shy of dismissal.

Some students brought their backpacks with them, prepared to leave. Others were instructed to leave their belongings in the classroom. Parents were already waiting to pick up their children, students began to climb the 10 foot mounds of snow and everyone had to squish together in order to allow more buses in.    

As students and staff waited, a fire truck and two police cars drove into the front of the school, indicating that the alarm signaled more than just a drill.

Between the cars, buses, fire trucks and scattered students, teachers tried to maintain control. Two buses, arriving late, encountered hundreds of students in the roadway and a parking lot with no place to go.

“I think most of us figured that there was something odd about this fire alarm,” English resource teacher Beth Rockwell said. “I stood in front of the bus with my hands up because it wasn’t stopping. For the most part, parents were just confused when they pulled in but they followed when someone directed them where to go.”

At first, assistant principal Jennifer Webster and security officer Paul Marshall ran to the bathroom with fire extinguishers. But, the extinguishers weren’t needed because security assistant Juanita Cassimere got to the scene first and splashed water onto the soap dispenser to extinguish the fire.

“Soap dispensers burn easily and forcefully,” principal Alan Goodwin wrote in an e-mail to teachers Feb. 17. “The scarcity of extinguishers was highlighted by this event, and we’re looking into this.”

Security assistant Cherisse Milliner used security cameras to help identify the female student, who ignited the soap dispenser with a lighter. Workers fixed the damage to the bathroom walls in time for school Wednesday.

When the last bell rang, teachers tried to keep students congregated at school.

A few minutes later, students were allowed back into the school to collect their belongings to leave for the day. Administration called MCPS transportation to let them know buses were held late. 

“We tried to hold students until everyone could leave at the same time,” principal Alan Goodwin said. “There were a lot of students who had their backpacks and wanted to leave, but it would have been dangerous to only let some students go while others were waiting.”