Classes were quickly interrupted at 11:37 a m. by fire alarms during sixth hour senior finals on Monday. Students and staff flooded into the hallways and followed the protocol and procedures as they calmly went to their designated exit outside of the building.

At 11:55 a.m., a Wentzville fire truck had arrived on scene with sirens and lights on.  Shortly after the fire truck arrived, everyone was cleared to come in, without any explanation.

While many seniors were about to start their sixth hour final, many were lucky enough to had already taken it. Senior Kylan Grams (12) was in his English class when the alarm went off.

“I think the fire was fake. Easton Gains (12) and I were sitting in English and coloring and the alarms went off,” Grams said.

When students returned back to their classrooms, principal Dr. Edgar Nelson sent an email out to parents and guardians, informing that “we followed procedures and evacuated the building. After the fire department arrived on site, they gave us the all-clear to re-enter our building.”

As for the actual cause of the alarm, “We were looking at it while waiting for the fire department to arrive,” Nelson said. “What we found out is that the fire systems have a code, and over the years the code gets more and more sensitive. This one reached a point where the dust within that stairwell (theater stairwell) was able to trip it.”

During this time, students in choir were practicing for their upcoming annual pop concert in the theater. Working on tech for this event was Hayli Cranmer (11), who was in the stairwell when the alarm rang.

“We didn’t know what happened. We just thought it was in another area and had no clue that we were near the problem,” Cranmer said. “There was nothing that we could even see that could’ve caused it.”