On Feb. 10, a fire started in the downstairs Renegade bathroom. As a result, the entire building was evacuated and students were not let back in for just over half of their 6th period blocks.

Junior Cassie Krall, who was in the building at the time, says, “[The] fire alarm went off, so I thought it was a fire, but then again I also thought that it wasn’t anything, because sometimes it rings and it doesn’t really matter.”

The fire started towards the end of second lunch. At first, students assumed it was a drill, as there rarely is a real fire at Seminole. Both students and administrators shortly found out that the fire was real through word of mouth and walkie-talkies. Smoke filled the hall and poured out the back doors as Mr. Nelson Hilerio, security guard at Seminole and former policeman, carried the melted trash can from the building.

Hilerio says, “Automatically, I went to the fire station then I turned it [on], then I got…the trashcan, I assumed the fire was gone, I grabbed onto the trash can and put it outside, in a safer place.”

This event was not only a shock to administrators and security at Seminole, but to the students, as well.

Krall comments, “It was scary because they were just telling us you know, you need to get out of the building and you really don’t know what to expect. You’re kinda like, ‘Oh what’s going on,’ and a thousand things are running through your head until finally somebody comes out and tells you what’s happening.”

This is not the first time Seminole High has experienced something like this; starting in September of 2015, students began lighting fires in the trash cans of Warrior and Tribe after school. This led to the rule that students are not permitted to be in the buildings after school, even if they are trying to access their lockers. However, this is the first time that a trash can has been lit on fire during the school day.

Senior David Jones says, “ I was just coming from senior lunch when the alarms went off. I am really upset that someone would do this because now the school will place stricter rules and that will suck for the students that aren’t doing anything wrong.”

Lighting trash cans on fire is a federal offence since it is destruction of government property. The punishment for this crime, when the damage exceeds $100, is “a fine of up to $250,000, ten years imprisonment, or both.”

Hilerio says “My reaction [was] ‘Hey Nelson, we’ve got to do something.’ Remember, I’m a retired policeman. That’s why…when I’m on the [job]: nothing surprises me. At all. Anything can happen, and it can be possible, so we’ve got to be ready all the time. You never know.”

The students who continuously pulled fire alarms in the 2014-2015 school year were caught and punished for their actions after thorough investigation of the matter, and it is likely the student who started this fire will be, too.