This article was written by Emma Delgado and Kayra Dayi.
After a stressful day of classes, students coming out of the 8000 and 9000 buildings were met with smoke from a car in Lot 3 at 3:43 p.m.
The car, a white Hyundai, was driven by an adult male worker at the restaurant Yard House. “I was just on my way to work,” he said, an hour after the incident occurred. “At the stop light, my car started acting up, and I pulled over to the closest parking lot which was [the school]. I was obviously very scared when it happened, but it wasn’t anything crazy,” he said. He stated that the event is completely unrelated to the school, and he would like to remain anonymous.
“It was terrifying,” said freshman Emma Conrad, who was there when the car first burst into flames. “I saw as the bottom of the car caught friction at the next bump. The smoke went near the swimming pools and above the gate.”
Freshman Sean Kanji, near Lot 3 when the vehicle caught in flames, stated that the car was first smoking before the fire actually started.
Students in the Student Center practicing for their upcoming HOSA regional competition this Saturday were shocked to see smoke outside. Sophomore Arianna Borhan watched the event unfold from the Center’s tables. “Everyone randomly started crowding to the back of the student center. So my friend and I went to check it out, to realize there was a fire,” Borhan said. “It was crazy.”
Thankfully, there were teachers and deans who helped take control of the situation. Dr. Diana Sood led students to safety during the brief chaos, taking the students wandering around Lot 3 to the Student Center. “You always have to be in a calm manner; if you are nervous, then [the students] will get nervous,” she said.
Students took to social media to share the news on platforms like Snapchat and Instagram. Sophomore Sofie Horowitz stated, “It’s so scary to see this unfold on campus; I hope everyone is okay.” Horowitz did not experience the event firsthand, but due to the rapid shares on social media, she was quickly in the know.
Though the flames seemed scary to some, no one was hurt thanks to the quick response of the fire department.
