This morning began normally, with temperatures beginning to return back to normal Jan. temperatures. At seven, like as any other day, some students were sleeping, some were riding a bus and some were already at school learning in zero hour, studying or having a club meeting.

The students who were at MHS however, were in for a big wake up call from none other but the shrill, piercing notes of a fire alarm.

At approximately 7:30 a.m., fire alarms all over the MHS building rang, warning the students of a potential fire. This potential threat was caused by a heater in the boiler room.

“The heaters have been on for too long,” Carl Hudson, freshman principal, said. “There was a shut-off valve that wasn’t working properly.”

The malfunctioning heaters were supposed to make sure the pipes and generator of MHS would not freeze on cold winter days. As the temperatures warmed up outside, and the heater was no longer needed to keep the generator and pipes warm, the shut-off valve was supposed to measure the temperature inside the boiler room and tell the heaters to shut off.

The system wasn’t old, or broken. Hudson described the system as relatively new, and senior principal Dr. Dan Ramsey explained that the system recieved regular maintenance with people coming in to inspect on a regular basis.

“It’s just a bad part,” Dr.Ramsey said. “when one part goes bad, it can cause the system to do weird things.”

Overall, Hudson and Dr. Ramsey both view the system and response from the people within the building as a success.

“The important thing is the fire alarm system functioned properly and everybody was safe.” Dr. Ramsey said.

The safety of the school largely depended on the responsibility and calmness of the students. Colleen Staph, sophomore was one of those students.

Staph was in the library finishing her science homework when the alarm went off.

“Ms. Mitchell said to follow Mrs. Rahe way out the door, so we just went out the door and then we were told to get farther away from the building.” Staph said.

From the library, Staph went out the doors next to the preschool and stood next to the playground. Some students around Staph felt nervous and confused after seeing the fire truck, but others were just joking around.

Hannah Pierson, junior, was also affected by the early morning fire drill. Pierson had gone to school early for a NHS meeting in the theaters. Although the NHS meeting was scheduled to start at 7:30, students were still signing in and getting to the seats. At the time the fire alarm rang, NHS teacher supervisors, Katie Jensen and Philip Schmidt, were not yet in the theater.

This left the NHS members with only student officers as supervision.

“Everyone just kind of looked at each other and we just went outside.” Pierson said. “We didn’t know if it was an alarm or if it was actually a real fire, but I heard some people say it was probably just a kitchen fire.”

Pierson, who had an experience with a house fire previously, knew the school wasn’t going to burn down. “It was pretty obvious” Pierson said. As far as the NHS meeting, it was conducted half outside and half back in the theater, with no rescheduling.

During the school day, Pierson and some of her friends received text messages from concerned friends and family about whether they were okay.

“I’m just thankful I brought a jacket to school,” Pierson said.