The Long Beach Fire Department responded to a false fire alarm in the T building on the morning of Feb 13. The cause of the alarm was unknown, chalked up to a faulty detector or a student possibly vaping in the restroom.
Firefighters responded minutes after the alarm went off and students had already been evacuated and ushered out and away from the building.
The fire alarm went off at approximately 10:55 a.m. and was deemed clear of any danger by the responding firefighters at 11:13 a.m.
Before students and faculty were able to return to classes and offices, students joined in the quad and awaited the news.
Mike Aguirre, a fire captain of Long Beach Fire Department stated, “The staff is monitoring the system. If it was a faulty detector, it will go off again and they will probably call us back here.”
LBCC has a no smoking and tobacco-free policy. Smoking of any kind is prohibited on all property that is owned, licensed, or otherwise controlled by the district, and in all district-owned vehicles.
For some people, the alarm going off was not as nerve-racking.
“They evacuated us.” Ayah Younes, an administrative assistant that works in the Human Resource Center said, “then they told us it was clear. Pretty simple.”
It is still unclear what caused the fire alarm to go off and it has not gone off since then.