Faculty and students were left confused as an evacuation in the T building due to a fire had professors cancel their classes early Wednesday morning.
The fire did not result in any injuries or pose harm to students or staff in the building. The fire was minor but the smoke caught the attention of many nearby.
Due to a history of false fire alarms at LAC, many classes in the surrounding buildings believed the alarm to be fake. This was not the case for classes near the south side of the T building where the fire began releasing smoke into classrooms.
“The smoke was kind of strong and the fire alarm went off, people in the faculty suite said they couldn’t stay because of the smoke since it was very strong.” said Emad Faltas, a LBCC history professor located in T2312, a classroom near the smoke and fire.
Firefighters had to drill into the walls of the T building, which created a great inconvenience for students who had to leave their belongings behind during the evacuation.
A number of firefighters work to put out the fire that happened at LAC’s T Building. A fire took place at LBCC’s Liberal arts campus in the T Building on Oct. 11 in the late morning. (Izzy Juarez) 
Firefighters put out a fire at Long Beach City College’s Liberal Arts Campus. The fire occurred on Wednesday morning in LAC’s T Building. (Izzy Juarez) 
Students and faculty stood outside the T Building after being evacuated from classrooms Wednesday morning when the fire alarm went off at the Liberal Arts Camus. On Oct. 11, in the late morning, a fire alarm alerted staff and students of a fire in the LAC T Building. (Izzy Juarez) 
Staff and students outside of the T Building waiting to get back inside after they were lead outside because of the fire. Some students wait outside the T Building to get their stuff, while others wait to return to their classes. In the late morning of Oct.11, a fire alarm alerted staff and students of a fire in the LAC’s T Building. (Zuri Minor) 
A total of four firefighter trucks arrived at LBCC’s Liberal Arts Campus when the fire alarm went off Wednesday morning due to a fire that occurred in the T building. The fire started at the T Building on Oct.11 in the late morning. (Izzy Juarez) 
A view of the burn mark that was left behind on the T Building when the fire occurred. This section was closed off to the public after the fire started on Oct. 11 in the late morning. (Zuri Minor)
“Why don’t we do this maintenance during winter or summer when there are less classes, faculty and students? Why did they wait until now during the populated semester to work on the bathrooms and roofs of the school,” said Faltas.
Students were told by police that they would be able to retrieve their belongings by 2 p.m. and were told classes were to resume at 2 p.m.
“My class originally starts at 9:35 but my professor sent a message on canvas that class was canceled and they didn’t specify why. My first week here there were about two false fire alarms and I didn’t know what the case was.” said Josue Reyes, a current student at LBCC.
Firefighters remained on campus for a couple of hours and there has yet to be an official statement of what actually occurred in the building. There was roof work going on that could have interfered with metal beams inside the walls but the real reasoning is unknown as of now.
There were firefighters and paramedics on call at the scene of the school, due to a previous call.
“We get a call and there was a pregnant woman bleeding who was bleeding at A building and while we are on that call we get another call that there is a fire at T building on the roof,” said fire department engineer Roberto Rodriguez.
Rodriguez had no official explanation for what led to the fire
“It is under investigation and the call came in as a structure fire. Rescue 11 was first on the scene. They found a little bit of smoke. They had to tear down some of the wall and it was a smoldering fire. Metal might have started the fire by a roof worker,” fire Capt. Kory Knapp said.
What happened at the T building created many problems for students and staff that were unable to finish classes and as well as having to cancel some.