A false fire alarm was set off at Los Medanos College Thursday, Sept. 26. The false alarm originated in the art building at 9:56 a.m. for reasons still unclear to authorities on campus. 

“The smoke alarm in the Art building was set off for reasons unknown,” said Lieutenant Chad Wehrmeister of the Contra Costa Community College District Police Department. 

Students in the College Complex building were swiftly ushered out of the building by Sandra Mills, from the Center for Academic Support, and into the back of parking lot C. Once there, students and staff were left in the dark about the reason for their abrupt evacuation until the alarm was officially cleared at 10:19 a.m.

“That’s the first fire alarm I’ve had in about ten years here. That was really interesting,” said Professor Zachary Feere.

The screeches of the alarms were not heard by all LMC students as fire alarms did not go off all across campus. Students also did not receive any emergency alerts in the form of texts at the time of the incident.

“It [the alarm] was scary and lasted longer than normal,” said instructor Florence Kline.

Police Aid Samuel Perez explained that the station was not currently aware of what tripped the alarm, but they are currently looking into it. 

Many students and staff were unfortunately unequipped with proper evacuation protocol. Teachers were confused about what they were supposed to do which caused more confusion among students and the lack of communication sent evacuees to the wrong places.

“My teacher didn’t know what to do,” said Pineda, “We left [the classroom] and went in the wrong direction.” 

See more video on our Youtube at LMC Experience.

Video Credit: Spencer Batute