Trashcan fire prompts school evacuation
There were no injuries after teacher douses fire and students exit the building. AISD police, Austin Fire Department are investigating the cause
During fourth period today, the Austin Fire Department responds to a fire alarm following reports of a trashcan fire at 5600 Sunshine Drive.
December 2, 2021
During eighth period today, there was a trashcan fire in the girls bathroom in the University Boulevard hallway. Teacher Michael McClaughlin heard about the fire from a student and ran to the bathroom to check the situation.
“Sure enough there were some flames in the trash can,” he said, “so we doused it and then I ran and got the safety officer.”
As the smoke circulated through the hallway, the fire alarm went off and students began to exit. The Austin Fire Department tweeted at 3:18 p.m. reports of the trash fire at 5600 Sunshine Drive.
The evacuation from the school building went smoothly, and there were no injuries due to the fire. The Austin Fire Department quickly arrived on campus and assessed the damage before students and teachers were allowed back into the building approximately 25 minutes after the evacuation took place. Besides the lingering scent of smoke in the hallway, the damage was minimal and contained to the bathroom.
TRASH – Trash Fire | 5600 Sunshine Dr | AFD | 15:18:06 | https://t.co/MAbX5Haptc
— AFD Incidents (@afdincidents) December 2, 2021
In an email sent to McCallum families at 5:08 p.m. principal Nicole Griffith confirmed the trash fire in the girls bathroom and that no one was injured as a result of the incident. She said that AISD PD and AFD are investigating this event and that the administration will take appropriate actions once the individuals responsible for the fire are identified.
–with reporting by Alysa Spiro.
![Sophomore Bela Tapperson inspects the charred curtain Tuesday morning. Tapperson was shocked when she saw the Austin Fire Department's post about the second fire on twitter. "I thought it was a mistake at first," Tapperson said. "There were like 6 fire trucks here [yesterday] and we thought they put it all out." Photo by Kelsey Tasch.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/BelaTCurtain-300x180.png)
Elyza B • Dec 8, 2021 at 1:47 pm
I was confused about the situation, especially since I wanted to use the bathroom the other day, only for it to be closed. This article really cleared up some of my confusion.
Xel-Ha Montejano-Granados • Dec 7, 2021 at 10:23 am
I thought it was just another drill but then I saw images of the fire trucks and heard rumors about the trash can set on fire, I’m glad everyone is safe and it was interesting to hear more about it with this article.
Malik • Dec 7, 2021 at 10:22 am
I thought that this was really informative and helped set the story straight about what had happened.
Augustina Weber • Dec 6, 2021 at 9:52 pm
Genuinely thought someone accidentally pulled a fire alarm when this first happened, and didn’t quite expect this. I still wonder if the fire was caused intentionally or not!
perrin coons • Dec 6, 2021 at 1:40 pm
I thought it was just a surprise fire drill at first, but then I was told that it was real. I think this article is important for the parents that didn’t know it happened and the students that weren’t there that day. Luckily the fire didn’t cause much damage.
Lexi • Dec 6, 2021 at 12:00 pm
I thought it was a drill at first and didn’t know what actually happened till I saw this, glad they report to us so quickly.
lenia warrenfells • Dec 5, 2021 at 2:44 pm
This article is very important and I think it’s helpful to students, staff, and parents that weren’t aware of the situation. The article is nicely written and gives all the information you need to know about the event.
Poppy G • Dec 4, 2021 at 3:05 pm
This article gives a lot of information that was unclear to many students, hopefully putting an end to hearsay about the incident I would be interested to know the cause of the fire and hope they find out soon.
Pablo • Dec 4, 2021 at 2:35 pm
Amazing , glad we have information on what happened.
Jack Pitts • Dec 5, 2021 at 12:14 pm
It really does make me feel protected at school seeing the response time by the administration.
Miranda D • Dec 3, 2021 at 11:26 pm
I think this article is very important because it offers information that people might have been curious about.
Kiki • Dec 3, 2021 at 10:59 am
amazing article with information important to know. I feel like the teacher didn’t handle the situation as best as they could but they were caring about the student’s safety and acted immediately. Hopefully, it doesn’t happen again.