On Sept. 17, students at the Academies of Loudoun were told to evacuate the campus around 1pm, due to an accidental fire that had broken out in a  welding class. Fortunately, all students and staff had safely exited the building by the time the fire crew arrived, with one staff member and one firefighter suffering minor injuries.

 The fire, which officials say stemmed from welding sparks and debris entering the fume exhaust system, took almost an hour to fully extinguish. The damages totaled to approximately $1 million. 

Gilbert Tran, a junior at Briar Woods and MATA med lab student, recaps the event, saying that they were in the school parking lot for about two hours where “some kids didn’t have their phones or lunches on them, which made it a little bit of a miserable experience.”

Many students were unaware if it was a drill, which led to many attempting to go back into classrooms to get their items. They were promptly ushered back outside by teachers. As students spilled out through the doors, large crowds began to build up by the lawn before being pushed to the parking lot.

“It was really chaotic in the beginning, but eventually everyone got into lines and attendance was taken,” Tran added.“We also couldn’t go to the bathroom during that time, and were even told to go in the woods.”

Around 2:50 p.m, all students were dismissed and loaded onto buses back to their home schools. The Academies campus was then closed for the following week due to heavy fumes from the smoke. Students were allowed to pick up items left behind the morning following the fire, but otherwise stayed home. The building reopened completely on Sept. 23. No visible damage could be seen throughout the majority of the school.