A DeSoto High School exit sign short circuits, causing a small fire during a Friday forensics tournament.
Friday, February 10, while many students at Olathe Northwest were enjoying a day off of school, much of the Raven Forensics team was at DeSoto for a tournament. It was just like any other Friday tournament, until the fire alarm went off and students were told to exit the building.
At 12 degrees with the wind chill, the frigid air was not appreciated among the many participants in the tournament. Many of the kids had left their coats inside, anticipating a quick return to the building. But what most thought would be a fast reentry to the high school turned into a 30, minute wait out in the cold, and seemed much longer to the students.
The exposed hill students were standing on was at the mercy of the wind, leading many of them to huddle together in large groups in an effort to keep warm. However, it was not a very successful effort.
But in addition to the unpleasant half hour in the freezing cold, the fire also inconvenienced the people competing. The tournament that was planned to be about three hours long originally, turned out to last around two hours when everything was said and done. This meant that all events and debate rounds were cut substantially short. Leading to students who had planned on having the entire three hours disadvantaged in their event.
“It cut the session short” senior forensics student Mitchell DePriest said, “It was really inconvenient.”
Later, it was revealed that an exit sign in the building had short-circuited leading to a small fire. And while it was an inconvenience to the students, it was lucky that the school had minimal damage and everyone got out safely.
But even with the fire disrupting rounds, Olathe Northwest still managed to dominate the tournament, receiving almost half of the awards possible on Friday night.
