Thursday November 16, a day that will go down in Westfield High School history. The infamous day where students stood outside for three to four hours. Why? Well…no one really knew at the time. Many still don’t know. There have been plenty of rumors and falsities that have circulated the school, and many people not to blame have been blamed. 

      To clear up some of the misconceptions, I took it upon myself to pile up as much information as I could, and present it to the masses.

———

9:54 AM

       Teachers officially got an email from admin staff stating that there was a power outage, and that students had to be kept in the classroom. The power outage swept throughout the school manifesting itself in different ways. As someone in R hall, the hall lights were the only lights that went out, but others did lose wifi, lights in their classrooms, hall lights, and smelt fire. The original power outage was caused by a transformer that wasn’t working properly. Within an hour of the original outage, more lights went out. 

       There had been some talk that morning, and days before, of a fire kind of smell. In E114 the class smelt of something burning. The AC had stopped working, and it felt like a sauna. 

       Between the first and second power outage, the vents in the cafeteria closed. The cafeteria mixed with mixture of smoke from the electrical fire and preparation of lunch. The smoke that filled in the cafeteria quickly spread throughout the halls. Some teachers say that a person pulled the alarm after seeing the smoke.

        At least for me, I know that administrators and teachers were screaming that it “was not a drill.” I don’t know what the experience was like for other students, but the teachers were rushing us, in R hall, out of the building. 

       All of this was caused by the transformer  exploding and catching fire. 

10:48 AM

       Within the first hour, around three fire trucks arrived on the R hall side of the building. Along with the fire trucks, there was an ambulance and a white van. From where I stood near the track, you could hear a kind of a loud whooshing sound. The sound was caused by numerous fans placed throughout the hallways of the school by the firefighters. From what I’ve gathered, one set of firefighters went to stop the electrical fire while another set went to clear the smoke out of the halls. 

11:04 AM 

        As this was occurring, before any students knew what was happening, a puff of smoke was seen near Cub Run. Many students from different parts of the building thought that was the school, but it wasn’t. The puff of smoke came from completely off campus, and there was no other puff that was seen. 

       The students on the track were told that there was an electrical fire that needed to be put out, and that the process would only take an hour. 

11:07 AM

       An email was sent out to parents from Dibari. The email stated that students would be back in the building within minutes, and that the situation was being handled.  

11:43 AM

       I, personally, did not know this until the following day, but Principal Dibari was not present during the beginning of this situation. Like most principals, Dibari had a meeting off campus that he needed to attend. Dibari was somewhat in the know, but could not leave due to the severity of the meeting. The earliest that he could leave, he did. I must admit, I did laugh a little when students had to move out of the way of his car. 

      This is a piece of information that a lot of teachers did know at the time or even the following day. 

      The process of clearing the fire and smoke did not finish until about halfway through the second hour. It is important to note that during this time, Dibari and other administrators were in contact with the central office. The central office is what many teachers and faculty refer to as the Fairfax County Public School’s main building; essentially, the Superintendent’s office. In FCPS protocol, a school’s principal/administrators team cannot decide if the school closes for the day; the central office makes that decision. 

       Communication between the central office and Westfield was strained. The best way I can describe it was as a game of tag. When the central office would come back with a solution, then there was another problem that Westfield would ask them about. The lag time was about 30 minutes. 

       Power outages continued in the building even after the fire was put out. Due to these outages, and guidance from the central office, all students were moved to the stadium. 

12: 16 PM

       All students were evacuated to the stadium to keep them all in an enclosed space. There were stories of some students getting away and others fighting one another. They also wanted to keep students in the stadium to have a more efficient way of giving them lunch. 

       At this point, many students were discouraged from moving whether that was to go to the bathroom or to look for any siblings. Students were even discouraged from simply moving amongst the bleachers. I was told that it would take 45 minutes to get lunch ready, and then everyone was coming back to the stadium. Likewise, I was told they were releasing students to emergency contacts who brought their I.D. 

        Students on the visitor side of the stadium, those who left for lunch first, were told lunch was solely for students who planned on buying lunch. This caused many students to not get up because they thought they would have time to eat their lunch later. They didn’t. On the home side of the stadium, where I was, students were slowly starting to get picked up by their parents. 

12:48 PM

        In order to get picked up, an emergency contact had to come with their I.D. The faculty at the front were making students identify their parents before they were released. My mom had arrived around the time I was in the lunch line. Luckily, I had all my things with me, so I skipped the line and walked towards her. I told a teacher that my mom was there, but I had to walk back into the stadium just to walk to the other side. 

2:30 PM

       Students were allowed to enter the building again at around 2:30 pm. Students were directed back to their fourth period class since many had left their belongings. Students then were expected to go to their eighth period class. Much like the students, teachers didn’t have access to the bathroom or to any lunches. For most of the day, they weren’t in the know much like us students. 

———

       Overall, the day showed how unprepared Westfield was for an event of this magnitude. There was limited communication between teachers and administrators, there were opportunities for students to leave, and there was weak contact between the school and parents. There was an inadequate plan for food and bathrooms, and nearly no plan for water. It felt as if administrators barely knew what to do without the guidance of Dibari. 

       Our school, other schools, and the county could learn a lot from this. These sort of situations need to be practiced, and not just by having monthly fire drills. Students need to practice going out then walking to the stadium. Administrators and teachers need to practice how they will communicate with one another. Faculty also need to practice setting up stations for food, water, and bathrooms. This could even be a good opportunity to improve contact amidst FCPS schools and the central office. 

       Instead of focusing on the bad, we need to focus on ways to grow. Turn a bad situation into something good.