Eyes watered with exhaustion of the early morning, and voices buzzed excitedly across campus, in anticipation for Thanksgiving break. Teachers readied themselves and checked their watches just moments before the school’s scheduled fire drill. Except this time it wasn’t practice.
“That wasn’t us,” Associate Principal Dan Horton recalled radioing to staff that morning. “It’s real, get out.”
The infamous so-called fire wasn’t a blaze at all but rather a malfunctioning AC unit sputtering smoke into the building. However, the timing could not have been more odd — the faculty was already informed of a drill and actively preparing for it, which made the sudden evacuation feel like part of the plan at first.
“[Mrs. Bolzle’s] room was filling up with smoke,” science teacher Mr. Richard Muenich said. “I pulled the fire alarm and told the kids next door ‘it’s a real fire, get out.’”
As students poured outside, the cool November air set in. Administrators kept everyone on hold for more than an hour while firefighters investigated the building. Some students joined the adjacent Spring Branch Middle School at the stadium. Others scattered around the campus anywhere from the parking lot to the grassy hills surrounding it.
“When the [fire] trucks came, that’s when everyone realized it wasn’t a drill,” senior Ben Corson said.
Laughter quickly got replaced by anxious whispers as the reality of the situation sank in.
“I was nervous when they gathered us outside,” Corson said. “I could feel something was wrong but couldn’t tell.”
Though the fire wasn’t a legitimate one and students were able to return to campus later that day, the memory lives on in the conversations of the senior class.
“I think it’s just one of those little things that made that year memorable,” Horton said.
As the class of 2026 begins their senior year, they hold the unique distinction of being the last students who remember the fiasco from their former hallway and a half. For everyone else, it’s just another story passed down — smoky AC unit, an oddly timed drill and an early taste of Thanksgiving break. But for those who were present, it remains one of the small yet strange moments that made their high school years unforgettable.
