By Addison Chrivia, Managing Editor
Did you know you can donate to Veteran students here at Pellissippi State Community College? As we highlight Veterans Day, we at Imaginary Gardens invite you to join us in recognizing and honoring Veterans’ valiant service by investing in their future through the Veteran Support Fund. Just click the link below, select your donation amount, and designate your contribution to the “Veteran Support Fund.” Imaginary Gardens appreciates your generous support.
Thank you and have a blessed day honoring this nation’s current and retired soldiers,
– Emma G. Harrison, Editor-in-Chief, Imaginary Gardens
Give to the Veteran Support Fund.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that Anya Withington was misattributed to Anya Edwardson. The photographer of these photos is Anya Withington. Updated as of November 11, 9:25 a.m..
Students on Pellissippi State Community College’s Hardin Valley campus on November 2 may have noticed some commotion at the Educational Resource Center (ERC). Around 11:35 a.m., smoke sensors went off in the ERC building, triggering the alarm strobes, and the building was promptly evacuated, with the college library staff and Campus Police ensuring no one was left in the building.
According to Chief Crowe, the alarm panel showed the activation of the fire alarm, after which the fire department and campus police were notified to respond. The officers assessed the scene and smelled the popcorn, but waited for the fire department to clear the scene according to procedure.
Anya Edwardson, an Imaginary Gardens volunteer staff member who was in the tutoring center at the time, noted in a text to the newsroom staff that, “There were at least two fire trucks, maybe three. One to two other trucks with lights, with one of them being a police car. There were at least 4-5 cars on the curb checking out the fire, several officers, and at least 3-4 firemen out of the truck at the time.”
Students also saw a helicopter circling in the sky before leaving. This was unrelated to the incident, but its presence caused speculation among students.
Firefighters quickly responded to the scene and found the source. The cause of all of this panic was simply some overcooked popcorn left in the microwave.
“No fire was reported; the sensor was activated due to the popcorn,” Chief Crowe stated in an email.
Anonymous student employees on the scene at the time described the smell in a number of ways, with burnt plastic and burnt toast being the prominent ones.
The fire department cleared the scene at 11:54 p.m., allowing students back to class, and Campus Police Officers opened the ERC building doors to encourage ventilation and to clear out the smell.
The odor was mostly contained to the first floor and was fairly strong. One of IG’s staff writers, Rebecka Jones, had a class on the second floor of ERC at 12:00 p.m. and noted, “The smell was so strong it gave me a headache when I first walked in. Luckily it wasn’t as strong on the second floor until after my class was over.”
Ultimately, she and others were able to resume class at her normal time without any disruption beyond the smell.
“The smell wasn’t that bad and was mostly confined to the first floor until the doors were opened, and it was really strong on the third floor,” an anonymous student employee confirmed.
When the issue of the smell was overcome, the only issue left for the student employees was dealing with mosquitoes which had gotten in through the open doors.
One thing noted by students, faculty, and staff was the lack of schoolwide notification. Typically, whenever a drill or evacuation is underway, a campuswide email is sent out. A recent unexpected evacuation of the Magnolia campus resulted in a system-wide notification sent via text and email, for example. As there was no such notification sent for the ERC evacuation, students were left to wonder what happened and stood around the ERC building until they were urged to move.
Due to the lack of information, many students were left theorising that it was caused by anything from a gas leak, a burst pipe, to an electrical wiring problem.
According to an anonymous student employee, possible gas leaks and fire drills have been a common occurrence since construction began on the ERC building, resulting in many evacuations over the course of the semester.
Nonetheless, this particular incident was the result of nothing more than burnt popcorn. Pellissippi State students are lucky to have the Campus Police to look after them, as well as the speed of local emergency services. This incident shows that if there are future problems that are worse than burnt popcorn, Pellissippi State is in safe hands.
