Since the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year, Omaha North High School has had repetitive fire alarms. Some were planned, while most were not and have been caused by a student or another event. 

“Some have just been faults, alarms that just went off and were never reset. They may be caused by kids vaping in the hallways, but no one really knows why they keep going off,” said Jeremy Rone, School Resource Officer at Omaha North. 

As a student myself, the multiple fire alarms and drills are frustrating. I am tired of my work time and instruction being interrupted randomly. Many students at North also feel similarly about the excessive fire alarms.  

“I honestly don’t like it, due to how cold it is outside. I feel like fire alarms shouldn’t happen that much, but it does because people are smoking in there,” said Piper McCloud, 10.  

Kayleigh Clark, 10, has a disability, which makes it harder for her to go up and down the stairs during a fire alarm.  

“It’s annoying to evacuate, especially when I’m on the third floor,” said Clark. 

The unplanned fire alarms have been a major disruption and interfere with students’ ability to accomplish their work.   

“I was in Viking Time trying to get help with my chemistry assignment, around 9:20 a.m. Then, we evacuated. By the time we got back, it was time to go, and I didn’t have enough time to ask questions and do things I actually wanted to do,” said McCloud.  

Aside from the disruption fire alarms cause, they are also very time consuming.  

“If I would have to guess, it takes three to four minutes to get all of the kids out the door and the same amount of time to get everyone back in the building after the alarm,” said Rone  

It has been frustrating for staff to keep students where they are supposed to be. At times, students can wander off school grounds. 

Some students notice the issues staff members must deal with. 

“I see students leave during the fire drills and go down to other places, like McDonald’s,” said McCloud. 

The issues with the repeated fire alarms are clear. The interruptions caused by fire alarms and the amount of time drills take are big problems. I believe that the constant fire alarms need to be stopped.