The good news for students and staff at Simpson Elementary School and members of the Bridgeport Fire Department was a 911 call for a smoke alarm going off at the educational facility proved to be a false alarm. The even better news, according to Fire Chief Phil Hart, is that the situation was handled perfectly by those at the school.

 

“The administration and staff at Simpson did an excellent job of evacuating the building. Actually, it appeared they did a perfect job. Considering it’s still very early in the year and may not have had any chance to do any fire drills, or limited drills at best, it was exactly what you want to see,” said Hart.

 

What you don’t want to hear are Main Street Bridgeport fire sirens and then see that there is an “alarm fire” call on Worthington Drive, which turns out to be for Simpson. The call went out at 10:43 a.m. and in minutes Bridgeport Fire staff and Bridgeport Police were on the scene.

 

“There was a smoke alarm activated. This wasn’t a planned drill,” said Hart. “They quickly evacuated the school and were calling to get the fire department at the same time.”

 

Hart said that prior to the arrival of the department, the alarm that went off had been reset. He said it’s been classified as a “faulty smoke detector” incident. That doesn’t mean, necessarily, that the alarm doesn’t work.

 

“It could have been a small piece of dust that got into it and made it go off. That happens occasionally,” Hart said. “The alarm remained reset while we were there and there were no issues. We searched the building and there were no signs of smoke or any hazards and we were quickly able to allow the students to go back into the school.”

 

In fact, roughly 15 minutes later students were heading back into the building. Hart said the alarm system is currently, and has been, fully operational for anyone that may be concerned. Hart also said anyone concerned should be pleased with the job by Principal Jill Steele and her entire staff.

 

“We arrived and we arrived quickly and the students were all out and accounted for. They were in a safe place and a safe distance from the school where we could properly place our apparatus if there was an actual fire and not have to worry about children being in the way,” Hart said. “I can’t commend them enough for doing such a great job.”