Wednesday, October 1st at 1:15pm. Every student in the school knows the jist of what happened at that moment, and if they didn’t at first, they would soon find out from the torrents of rumors that quickly spread throughout the school. First the halls of Orange High were filled with the shrill of the fire bell, only to be told shortly afterwards that it was a false alarm and to ignore it. Also announced over the intercom was the message for all teachers to keep the students in the classrooms even after the bell marking the end of fifth period rang. At this moment everyone was confused. Some thought it was because some prankster had pulled the fire alarm while others thought they were testing the bells for Back to School Night, scheduled to take place later that evening at six o’clock. A third possibility was soon to be acknowledged soon after another message sounded from the intercom. Principal S.K. Johnson briefly announced to the school that a power line had snapped out by the auto shop room and that the school was under lockdown due to the downed live wire on campus.

A total of three police cars, two fire trucks, one emergency response unit, two OUSD cars, and three Edison trucks arrived on campus. The ROTC room was evacuated first while all other classes were told to stay put. Next the teachers’ cars were moved from the parking lot by the cafeteria out towards Harwood which was soon blocked off by the police and firefighters.

Any students wandering the campus without a fifth period was rushed into the DOME along with students in P.E. classes. Some of the portables had lost power and students as well as teachers were left without the air conditioning in hot, stuffy rooms.

It wasn’t until 2:31pm that Principal S.K. Johnson came back on the intercom sounding calm and at ease. The power line had been fixed and all the response vehicles were leaving. The students were told they could leave at the next bell and be let out for the day and that Back to School Night was still scheduled to happen that evening. As soon as the final bell rang and school was out, all anyone could talk about was being in lockdown. Another automated message was sent out to parents notifying them of the accident and that no students were harmed. Hours later another automated message was sent out, this one saying that Back to School Night would have to be cancelled due to the problems with the power lines, there were some fears of the power going out during Back to School Night.