Students and staff were evacuated from De Soto High School at 8:32 a.m. today, March 13, after a fire alarm was set off. Students were allowed to return to school at 10 a.m., school officials said.
Superintendent Josh Isaacson said a student with special needs participating in a physical education class pulled the alarm, which was near a walking track in the gym.
“The reason it took well over an hour to get the (fire alarm) system reset was because the alarm panel was showing errors in different locations of the building, and once they were checked, the system still did not reset,” Isaacson said in a letter to staff this morning.
“The result of this pull station being pulled caused alarms across the fire alarm panel. The system is reset and active, and the building is safe to resume school. The alarm company is sending a technician to review the matter of the multiple alarms from one actual alarm being pulled.”
He thanked the De Soto Fire Department and De Soto Rural and Hematite fire protection districts for their quick response, securing the building, locating the pulled alarm and making sure it was safe for students to return to the building.