Today, January 16th 2026, a smoke detector went off on the fifth floor of Skyline at around 9:50 am. “The fifth floor looks a lot like the 3rd and 4th, except the hallways are filled with machinery,” said Secretary to Principal Jefferson Bilsborrow. “A motor on one of the AC units blew, and tripped the fire alarm.”
People on the 3rd floor smelled smoke after the alarm tripped, but Bilsborrow said smelling smoke was misleading because of the way the ventilation system in the building is designed. Smelling “smoke” or a “burning smell” in one area of the building doesn’t necessarily mean the source of the smell is in that area of the building.
All students and teachers were evacuated safely. The weather outside was a frigid 7 degrees, and the wait was around half an hour. But school buses were mobilized to certain parts of the school so kids could warm up inside them and sit down.
“I had like, twelve 8th graders that either go to private school or charter school shadow a Skyline student today,” said Bilsborrow, “so I had [these kids], somewhere in the building, we had that whole symposium going on, all these people from elsewhere in the district running around… and then the alarms go off, and you’re just like, ugh…”
Thankfully, the fire department showed up swiftly and addressed the problem, declaring the school safe for the rest of the day.
