Small Fire at Santa Monica College’s Center for Media and Design

A fire occurred inside CMD 102 on Thu., Oct. 10, 2024 at the Santa Monica College Center for Media & Design in Santa Monica, Calif. A battery attached to a student’s phone exploded and caught on fire during Professor Robert Karron’s English 1 class. The Santa Monica Fire Department cleared the scene slightly before noon. (Rebecca Villagracia | The Corsair)

Santa Monica College Police Sgt. Chiquita Brown exits CMD 102 after a fire on Thu., Oct. 10, 2024 at the Santa Monica College Center for Media & Design in Santa Monica, Calif. A battery attached to a student’s phone exploded and caught on fire during Professor Robert Karron’s English 1 class. The Santa Monica Fire Department cleared the scene slightly before noon. (Rebecca Villagracia | The Corsair)

Santa Monica College Police Sgt. Chiquita Brown awaits the Santa Monica Fire Department after a fire on Thu., Oct. 10, 2024 at the Santa Monica College Center for Media & Design in Santa Monica, Calif. A battery attached to a student’s phone exploded and caught on fire during Professor Robert Karron’s English 1 class. The Santa Monica Fire Department cleared the scene slightly before noon. (Rebecca Villagracia | The Corsair)

The Santa Monica Fire Department arrives at the scene after a fire on Thu., Oct. 10, 2024 at the Santa Monica College Center for Media & Design in Santa Monica, Calif. A battery attached to a student’s phone exploded and caught on fire during Professor Robert Karron’s English 1 class. The Santa Monica Fire Department cleared the scene slightly before noon. (Rebecca Villagracia | The Corsair)

Santa Monica College Police Officer Dickenson, center, walks with the Santa Monica Fire Department after a fire on Thu., Oct. 10, 2024 at the Santa Monica College Center for Media & Design in Santa Monica, Calif. A battery attached to a student’s phone exploded and caught on fire during Professor Robert Karron’s English 1 class. The Santa Monica Fire Department cleared the scene slightly before noon. (Rebecca Villagracia | The Corsair)

The Santa Monica Fire Department arrives at the scene after a fire on Thu., Oct. 10, 2024 at the Santa Monica College Center for Media & Design in Santa Monica, Calif. A battery attached to a student’s phone exploded and caught on fire during Professor Robert Karron’s English 1 class. The Santa Monica Fire Department cleared the scene slightly before noon. (Rebecca Villagracia | The Corsair)

Professor Robert Karron, far left, speaks with the Santa Monica Fire Department after a fire on Thu., Oct. 10, 2024 at the Santa Monica College Center for Media & Design in Santa Monica, Calif. A battery attached to a student’s phone exploded and caught on fire during Professor Karron’s English 1 class. The Santa Monica Fire Department cleared the scene slightly before noon. (Rebecca Villagracia | The Corsair)

Santa Monica, Calif. — A small fire broke out in an English 1 classroom on Thursday, Oct. 10, at SMC’s Center for Media and Design. The fire broke out due to a student’s phone battery that was attached to their cell phone, according to the instructor, Professor Robert Karron.

There were no injuries that occurred and no damages in the classroom. 911 was called at 11:48 a.m. Firefighters and a fire engine arrived. According to Karron, his English class was dismissed over various reasons, including smoke inside the classroom with a nonfunctional window. The student whose phone battery started the fire declined an interview and did not provide their name.

Karron said, We were in the middle of class, and a student sitting in the middle, their phone battery, I guess an extra battery that they were attaching to their phone just exploded. It made a little sound and it caught on fire. The fire shot up about a foot and everyone screamed. Students then backed away from it and knocked away from her. It fell to the floor. Everyone moved away. I took a trash can that was next to me and went over to it and… smushed it with the bottom end of the trash can to put the fire out. The flame had got up but [sic] the time it sort [of] had hit the floor. It already subsided a little bit. It was not, it was probably a few inches off the ground at that point.”

Karron added, “I hit it a bunch of times and it went out completely. One of the students while I was doing that had the presence of mind to run outside the class and find the fire extinguisher and came back with it. And just for good measure sprayed it a couple of times in case [the fire] was thinking of starting again. Then we called the police who sent the fire department and they came in, I do not know, five to 10 minutes later. Something like that. There was not much to do at that point. It was resolved out [sic]. Unfortunately, the windows in my classroom don’t open. So, we are leaving the doors open and hoping it will air out.”