A fire set in a garbage can on the eighth floor on Tuesday, November 24, forced the third evacuation of Stuyvesant High School in two weeks. A number of small fires in bathrooms, garbage cans, hallways and stairwells were also set around the school over that period.

Fires on Friday, November 13, and Thursday, November 19, also resulted in evacuations. The New York Fire Department was called to put out those fires. The other, smaller fires were put out by faculty and school safety officials.

Two fires were set in the third-floor boys’ bathroom on Friday, November 13, one in a trash can and one in a paper towel dispenser.

The Fire Department was called at 11:42 that morning and sent 12 trucks and 60 firefighters, according to the article “Student Charged in Fire at Stuyvesant High,” published on The New York Times Web site on Friday, November 20.

Upon arrival, the Fire Department told Assistant Principal (AP) Organization Randi Damesek to evacuate the building. Students remained evacuated until the end of sixth period.

Four fires were set on Thursday, November 19, one in the fourth-floor boys’ bathroom, one in a stairwell between the fourth and fifth floors, one in a hallway on the 10th floor and one in a hallway on the seventh floor.

The school was evacuated during second period and students remained outside until the end of the period. The Fire Department was called again and fire marshals began investigating the fires.

Math teacher Bernard Feigenbaum attempted to put out the fire in the fourth-floor bathroom, but was overwhelmed by the smoke and passed out shortly after leaving the bathroom.

“I went into the bathroom, I tried to put it out myself and I was in there for maybe a minute,” Feigenbaum said. “I couldn’t breathe. It was getting real bad so I got out of the bathroom and I kind of collapsed on the ground for about a minute or two. The door was closed when I was doing it, so the smoke kind of overwhelmed me.”

AP English Eric Grossman also put out a fire in the ninth floor boys’ bathroom on Thursday, November 19.

After students returned to the building, Principal Stanley Teitel made an announcement in which he condemned the acts and threatened to have the arsonist arrested and expelled from the New York City public school system.

A junior was arrested on Friday, November 20, and charged with second-degree attempted arson, fifth-degree arson and reckless endangerment for setting the fires on Thursday, November 19 after allegedly being identified on a surveillance camera, according to The New York Times article “Student Charged in Fire at Stuyvesant High,” published on Friday, November 20. If convicted, he faces up to seven years in prison, according to The New York Post article “Elite School ‘Firebug’ Bust,” published on Saturday, November 21.

The Tuesday, November 24 evacuation took place at the end of fourth period and lasted for most of fifth period. The fire that caused the evacuation was in a garbage can on the eighth floor, and Teitel put out that fire himself.

In The New York Daily News article “You Can’t Catch Me, Stuyvesant High School Copycat Pyromaniac Boasts,” published on Wednesday, November 25, an anonymous Fire Department source stated that several notes were left at some of the fires, including one that said “I’m smart enough – you can’t catch me,” and one apparently written in hieroglyphics.

A number of posters were also hung around the school on Wednesday, November 25, which contained song lyrics about fire. They were written in blue ink with the word “fire” in red. One of these posters read, “I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain.” Teitel said he felt it was necessary to notify the police about the suspicious posters, but would not speculate on who was responsible for them.

Teitel held a meeting for teachers on Tuesday, November 24, outlining a plan in reaction to the fires that would limit student privileges. The plan was scheduled to go into effect on Monday, November 30.

According to the plan, students would be forced to stay in the theater during their free periods and would not be allowed to walk around the school freely. During their lunch periods, students would either have to stay in the cafeteria or go out for lunch. In addition, teachers would have to make students sign out to go the bathroom and sign back in, and students would have to be given bathroom passes by their teachers to show they had permission to be out of the classroom. The library would also be closed to all students.

However, the plan has not yet been implemented. Teitel declined to comment on why it was not implemented beyond saying, “I just like all of you.”

Yet according to computer science teacher Peter Brooks, the plan was not implemented because “there are apparently stakeholders other than the administration that have made the implementation a little bit more complicated and problematic,” he said.

Most students and teachers expressed feelings ranging from annoyance to outrage about the fires.

“Whoever is setting the fires needs to stop setting them, because it’s really affecting all their other classmates, and if they don’t stop we’re going to keep getting our rights taken away,” junior Arik Raviv said.

“They’re just a bunch of idiots,” senior Adam Macomb said. “They need help.”

“It’s annoying, a waste of class time and it’s disturbing. It’s a risk to the school, to the school safety, to the kids,” social studies teacher Robert Sandler said. “When they find the kids, take them on a tour of a burn center in a hospital, let them see what it looks like when kids get burned by a fire. They don’t realize—it’s some kind of a joke or something.”

“It’s starting to get a little bit annoying, and I think our principal needs to make some harsher decisions to alleviate it, in terms of students’ freedoms in the building,” physical education teacher Philip Fisher said.

Some students, however, freely expressed their pleasure at getting to miss a few minutes of school.

“Starting fires in a school—it’s not a reputable practice. But using it to get the rest of the school out, I have respect for that,” senior Shivam Pappu said. “I do appreciate getting some more fresh air during the middle of the day. I just wish the arsonist had picked a period other then when I have Mr. Polazzo’s class.”

In a letter e-mailed to parents on Wednesday, November 25, Teitel wrote, “This is clearly an unpleasant and upsetting situation for students and staff, and you may rest assured that I will do all that I can to maintain a safe, stable, and supportive environment for the Stuyvesant community. My paramount responsibility and concern as Principal of Stuyvesant High School is to ensure the safety and welfare of our wonderful students and dedicated faculty. I am working closely with the NYC Fire and Police Departments to investigate and resolve this situation.”

He continued in writing, “I am considering a number of measures that would allow for more effective monitoring of students outside their classrooms.  I will inform you of any such changes as soon as they occur.”

“Whatever the measures are, it will make demands of and put limits on teachers as well as students,” Grossman said. “Everybody’s going to have to deal with this together. Doing nothing has ceased to be okay.”

As of Tuesday, December 1, no fires have been set since the evacuation on Tuesday, November 24, according to Teitel.