The typical American high school is a myriad of smells. The scents of floor cleaner, sweat, perfume, and coffee mix together to make a pungent aroma that is unique to a group of teenagers gathering together to receive an education.

Out of all these odors, one odor that should never be present is smoke. Smoke could mean a number of things. For one, it could be an indicator that someone burned popcorn, or that a few misbehaving kids are doing something that they’re not supposed to be doing in a certain bathroom.

But on April 20 and May 1, neither of these reasons were the cause of the penetrating smell of smoke that stunk up the third and first floors in the main buliding.

Some clever boy decided that he wanted to set a trashcan on fire in the boys’ bathrooms, twice. Who this boy is and why he decided to ignite fires on campus is unknown.

But even if we did know who he is and the motives for his actions, would publishing his information make him feel more ridiculous than he probably should?

Not only does the arsonist have nothing better to do with his time than set a trashcan on fire, which is already pitiful enough, he didn’t even cause a fire alarm. What’s more concerning than the fact that there is a Cal student  who feels the need to set trash cans on fire in their free time. This startling fact that the smoke didn’t even set off the fire alarm. The smell of smoke alone was so intense that it makes us wonder how the alarm wasn’t triggered.

Granted, we can all recall a time during our years at Cal when we had to march on to the football field and sit in the hot sun for about an hour before an administrator informed us, in an embarrassed tone, that the only reason for our brief panic was a bag of blackened popcorn.

We at The Californian are confused as to why a teacher’s snack, and not a flaming trash can, can set off the fire alarm.

If another such trash can fire ignited, would this happen again? Say, for instance, the fire got out of control and spread beyond the trash can. This would pose a serious safety threat to all students.

At what point is the fire alarm actually going to sound? Let’s hope we don’t find out the hard way.

Administrators made the right decision by offering a hundred dollar reward to help catch the arsonist. But they also need to look into why no fire alarm sounded, and make sure this does not happen again.

Because these recent events beg the question, how safe are we?