Minutes before the morning bell rang last Friday, Charlotte Tibbs 22’ was having a typical day at LT, until her left cheek was gashed open due to a fallen fire extinguisher. Another student had accidentally bumped the crosshall extinguisher with their backpack, causing it to detach from the wall and crash onto the floor where Tibbs was laying.

“All I remember is that I got up afterwards, completely unfazed, and someone told me I was bleeding really badly,” Tibbs said.

Most people around her at the time froze and didn’t know what to do. Luckily, a bystander of the incident, Maja Czarnota 22’, helped out along with two other students by getting tissues to stop the bleeding, Tibbs said.

“My fight or flight kicked in and I was like ‘do I help her or just stay here?’” Czarnota said. “I eventually gave in and went to go help her because I felt so bad.”

The impact of this extinguisher was great enough to send her to the ER. Tibbs was helped to the AP office, then the nurse’s office, where an ambulance was called. A stretcher was brought in which wheeled her out for treatment.

“I ended up having to get seven stitches, and then got a CAT scan done,” Tibbs said. “Then I ended up having a small fracture on my nasal passage and cheekbone area.”

A full recovery will take three to four months. Meanwhile, her mom, Amy Tibbs, has been really supportive and helpful by scheduling appointments with doctors and making sure she has the right medication, Tibbs said. 

“I just hope she [Charlotte] gets the most effective treatment so her road to recovery isn’t as painful,” Amy said.

Preventative measures will be taken to ensure that nobody else will get hurt. Since the extinguisher was attached to the wall with nothing protecting it, Assistant Principal Bryan Radavich is planning on making some adjustments. 

“Usually the fire extinguishers are encased in some sort of protection, so we’re going to make sure of that to prevent any future incidents,” Radavich said.