An unknown odor sent hazmat crews racing to Apex Friendship Middle School on Friday morning after sixth-grade students reported headaches and feeling unwell, prompting school staff to evacuate classrooms and move children to athletic facilities at the neighboring high school. Parents were told to stay away from campus while emergency responders investigated.
The odor was detected in some sixth-grade classrooms along the school's 1200 hallway, according to a school officials' email cited by CBS17. Students and staff in the affected rooms were first moved to the cafeteria before school staff called the Apex Fire Department, which sent hazmat crews to check the building. As reported by WRAL, numerous students reported headaches once the odor was noticed.
Students Shifted to High School Gym and Stadium
Once the fire department determined a full building evacuation was needed so crews could continue their investigation, students were moved to the gym and stadium at Apex Friendship High School. WRAL's report confirms those students were relocated to athletic facilities at the high school, located nearby in Apex, North Carolina. Apex Friendship staff contacted families directly by email to explain the situation as it unfolded.
Apex Friendship Middle School asked parents and families not to come to campus while the response was underway, a request also noted in the same WRAL report.
Fire Crews Find Nothing Dangerous
The Apex Fire Department said crews ultimately found nothing dangerous inside the middle school. The Raleigh Fire Department also responded to assist at the scene, per the same WRAL account. The exact source of the odor was not identified in either report.
Friday's scare at the Humie Olive Road campus follows a string of similar odor-related evacuations at schools elsewhere this year. Just a day earlier, students at Aurora School in Preston County, West Virginia, were evacuated after reports of a natural gas odor, according to WDTV. On June 3, 2026, a chemical smell forced an evacuation at Swanton High School in Ohio, where first responders eventually declared the building safe, as detailed by WTOL. In other cases, the mystery has gone unsolved entirely — hazmat crews at a San Diego elementary school last September closed their investigation without ever identifying what caused an odor there, according to KPBS Public Media.
