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Students were evacuated from Dickinson High School and sent out into the bitter cold for 5 to 10 minutes without their coats this morning when a fire alarm went off, officials said.

(Journal file photo)

With the wind whistling and the temperature hovering around 6 degrees (minus-11 with the wind chill factor) this morning, more than 2,000 students at Dickinson High School in Jersey City were evacuated into the cold without coats when a fire alarm sounded, school officials said.

The students were outside for between five and 10 minutes, Jersey City school district spokeswoman Maryann Dickar said this morning.

"Because we don't know what the emergency is, we send them straight outside," said an employee at the school, who asked not to be identified because he is not authorized to speak for the district. "If the Fire Department arrives and there are people in the hallway, we get in trouble."

Initially it was reported to the Fire Department that there was a broken steam pipe, but Dickar said it turned out to be a false alarm. Dickar said a fire truck was being stationed outside the building as a precaution.

"These kind of temperatures can affect anyone within 5 to 10 minutes," said meteorologist Raymond Lee, an expert in the effects of snow and ice conditions.

"You risk frostbite and the beginnings of hypothermia (in extreme cases)," said Lee.

"It's the layering that matters most in these situations."

A student told the Jersey Journal that it was so cold her teacher let her and a couple of her classmates sit in her car for the duration of the alarm.

"I was just in my uniform so it was frustrating to be in the freezing cold," said 12th grader Gabriel Cajamarca, 17, from Jersey City. "Even though we were out there for 5-10 minutes, it felt like a lot longer"

Denzel Reid, 11th grader from Jersey City, was lucky enough to be wearing his jacket when the alarm went off and says he couldn't imagine how cold some of the other students must of been only wearing their uniforms.

Najee Greene,17, 12th grader from Jersey City, said "To put it simple, it was cold. I was wearing a sweater at the time [of the alarm] and it wasn't enough."