AUSTIN, TX — Three roommates in a West Campus apartment near the University of Texas were arrested Monday evening after their 4/20 smoke session generated enough particulate matter to trigger the building’s commercial fire alarm system, forcing the evacuation of 72 units and the deployment of three Austin Fire Department trucks.

Colton James Peevy, 21, Nolan Patrick Stricklin, 22, and Diego Alejandro Fuentes, 21, all students at UT Austin, had reportedly sealed their fourth-floor apartment with towels under every door and painter’s tape over every vent in preparation for what Peevy later described as their “annual hotbox Olympics.” The sealed environment successfully trapped all smoke inside the unit — until approximately 7:40 p.m., when the building’s centralized HVAC system cycled on and pulled the accumulated smoke directly into the shared air handling system.

Four Floors, One HVAC, Zero Escape

Within minutes, smoke detectors activated across all four floors. Residents reported the hallways smelled “distinctly herbal.” The building’s fire panel triggered a full evacuation alarm, sending 150 residents into the parking lot in various states of pajamas and confusion.

“Three trucks responded. We cleared every floor. We could not find a fire. What we found was apartment 412, sealed like a submarine, with three gentlemen inside who had not heard the alarm because they were — and this is in the report — ‘watching Planet Earth on mute with Pink Floyd playing over it.'” — Capt. Elena Briscoe, Austin Fire Department

When firefighters breached the apartment door, the resulting release of trapped smoke triggered an additional hallway detector. One firefighter reportedly stepped back and said, “That’s not a fire.” The three roommates were found on a sectional couch surrounded by what the incident report catalogs as: four empty Domino’s boxes, a bag of shredded cheese eaten directly, a partially assembled 1,000-piece puzzle of Bob Ross, and “a concerning number of empty Gatorade bottles.”

All three were cited for possession in an amount exceeding personal use, creating a public nuisance, and reckless endangerment related to the false alarm. AFD confirmed the response cost the city an estimated $14,000. The roommates were booked into the Travis County Jail, where Stricklin reportedly asked if they could finish the puzzle during processing. They could not. Their group booking on JailReport.lol is trending under the title “The Hotbox Three.” Bond was set at $2,000 each.