On Monday night, lightning struck a Longwood University-managed apartment building, better known as Longwood Landings Northeast, forcing 60 students to be evacuated.

Although the damage could have been a lot worse, lightning did spark a fire and eight fire companies responded to the scene.

If it were not for the collaboration of the school and the fire departments, tragedy could have struck our quaint two-college community.

School officials acted quickly to ensure all students were out of the building and safe, while the fire departments got to work on containing and putting out the fire. The event happened all too fast, and thank goodness, no one was hurt in the process of evacuating the building.

We applaud Longwood officials for handling the intense situation in a calm way, and for guiding students to safety in a scary time for them in their first few days back on campus.

We commend the eight fire companies that responded in a fast manner to the fire, not only for doing their jobs diligently, but for keeping students safe. We are sure students’ parents are more than thankful to know their children are safe in Farmville because of the joint effort of Longwood and the area fire departments.