High School Fire Drill Protocols?

MoxieMoth · Feb 7, 2012

Howdy! Thanks for stopping in.

Is anyone a teacher in a high school? I'm at a scene in my book where a fire alarm has been pulled in a high school, and seeing as how I've only been the person fleeing from the building I'm not too sure on what actually happens on the inside.

First: My high school never took attendance outside the building. Is this normal? What's the protocol for emergency attendance?

Second: What goes on within the building before the students are let back in? Is the power shut off? Are all the rooms checked?

Third: In the case of an alarm actually being pulled (not a drill), how do things differ?

Thanks so much! Y'all keep me smiling.

jeseymour · Feb 7, 2012

I work at a middle school, does that help? When we have a fire drill, the fire department comes and sets off the alarm. Everyone evacuates the building in an orderly fashion (no fleeing!) Kids are lined up by classes with their teachers. One side of the building goes out to the soccer field, the other side goes out to the parking lot. Each teacher takes attendance for their class. Then the principal and the two office secretaries go around and check with each teacher to make sure all kids are out. We also have to check the visitor sign-in and make sure anyone in the building is out. There is also a sign-in and sign-out sheet that comes out with the office secretaries. Oh, and each class has an emergency bucket which contains things like an emergency blanket, some crackers and applesauce, and I think the Potassium Iodide pills. (We are in the 10 mile zone of Seabrook Nuclear Power plant.) The fire department times all of this and gives the school a grade on how well they did. Let me know if you have any other questions. Our school is small, it might be different at a bigger school. I think all schools are pretty on top of where kids are most of the time.

jclarkdawe · Feb 7, 2012

MoxieMoth said:
Howdy! Thanks for stopping in.

Is anyone a teacher in a high school? I'm at a scene in my book where a fire alarm has been pulled in a high school, and seeing as how I've only been the person fleeing from the building I'm not too sure on what actually happens on the inside.

First: My high school never took attendance outside the building. Is this normal? What's the protocol for emergency attendance? Most high schools have the students gather by homeroom, where attendance is taken, then totaled for the whole school. Everybody needs to be accounted for. Gathering areas are determined by having sufficient space and not interfering with the fire department.

Second: What goes on within the building before the students are let back in? Is the power shut off? Are all the rooms checked? In the case of a drill by the school without the fire department being involved, the principal or assistant principal goes to the alarm panel and trips the alarm. It has a test function which is what is used.

In a real thing, either the alarm system goes off by itself, or the school receives a phone call and then activates the alarm system. It is the school's function to evacuate the building. That's it.

Fire department, upon arrival, will do two things. One is to check with the principal to make sure that everybody has evacuated the building (usually a few staff will stay in the building just to screw things up and there will be a couple of missing students). Second is to go to the alarm panel and check where the alarm is coming from (the panel will disclose the location). You hit the silence for the alarm (it's annoying to listen to) and investigate the offending alarm head. Basically the question is why did it go off. Once that is figured out, then a search is conducted of the entire building to determine that nothing else is wrong.

Once you have cleared the building (smart firefighters do not rely on reports from any school officials), the alarm panel is cleared, and you wait to see if it trips again. If it does, you go back to the offending alarm and again see if there's a real problem. If not, you'll disable that head and notify the alarm company.

Bomb threats are investigated a bit differently, but essentially the same.

Power would only be shut off if there's a reason. There's a master trip in the utility room.

Every room is checked, both to make sure everybody has exited the building, and to make sure there is no problem.

Third: In the case of an alarm actually being pulled (not a drill), how do things differ? Only difference should be whether the fire department shows up. Schools are required by law to have a certain number of drills each school year.

Thanks so much! Y'all keep me smiling.

Definitely the more frequently an alarm goes off, the less seriously it's treated. Our elementary school was having electrical problems with the alarm system, resulting in frequent alarms. A lot less investigation went on as we realized the alarms were not actually occurring. (Not as bad as when the town hall had the same sort of problem. We have a volunteer department and sometimes only one or two people would show up, reset the alarm panel, and only check the building if it went off again.)

If you have a more specific situation, and the size of the community/fire department, I can give you a better idea of what a specific response would be. I was a volunteer firefighter for many years.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

GeorgeK · Feb 8, 2012

I've noticed that part of the regimen is that this is the time that reprobates and miscreants are allotted to stick their freshly chewed gum under the desks of perceived rivals and love interests so that when the students return and sit down, they get gum stuck to their knees from the underside of the desk.

jaksen · Feb 8, 2012

jeseymour said:
I work at a middle school, does that help? When we have a fire drill, the fire department comes and sets off the alarm. Everyone evacuates the building in an orderly fashion (no fleeing!) Kids are lined up by classes with their teachers. One side of the building goes out to the soccer field, the other side goes out to the parking lot. Each teacher takes attendance for their class. Then the principal and the two office secretaries go around and check with each teacher to make sure all kids are out. We also have to check the visitor sign-in and make sure anyone in the building is out. There is also a sign-in and sign-out sheet that comes out with the office secretaries. Oh, and each class has an emergency bucket which contains things like an emergency blanket, some crackers and applesauce, and I think the Potassium Iodide pills. (We are in the 10 mile zone of Seabrook Nuclear Power plant.) The fire department times all of this and gives the school a grade on how well they did. Let me know if you have any other questions. Our school is small, it might be different at a bigger school. I think all schools are pretty on top of where kids are most of the time.

With the exception of the potassium iodide pills, this is exactly how we did things at the middle school I taught at for several centuries.

I also set off the fire alarm myself 3X in one day. Yes, the administration loved me. (The new dishwasher in the prep room was setting it off every time I started it - the little bit of steam it generated and got into the room was setting off the alarm in the ceiling. Later they replaced that alarm with a heat sensor.) The dishwasher did it twice.

In the same day a student set his hot plate on fire - the old cord draped over the hot plate trick - and I missed it. We smelled it, of course, but by that time the alarms went off again.

shakeysix · Feb 8, 2012

i teach in a very small rural high school. most classes are less than ten students so we just count heads on the parking lot when we have a drill. in larger districts i have had to carry my roll book out with me. there is usually a pre-warning for fire and tornado drills--an e-mail or a spot for the faculty announcements.
when there is no pre-warnings things go comically wrong. nothing goes like planned.
once in my daughter's jr. high a student smoking on the second floor restroom managed to ignite dried vines growing on the outside of the building. teachers and students in the south side of the building saw flames and evacuated. a driver's ed teacher, who is also a dear friend, rushed into the office and announced: "it's a fire! no shit! it's a real fucking fire!"
in my own experience a CoOp warehouse about a half block away from our high school caught fire. it smoldered for a long time before bursting into flames. the entire high school evacuated before the alarm went off. not so the grade school. the first graders had a substitute that day and would have had to walk through smoke to leave their classroom. we wanted the school evacuated because, even though it wasn't on fire, the warehouse had all kinds of fertilizers and herbicides in it. the fumes could have been dangerous. the fire trucks--which came from seventeen miles away--and the alarms had the little kids terrified. we teachers had to go through the smoke and carry the little kids out and to the school bus. because it was a country school there was no place to take the kids but a park on the edge of town--the town had a population of 288. it was a hot september day. so people from the town brought water for the little kids and tried to make a play day of it but the kids were pretty shaken up.
the high school principal was new. he decided that it would be better to dismiss the high school than to load them on the bus since they all had cars. where did the high schoolers go? why down the street to watch the fire and run through the smoke--duh.--s6

sk3erkrou · Feb 9, 2012

Just for a little information first, I teach at a high school in Florida, but I interned at a middle school that operated differently, so I will answer with both.

MoxieMoth said:
Howdy! Thanks for stopping in.

Is anyone a teacher in a high school? I'm at a scene in my book where a fire alarm has been pulled in a high school, and seeing as how I've only been the person fleeing from the building I'm not too sure on what actually happens on the inside.

First: My high school never took attendance outside the building. Is this normal? What's the protocol for emergency attendance?

At my high school, we do not take attendance outside, the students simply mill around in a grass area. At the middle school each class would line up according to teacher and we would take attendance immediately after getting outside.

Second: What goes on within the building before the students are let back in? Is the power shut off? Are all the rooms checked?

For a drill, admin just makes sure everyone is where they're supposed to be, same for middle school. For the real thing (we had 2 students light a paper towel dispenser on fire), the fire truck came and the firefighters went in to make sure there was nothing else on fire. As far as I know, they did not shut off power. They also kept everyone out of that hallway for the rest of the day because it is a crime.

Third: In the case of an alarm actually being pulled (not a drill), how do things differ?

The only way things differed is that an administrator will not be standing around monitoring the evacuation. Also, the teachers at my high school know about all drills in advance, so we were all confused. Plus, our drills only last about five minutes from the alarm going off until we're allowed back in. The real thing you will obviously be outside longer.

Thanks so much! Y'all keep me smiling.

A little more information. At my high school, I just grab my attendance folder in case something happens, I can let anyone know if a certain student was actually in class at the time. In the middle school, each teacher had a FIRE folder stuck to the white board with a magnet. This folder contained a current roster for each class along with a list of any and all emergency procedures for any situation.

I hope this helps.

sk3erkrou · Feb 9, 2012

shakeysix said:
tornado drills

I forgot to mention our severe weather drills. We have one of these about once ever few months. I teach in a portable, so I take my students to a predesignated classroom where everyone (but myself and the other teacher) crouches under a desk or table. These last a little longer than fire drills, which we think is hilarious because of all the kids complaining about sitting on the floor.

areteus · Feb 10, 2012

In all schools where there are under 18s present, the institute has an implicit 'duty of care' which means that they have to know where all their charges are at all times between the school hours (this is why many schools take register in each lesson as well as in the morning and afternoon. If a kid goes missing (either playing truant altogether by not turning up to morning registration or not turning up to a lesson they are supposed to be at) there is usually a flag on the system which notifies people who can take action. This action may not be much initially or even obvious to anyone but things like calls to parents are made and searches of the building.

In a fire drill this duty of care still applies so the teacher and senior staff need to know whether all the kids got out or not. easiest way to do that is to set a standard gathering point and count heads. Most schools I have been in tell kids to gather in their form groups and make it the responsibility of the form tutor to take a register/count heads. Some schools even have markings on the playground with form group names/numbers so they know where to gather.

Now, the main concern is pre 16 (not sure exactly when high school starts in US - I am guessing it is 14 - 18 with junior high being before this?) because the duty of care is fairly important at that stage and they get quite obsessive about registration and tracking of students. Post 16 the duty of care is still present but a lot of the restrictions are relaxed - they are less concerned if a student does not turn up to lessons because they see it as less of a safety concern (under 16 they are worried about danger to the kid) and more of a 'you won't pass your exams if you don't show up' concern which can be dealt with in the longer term.

So, High School they may not be so concerned for the post 16s (though you can bet there will be a subtle headcount to make sure) while pre16 they will be fairly strict about ensuring they are all present and correct.

shakeysix · Feb 10, 2012

for tornado drills our entire school--grades 1-12, all faculty, all staff go to the ground floor room where senior english is taught. it is windowless and designed to be a shelter. kind of a tight fit with the seniors and small fry all together. we teachers always worry that a six foot senior will step on a first graders. --s6

jeseymour · Feb 10, 2012

sk3erkrou said:
I forgot to mention our severe weather drills. We have one of these about once ever few months. I teach in a portable, so I take my students to a predesignated classroom where everyone (but myself and the other teacher) crouches under a desk or table. These last a little longer than fire drills, which we think is hilarious because of all the kids complaining about sitting on the floor.

We also have lockdown drills, but they are way different from a fire drill. If the OP would like to hear about that, I'm willing to share.

jaksen · Feb 10, 2012

jeseymour said:
We also have lockdown drills, but they are way different from a fire drill. If the OP would like to hear about that, I'm willing to share.

Ooooh...there was a lockdown in your state today.

MoxieMoth · Feb 11, 2012

Thank you everyone! This is super helpful. Knowing the differences between situations and protocols is giving me a few good plot points that I totally would have missed out on.

I think I'm going to go with a composite of a few of the the protocols. It's a public high school, about 1,400 students, located in New England. Attendance will be required and taken based on the class the students are in when the alarm is pulled. After attendance is taken the attendance sheets are sent (via a student from each class) to the vice principal/random administrator who will also be outside with the students. The absences in each class are compared against a sign-in/out sheet, or a binder, which would be kept in the attendance office of the school and brought out during drills. Or would it be the front office? My high school had both, but I might use the front office since it's a little more archetypal. The binder will also serve as a reference for visitor attendance.

Meanwhile, a volunteer firefighter attends to searching the school with the principal, as to make sure everyone is out and the building is clear. A few students are held back for the purposes of making sure the system is catching unaccountable absences (I'm not sure where these students will be held, but probably with the administers totaling attendance). After the drill is complete, the firefighter reviews the exercise with the principal.

As a side note: My characters are using the serendipitous drill to sneak into the main office of the school and steal the sign-in/out binder in the hopes of figuring out another student's identity. They reach the office as the school is bled of students, but get trapped in the office when the VP swoops back in to pick up the binder they're after. They, like me, didn't anticipate that the binder was used in drills. With the processes described above this seems like a legitimate sequence of events, I hope.

If anyone sees any glaring errors in my composite or has suggestions please let me know! Your insights are invaluable and knowing if the above is plausible would mean so much.

Thanks again for all the great info!

-Moxie

shakeysix · Feb 12, 2012

we always "hold' kids in the library in the hope one of them will notice the books on the walls and ask what they are--s6

Debbie V · Feb 13, 2012

The lack of technology feels unrealistic to me. Daily attendence was computerized at the school I worked at in the nineties. An absence list went to each teacher and we marked anyone not on the list as cutting. We also took class attendance after a drill to make sure all students returned to class.

Planned drills really are only five minutes long, except in very big schools where it takes longer for everyone to get out. That's not much time for your characters to do their sneaking.

Holding kids is illegal. All people must leave the building in a fire drill, even the administrators, unless escorted by the fire department. At least that's my understanding of New York law.

I've seen the fire dept use a smoke bomb to make a drill more realistic. They once let my class out before starting because we would have had to exit through the smoke. This was in an elementary school.

High School Fire Drill Protocols?

MoxieMoth

Curtis was supposed to LOVE ME

jeseymour

jclarkdawe

Feeling lucky, Query?

GeorgeK

ever seeking

jaksen

Caped Codder

shakeysix

blue eyed floozy

sk3erkrou

sk3erkrou

areteus

shakeysix

blue eyed floozy

jeseymour

jaksen

Caped Codder

MoxieMoth

Curtis was supposed to LOVE ME

shakeysix

blue eyed floozy

Debbie V

Mentoring Myself and Others