I agree: they should be required to do it properly, as in actually do an actual fire drill. This is just more evidence that federal-level standards should be, well, standardized throughout the country instead of leaving it up to individual AHJs, who of course all have different ideas of what is “correct” (whatever one okayed this crappy & dangerous way of doing it obviously doesn’t understand how important it is to do fire drills properly).
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Two things can be correct at the same time:
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Simply watching fire drill videos instead of actually conducting a proper fire drill is stupid and wrong and bad and the AHJ should probably have a talking to. Or if this is something the school is doing against the AHJ’s wishes, that should be reported to them. Call the fire marshal and complain if you so desire. You’ll probably get somewhere if you did that.
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You’ve seen just how well our federal government handles the things they are supposed to be handling. Do you really think managing fire protection is something you’d trust them to do competently? Have you seen how they handle education? Transportation? All kinds of other stuff that probably shouldn’t be at the federal level but are?
Because NFPA 72 is a “law” (I say that with massive air quotes as it is not a legal binding document in and of itself, but it is adopted by reference in building codes that are adopted as city ordinance or state law) it is usually at the municipal or state level because the federal government delegates it so in the tenth amendment.
Think of it this way: OSHA is a federally-regulated entity. There are less than 1000 OSHA field agents as of FY 2020. They cannot possibly perform enough inspections to properly protect 160+ million workers. OSHA, a federal agency, does not have the same day-to-day rapport with the people they are meant to enforce, as a local AHJ does with their community. The AHJ knows their community. If something is executed poorly they need to know so they can fix it, and if they’re part of the problem it’s a lot easier to fix.
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Would recommend reaching out to your municipal Fire Department or State Fire Marshal. If your school district (assuming it is a public school) has a fire safety division like mine does, you could also reach out to them.
The fire alarm at the school sounded four times today. I heard on the walkie-talkie that a duct detector in the fifth grade wing was being tripped.
The first time the fire alarm went off a PA announcement came on saying something like “Everyone stay put while we investigate the source of the alarm.” The alarm then silenced and a PA announcement was made announcing an all clear.
Then a few minutes later the fire alarm went off for a few seconds then silenced. Then a PA announcement came on saying “Disregard the fire alarm.”
Then some minutes later the fire alarm went off for a third time and they announced to “stay put” and then announced “we are evacuating the building”. The fire alarm continued for about a few minutes then silenced. Apparently after the fire alarm sounded for a third time the fire department had to come to the school and investigate. No issue was found. While we were outside the fire alarm sounded again for a fourth time for a few seconds before silencing.
Interesting, all of my school’s emergency have been evacuate first, get FD and school safety responding, and then investigate. Policys vary from district to district.
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I think in my district if an unplanned evacuation occurs that it can replace the required fire drill for the month.
That happened this October when someone lit a paper towel on fire in the bathroom. We were going to have a fire drill the next day, but we didn’t.
The elementary school I work at had another pseudo fire drill today. The fire alarms sounded and then a PA announcement was made “this is our monthly fire drill. We will not evacuate. Please take the time to put in the fire drill video.” seconds after the announcement the alarms were silenced.
I hope they eventually get busted for doing that & are forced to do drills properly as they should, because not doing so can get people killed. Have you tried reporting them to the local fire marshal, fire inspector, or AHJ?
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The school had a fire drill today, the first fire drill for the 2023-2024 school year. About a second before the fire alarm sounded, the tone that occurs before PA announcements came on and there was an announcement “this is our monthly fire drill. Evacuate the building.”
At the end of the fire drill there was a PA announcement. “This is the all clear. Return to the building.”
Still continuing that same crap…report them for that already (if you haven’t already & the AHJ has refused to do anything about it).
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You actually evacuated this time?? If so, that’s an improvement.
Yes, we evacuated for the fire drill.
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Keep an eye on it, I assume you have already filed a report with the Municipal Fire Department, Municipal Code Enforcement, State Fire Marshal, or something like that. However this violates a number of NFPA and municipal/state regulations.
My school had another fire drill today. The fire alarms sounded and then a PA announcement came on saying “this is our monthly fire drill. Everyone evacuate the building.”
At the end of the drill there was an announcement “this is the all clear. Everyone return to the building.”
I think my district does two fire drills for the first month of the school year.
I think I see a pattern with the school I work at. For the first half of the school year they have the kids go outside for the fire drills. For the second half of the school year they have the kids watch fire drill videos. That is how it was last school year at least, which was the first full school year that I worked there.
How anyone finds any of that acceptable I have no idea: the purpose of a fire drill is to get everyone familiar with both the fire alarm & what to do if it sounds, not being directly told by staff to leave the building because it’s a fire drill (occupants need to react the exact same way as if it was a real fire & need to be able to leave the building when the alarm sounds even if there’s no announcement) or watching some video which isn’t the same as doing an actual drill.
That’s not good, my school only has three or four drills each year.
Yes, exactly. When I went to school they never made PA announcements when the fire alarm sounded unless it was a confirmed false alarm and they were telling us to disregard it.
Yes, exactly. For fire drills they should just sound the alarm and everyone evacuate the building just as if there were a real fire. No PA announcement should be made at all.