Changes in Fire Evac Protocols in Michigan

So… Michigan is doing this:

In summary, if a fire alarm sounds, the students are to “shelter in place” and wait for further instructions.
This sounds a bit like a cheaper version of a two stage system, and, considering that most schools have rooms that are well designed to keep excessive smoke and heat out of a room for at least 20 minutes, it may work.

What are your thoughts on this? It seems like a really mixed idea that could be both life saving and cause disastrous results if correct actions aren’t taken at the correct time.

[quote=DownsLife+Safety post_id=81762 time=1537837968 user_id=4181]

So… Michigan is doing this:

In summary, if a fire alarm sounds, the students are to “shelter in place” and wait for further instructions.
This sounds a bit like a cheaper version of a two stage system, and, considering that most schools have rooms that are well designed to keep excessive smoke and heat out of a room for at least 20 minutes, it may work.

What are your thoughts on this? It seems like a really mixed idea that could be both life saving and cause disastrous results if correct actions aren’t taken at the correct time.

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Very bad. VERY bad.

Also: IT IS NOT STATEWIDE (phew!) Only one school district did this.

this is a terrible idea.

we haven’t lost a student to a school fire since… the 50s? 60s maybe? we have an outstanding record, largely in part to practiced and well executed quick evacuations. going back on that is just waiting for another massive disaster like the “our lady of the angels” fire.

people are shoving fire safety aside in preparation for the extremely rare occurrence of an intruder…

Now that I am just reading a whole 100 page report for my science fair project, I’ve noted that the bad effects of panic begin to ensue the longer occupants are in a building and the fire alarm goes off. It’s unfortunately a common thing to check and see if there is a fire in the building before an actual evacuation takes place, even though the general alarm is going off.

Not sure if it will work out that well. We have it hardwired in our brains that when the fire alarm goes off to LEAVE the building as efficiently as possible. If they were to change it over to doing it like this, it would take a LOT of practice. And even then, there would occasionally be a student that tries to evacuate.

I don’t think we have to worry about the building catching on fire and causing fatalities. MOST building have up-to-date fire alarm systems and sprinklers so the fire wouldn’t get that bad. If a building DOESN’T have fire sprinklers in it (ala “The Station”), then its a death trap which nobody should be in anyway.

It’s not just Michigan, lots of schools around the country are adopting this procedure due to the rise of mass shootings. Any activation of the fire alarm is to be treated as a lockdown situation until a designated person searches the building and finds a fire, and then goes to notify the students to start evacuating.

Some schools have also been considering eliminating some exits in order to make it easier to secure the building.

I wouldn’t mind seeing them do what my high school did which was to put alarms on all of the doors except two so that if anybody tried to come in, they would go off so there are only two designated doors you can come in from or go out from. That way an intruder wouldn’t be able to get in without being seen by a designated guard.