School Fire Drills

 


The fire drill is a part of everyone's memories of school days. They usually happen once a month and they are usually a surprise, even to the teachers. I guess they should be because it's kind of the point, right? Fire drills are always an exciting event, especially when you are a teacher of younger children. As a teacher, I went over fire drills with my class several times. We practiced and they knew exactly what to do and where to go....or so I thought. 

On one fire drill, my class ran to the door and went in completely different directions. Luckily, they all got out and they were all safe and accounted for. But I was "talked to" by the principal. I explained that we had practiced the drill but that when that alarm blasted, it was like the kids just went crazy. We eventually got it right in the end. Some little kids would scream and cry when the alarm went off, thinking that it was real. There was a lot of time spent after the fire drill to calm them down.

One morning in the winter when it was about 10 degrees, we had a fire drill. This was unexpected because the principal usually didn't pull the alarm when it was super cold. What we didn't know at the time was that there really was a fire upstairs in the science lab. The main goal of a fire drill is to get out and that's what we did. There was no time to grab coats or boots. We just had to get out. A normal fire drill lasted about 5 to 10 minutes but not this one. The fire department came, and they went into the building. We all stood out on the sidewalk in the weather, freezing with no coats. Some teachers asked to be able to go back in the building to get coats, but the fire department chief told us no. They had to check each room to make sure that everything was safe. 

We stayed outside for a good 30 minutes or more. I had on a long sweater that day and several of my kids were hugging me to stay warm. I tried my best to wrap them up inside my sweater. Some of the teachers had their kids do exercises to keep warm. Once we were allowed back in and everything was checked out and safe, the kids got their coats and wrapped up in them to get warm. The principal had to send a letter home to the parents to let them know what had happened with the fire. She also announced a hot chocolate break in cafeteria. 

Fire drills are necessary, but you never know what will happen when you're dealing with little ones!


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