MEMORANDUM
TO:Portland Public School
FROM:Stacey Newton
DATE:March 28, 2012
RE:Placed and Advanced Fire Drills
Emergency drills will be conducted at each school site beginning on April 23rd through May 9th. Your school has elected to do a placed fire drill or an advanced fire drill. This memo will provide you with an overview of the drill.
A member of SPSG (Stacey, Steve or Mike) will start and end your drill. Please do NOT start or end your drill without their expressed consent. (If you start the drill -pull the fire alarm- before SPSG has given you the okay, you will have to do the drill over, sorry). We make every effort to adhere to the drill schedule, but the actual start time may vary slightly from the schedule. Please inform everyone who works in your building that they are not to proceed with the drill until they receive the appropriate signal from the Incident Commander. In this case, staff actually hear the fire alarm. We suggest one of the following: 1) do not notify staff in advance, or 2) inform staff of the date, but not the time. This will help to eliminate staging for the drill. If the school is obviously staged for the drill, SPSG will wait until everyone returns to their regular ‘station’ before beginning the drill.
This drill is an exercise for your School Emergency Team (SET). Team members should be staged at pre-designated areas at the evacuation site. They should know their roles and responsibilities and have all necessary supplies and paperwork with them. An evacuation will be required and you will need to conduct a positive accounting of all students, staff members, visitors, etc. The scenario for this drill will be a fire. The activation of the fire alarm will initiate the drill. SPSG will activate the fire alarm. Please inform the alarm company and/or fire department of the drill. A SPSG team member will initiate the drill by pulling the fire alarm. The All Clear signal will be given by SPSG. There will be a debriefing session with the School Emergency Response Team immediately following the drill. I estimate 10 – 15 minutes for the actual drill and another 15-30 minutes for the de-briefing session. Each drill will be evaluated and a report with the results and recommendations will be provided to each school.
In accordance with the Fire Code for Portland, all drills will include blocking an exit (placed fire drill). SPSG will chose the exit. No one at the school will know the exit until the alarm has sounded and the evacuation has begun. SPSG will evaluate the drill. Everyone from the school should evacuate the building. No one should be left inside the building to turn off the alarm, or utilities. SPSG will inform the IC when the alarm can be turned off. In addition to blocking an exit, advanced fire drills will include a few extra elements that could occur during an actual fire.
We expect that the entire school will come together at the evacuation site. I understand that this may be a new procedure for some schools. Students and staff will continue to exit the nearest available (or pre-designated) exit, but will move towards the assembly area. All team members must be staged in their appropriate area (first aid, search team, runners, reunification, command post, etc.) at the evacuation site. We have created draft emergency maps that indicate the proposed primary evacuation site. If you’d like a copy, please email me.
I have attached the following documents to assist you in preparing for this drill:
- Fire Procedures
- Evacuations
I recommend the following activities/procedures are put in place before the drill:
1.Review evacuation procedures with all staff members. Ensure everyone is aware of the procedures for clearing the evacuation site.
2.Review roles and responsibilities with all team members.
3.Ensure all teaching stations and offices have an Emergency Attendance Form.
4.Discuss evacuation procedures with students.
5. Discuss evacuation procedures with parents. We recommend a note be sent home prior to the actual drill.
Sample Note:
In our continued efforts to create a safe learning environment for your child, we have developed a comprehensive plan to respond to emergencies on or around the school campus. We will be conducting a fire drill on ______. This drill ensures that students and staff are familiar with the school’s emergency procedures. Please contact me at ______if you have any questions or would like additional information.
We welcome your participation on our school emergency exercises. If you would like to participate in the drill, please arrive at the school 15 minutes prior to the scheduled drill time. Your role in the drill will be explained to you at that time.
Please contact me at if you have any questions or need any additional information.