Fire Drill
@GardenGerty (162893)
United States
April 4, 2025 7:02am CST
We had a fire drill yesterday before the storms rolled in. I was in the locker room/changing room with my student. We knew about when it was coming.
The locker room is off the gymnasium, so I followed the group that was in PE class. Big mistake pushing a wheel chair, as there were steps and a drainage ditch to negotiate, BEFORE we got to the unused, not level terrain to head to the soccer fields.
For a wheel chair, there are two other routes I could have taken. I could have been on concrete all the way. No one had thought of this situation before. In real life you can end up in any place and have to evacuate. That is why we have drills. I thought I was supposed to go with the other occupants, and I was, but I should not have. Out the main entrance would have been just as quick.
Now I have sore muscles in one side of my neck from wrestling with the hills and holes.
Before you ask, yes, I had some help. The PE teacher, who was scheduled to leave for a track meet, helped me negotiate the steps and the ditch. It was the big, rough field that was hard. My co worker saw me and came and helped get us to the sidewalk, and that is the way we went back into the school.
Do you have an evacuation plan for your home? You should.
9 people like this
9 responses
@BarBaraPrz (49129)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
17h
I guess the evacuation plan for my home would be either front or back door.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (162893)
• United States
4h
And hope one was empty. One thing they always cover when doing fire education for kids and families is to have a designated "safe place" to meet away from the house. If you live alone you can just "get the heck out of there".
1 person likes this
@DaddyEvil (144861)
• United States
18h
I'm sorry you had trouble yesterday and I hope your neck feels better soon. Someone should have made sure you knew how to get to the locker room the best way for a wheelchair.
No, we don't have an evacuation plan. But this house is so small and there's only one way I can safely go out that it doesn't make a difference. I suppose we could also take out a window in any room and simple step out to the ground but would we think of that in an emergency? I really don't know.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (162893)
• United States
4h
Having a wheel chair at the school is fairly rare. My student has one all the time, we have a part time employee who is older, in a wheel chair and is always at a certain room with an exit just outside. Kids love to push him around when needed to make it easier for him. Once in a while a kiddo will have a sports injury and will have crutches or a chair. They are not cognitively impaired like my kiddo. In all the years I have been with him, we have not been in the gym at the time of the drill. I have evacuated from our Structured Classroom, from Gen Ed Classrooms, and from the Music Room. It is good to have a plan now. I am not sure anyone has ever taken a wheel chair out that route. In our house we have two functioning front doors, and one functioning back door, and it would be either one of us alone or the two of us together.
1 person likes this
@DaddyEvil (144861)
• United States
4h
@GardenGerty Oh, I see...
We have a functioning back door and Pretty could use it with no problem. The concrete stairs are steep and I no longer try going out that door. Just like at the front door, there are no guard rails at the back door. I SIT on the back stairs if I'm in the back yard but am afraid I'll fall down them if I go out that way.
@celticeagle (172627)
• Boise, Idaho
8h
We have talked about it. Five cats to get out through a window we are thinking since they can land safer than we could. Then we will all run out the door if at all possible. If we are upstairs we are pretty much stuck because it's either the windows or the stairway.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (162893)
• United States
4h
We are always reminded to have a safe meeting place to meet up. At school we head to the soccer field. One of my other evacuation routes would have had me on the other side of the building from the soccer field and the principal said if that was the safest way to go, just go across the street and then text her that we were safe.
@wolfgirl569 (113923)
• Marion, Ohio
16h
Sorry it was so rough. Hope you never have to do it for real
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (162893)
• United States
4h
Oh, me too!!. We practice the fire drills, tornado drills and lock downs/intruder drills.
@GardenGerty (162893)
• United States
4h
In a way it was really for the best because it was more like what real life would be, AND I had to think afterwards about what would be best practices with a wheel chair.
1 person likes this
@terri0824 (5095)
• United States
17h
We have drills where I work. I know elevators are not allowed when there is an emergency.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (162893)
• United States
4h
That is correct, because fires can interrupt the electrical that runs the elevator.
@GardenGerty (162893)
• United States
4h
No, it was a drill. We have to have a certain number every year.
@andriaperry (118624)
• Anniston, Alabama
17h
Just the entrance, if need be a window.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (162893)
• United States
4h
I was scheduled once to do a reset for a merchandising company at a store that had an electrical short trigger the fire dampening chemicals. We did not do that job.
