Dorm Fire Drills Examined
It’s 6 a.m. Upper Hiro Kuwana, who had gone to bed a few hours earlier because of his 332, walks out of Cilley Hall in his pajamas. His eyes are half-open. His hair unkempt. The asphalt, covered with a thick sheet of ice, feels unpleasantly cold under Kuwana’s feet, but he does not step back inside, thanks to one of the vexing biannual occurrences for Cilley Hall—the fire drill. Twice a year, the sound of wailing fire alarms pulls all boarding students out of their beds. All dormitories are required to hold five fire drills throughout the school year, two of which must be held while the students are asleep. The drills are conducted and scheduled by Campus Safety personnels with the help of dorm heads.
When a fire drill begins, both students and faculty are required to close their room windows, turn off the lights, evacuate the building and proceed to the designated area for attendance without any further delay. Kuwana’s situation is commonplace in the Academy’s boarding community and has sparked a variety of discussions this year about the reasonability of fire drills—particularly their timeframe. However, most students and faculty seemed to agree fire drills were a necessity and, as history instructor Betty Luther-Hillman described, “generally helpful.” “First of all, they are a government requirement for schools,” Luther-Hillman said. “It also allows the school to make sure that the fire alarms are working properly and that students and faculty know the procedure for a fire or other emergency.”
“While if someone sleeps through a fire drill it's not that a big deal, in the scenario of a real fire we need to make sure everybody is out as quick as possible.”
While Luther-Hillman recognized the drills’ importance, she also noted the inconveniences they can inflict on both students and faculty residents. Describing the fire drill as “a necessary evil,” Luther-Hillman said that fire drills disrupt all residents’ sleep schedules and can frighten young children residing in the dormitory, such as her daughter.
Like Luther-Hillman, prep Emily Green said that she dislikes fire drills but acknowledges their importance.
However, some students suggested that if the fire drills were planned differently, they could have a more productive effect. According to lower Carissa Chen, one of Merrill’s fire drills took place around 7:45 a.m. She saw this timing as inconvenient since most students were either up and preparing to leave the dorm or already out at various activities.
Chen also pointed out some of the problems that can stem from only having fire drills in the dorms on campus. She would like to have fire drills that more accurately represent where and how Exonians allocate their time on campus. “Most likely, fires aren’t going to happen at 2 a.m. in our dorms,” she said. “It’s more plausible that it might happen in the science building or something while we are in classes, and because we don’t practice those drills during class times, I’m not as sure how to respond.”
Similar to Chen, lower Yuan Yao noticed that fire drills tend to prepare students only for specific kinds of fire scenarios. He would like to have more discussions about alternative situations and escape routes in his dorm, rather than consistently being drilled on getting out through the hallways as fast as possible. Yet overall, most students and faculty expres1sed a sense of feeling fully prepared for any type of fire situation. English instructor Patricia Burke-Hickey described the drills in Langdell as “very successful,” and even noted some potential record speeds.
Despite Dow House consisting of many old, dry boards which could easily catch on fire, math instructor Laura Marshall also felt confident that the students in her house were as prepared as possible for an emergency. She described some of the safety precautions her house takes to take extra steps for safety such as learning the different escape routes. “We are very careful to be sure to unplug appliances, etc,” she said. “Thankfully the escape routes are short. The upper floors have fire escapes and there are many easy ways to exit through ground floor windows. An exit was recently added in the basement as well.”
Computer science instructor Kenney Chan has also supervised extra steps of precaution in his dorm. In the past, Cilley Hall had trouble with students who wear noise cancelling headphones at night, sleeping through their fire drills. To help the problem, Chan recently introduced a system of knocking in Cilley, where students knock on both rooms next to theirs before exiting. He plans to enforce this rule further in the future. Chen went on to emphasize the importance of taking all fire drills and rules seriously. According to him, sometimes there are no second chances. “While if someone sleeps through a fire drill it's not that a big deal, in the scenario of a real fire we need to make sure everybody is out as quick as possible,” he said. “We should treat our drills just like real fires because you never know when one will actually happen.”