Why schedule a Fire Drill?
The purpose of fire drills are to insure the efficient and safe use of all available exit facilities, to familiarize occupants with sound and audibility of alarms, and to provide an opportunity to test the alarms system. Proper drills ensure orderly exit and prevent panic- the greatest cause of loss of life in major fire disasters history.
Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical will conduct a fire drill at your fraternity/sorority or congregate residence on request by using the request form (Request a Fire Drill) or the department will contact you directly.
Key items to remember:
- A fire drill should be known only to the person responsible for scheduling so that the drill will assist in simulation of an actual emergency evacuation.
- Fire Drills are scheduled at 6:00 a.m. and the responsible person must meet the fire crews outside before 6:00 a.m. If the fire crews do not arrive by 6:10 a.m. an emergency has occurred and the fire drill will need to be rescheduled.
- It is important that the responsible person know how to set and reset the fire alarm. The responsible person must notify the monitoring company that a fire drill will be held and to place the alarm system in “test” or offline. Once the drill is complete the responsible person will need to contact the monitoring company to reset the fire alarm.
- The fire crew will walk through the building and make sure everyone is out. In order to receive a passing mark all occupants must have exited within two minutes. During the walk through fire crews will also be checking your exits, emergency lights, and exit signs for proper function. An inspection report will be available for review within 24 hours. A failure will require another fire drill to be scheduled.
If you have any questions or have not been contacted by a member of the department to schedule your fire drill, please contact Interim Division Chief Joe Hardy at (785) 830-7004 or email: jhardy@lawrenceks.org.