are unannounced fire drills in dorms a bad idea?

GoldShadow
Thu, 25 Sep 2008 23:50:01 +0000

they have fire drills to make sure the system works. Guess who is part of the system? The people who live in the dorm! The system is not only electronics, the system is electronics that accomplish a specific goal. If they said there was going to be a fire drill at 3pm, no one would be there at 3pm!

Already answered this above. Obviously if they want to test the electronics and the technical aspects of it, that is understandable. But there is absolutely no need for students to be there when they do it. If the alarms and electronics work, that’s all that’s necessary. I don’t understand why you think people need to “practice” something like this. You hear an alarm, you exit the building. Honestly, it’s not some massive, complicated emergency plan. It’s a fire alarm. It’s not something you need to “get used to”, it’s not something you need to “practice”. When it happens, you exit the building. Don’t use elevators. Anybody who doesn’t get that should not be left alone, let alone in a college dorm.



I also don’t like unannounced fire drills, but shouldn’t you be used to them? I had them every year in school, starting in 1st grade… possibly earlier. Do you think unannounced fire drills are bad for high schools and elementary schools also? And if not, why is it ok for those schools, but not for your dorm?

We are used to them (even though, by age 18, one should not need to be “used to” them in order to know what to do when a fire alarm goes off).

You cannot compare primary school(s) and college; the two are radically different. You definitely want to have them in elementary schools. Young kids tend to panic or not know what to do upon hearing an alarm; they need to practice.
In high school and middle school, you may not need “practice” but it doesn’t really matter in high school and middle school. If a fire alarm goes off, it doesn’t waste your time. You are already on school time. You get there at 7:30, you have scheduled class periods and breaks, a lunch period, and so on. You don’t give a rat’s ass if a fire alarm goes off. What would you rather be doing? Going to class?

But in college, it’s different. You live in your own dorm. You are relatively independent. When a fire alarm goes off in your dorm, it’s different. Imagine a fire alarm going off in your house, because that’s exactly what it’s like. You’re not in class, you’re not on a scheduled study hall period. You’re trying to do work, you’re trying to do laundry, you’re doing reading for class, you’re trying to sleep. Would you want to have fire drills in your own home? Hell no. Would you want to make sure the smoke detectors and fire alarms work? Yes. But you certainly would not want unscheduled fire drills.

Likewise, in college dorms, you tend to get interrupted when you’re trying to get something done (be it sleep, work, eating, whatever). You’re 18+ years old. You can walk down a flight of stairs to exit a building. You know that a shrill alarm does not mean “stay in the building!”. There is no need to perform fire drills on college students.