The Importance of Conducting Fire Mock Drills

A fire drill is a periodical activity conducted in building occupancy areas like offices, apartments, hospitals, schools, and colleges to check how the buildings are evacuated in case of an emergency like a fire outbreak. Fire mock drills can be planned properly. Fire mock drills can be conducted after taking permission from the fire department. Detailed evacuation plans are designed according to the local fire code or NFPA by fire safety officers. 

 

 

After getting approval of the emergency evacuation plan, mock drills can be planned. Emergency evacuation plans are to be well discussed and explained to the emergency response team and to the concerned o&m contractor assigned for taking care of the building. Senior safety officers are responsible for checking the efficiency of the core response team. The occupants have to be informed in advance about the fire mock drill. A small briefing about when the activity is going to take place and what are the guidelines that need to be followed during this procedure are discussed. The emergency response team is responsible to give proper awareness to the occupants. 

 

There are designated assembly areas in which the occupants need to be gathered during the drill. Evacuation route plans need to be displayed at various points inside the building. The occupants are not allowed to use the elevator in case of fire. The response team needs to make sure that corridors and the emergency exit stairways are free of obstacles, which can save the time of evacuation. 

 

The emergency response team should be fully aware and well trained about the drill procedures. After the confirmation of the fire mock drill, the o&m contractor team will prepare for this procedure. Mechanical, electrical and telecom activities are involved in this process. The HVAC team needs to make sure about the closure of fire dampers which are installed in critical areas. Fire extinguishers are checked and proper maintenance needs to be done before the drill. Operations of emergency lights need to be checked.

 

Procedure Of The Fire Mock Drill

 

After getting approval of the fire drill from the fire department, a small risk-free area is selected for this activity. A small fire is generated in that area and once the smoke is generated the smoke detector will sense this and give a signal to the main fire alarm control panel ( FACP). At the same time heat is generated due to the fire and once this heat crosses the designed sprinkler temperature the sprinkler will break. The water will start flowing from this and there will be a pressure drop in the fire system. The Pressure switch installed on the floor control valve assembly will sense the pressure loss and send a signal to the FACP.

 

The fire alarm, in turn, will give a message to the fire pump to start. Trained personnel will break the push button for alarm. The fire alarm panel will generate an audible alarm. The emergency response team will immediately reach the occupants and advise them to remain calm.No one will be allowed to take any bags or things outside. The emergency team will make sure that no one is getting panicked. They will guide them properly to move towards the designated assembly area. The fire extinguishers will be used by trained personnel. In the meantime, the HVAC team will make sure that all the fire dampers which are installed in air ducts penetrating high-risk areas like telecom rooms & electrical rooms are closed properly.

 

If the fire dampers are not closed properly it will be a big disaster to the entire building. The emergency team needs to make sure that all occupants are evacuated to safety. The fire drills are recorded and proper documentation will be made. It will indicate the evacuation time taken. After the drill is finished the outcome of the drill will be discussed in detail. The reports will indicate any corrective action required while performing the drill. The efficiency of the response team can easily be analyzed after the drill. 

 

Objectives Of Conducting Fire Drill

 

The main objective of the fire mock drill is to analyze how well the response team is organized in case of Fire. The functionality check for various systems in the building will be done along with this. The responses of the occupants are taken note and further awareness programs will be scheduled to make them more capable in case of an emergency outbreak. Fire Mock drills are like a practice game before the final game. The drill helps in identifying the flaws in the system and helps in finding new ways to overcome this. The fire evacuation plan will be also under the scanner during the drill. If any changes need to be made, the expert team will redesign this plan. The emergency evacuation plan is the backbone of the drill.

 

Hope you get an idea about the procedures and the importance of conducting fire mock drills through this content.