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little miss chatterbox
02-12-2009, 12:42 PM
My daughter had a fire alarm go off at nursery this morning so they all had to go outside in the rain until it was confirmed to be a false alarm!

but it got me thinking - what do we all do with fire drills? at the moment for my walkers I stop and put their shoes on - but should I????? if we had a real fire I probably shouldn't do that but if it's wet underfoot they are going to get wet socks if I don't get their shoes!

Only a trivial thing but i wondered what everyone else does?

Zoomie
02-12-2009, 12:58 PM
Frankly we do not stop to put on our shoes and at our last fire drill we all got wet feet.

However, I do try to do it on a good weather day.

I do recall a story of a supermarket who did their drill, everyone went out, and then the alarm went off for real (someone left an oven on). They were all outside without coats etc in the dead of winter for nearly an hour before the firebrigade said they could go back in :eek:

Thinks we maybe we should grab our coats and shoes, but not put them on until safely outside ?

little miss chatterbox
02-12-2009, 01:17 PM
mmmmm that's what I thought! I wondered about getting them slippers so that they can just go straight out in those! it's chilly on feet on my laminate anyway so the slippers would help with that and then solves the getting wet socks too!

Only problem is their feet grow so quick I would have loads of slippers and would cost a fortune!

janminder
02-12-2009, 01:23 PM
I don't let them put their shoes on and choose a dry day, except the time before last it had rained after we got in and I did'nt know it so first child got their feet wet I cancelled it till the next day. Oh and I only practice escape from the front door despite children always wanting me to do from the upstairs window on to the canopy above front door:eek:

Mouse
02-12-2009, 01:41 PM
I always think my emergency evacuation drills (they're not just fire drills these days!) are more for my benefit than the mindees' benefit. I use them as a way of finding out if I can get all of the children out of the house safely & quickly.
I tend to look after babies & much younger children, so they're rarely aware of what's happening. I have to make sure that I can carry them all outside or grab them from the different places they be in the house.

For that reason, if it's cold, I do make sure they've got coats of first, though I don't put mine on.

When I do have older children here (still all under the age of 4), I will do a fire drill at a time when they've got their shoes on already. I don't let them get their coats though, as they need to know not to.

Obviously in a real emergency we'd all go out without coats & shoes.

Blackhorse
02-12-2009, 01:49 PM
I was wondering about this too...
obviously if the alarm went off we would be out of the house like a shot without a care in the world for shoes and jackets...

but at the same time I do not want to hunt the children out of the house in the winter where it is cold outside without their jackets on and with no shoes on their feet. I myself wouldnt want to go out like this either to be perfectly honest.

When we did fire drills at work we were all wearing shoes and if we knew it was practice we would take our jackets..even if we were told not too...we could be standing outside for a good 40 minutes to wait until the fire engines turned up and all the registers were done...not something you would enjoy on a cold rainy day.

I would be inclinded to do a fire drill as soon as we come back from the school run while they still wear their coats...and obviously tell them that in a real emergency they do not take anything but they just go outside...the little ones wont notice anyways especially if they get carried....

wonder what everyone else does...

Ripeberry
02-12-2009, 01:52 PM
When I worked in a office I always kept my coat on the back of my chair and just grabbed it when we went! At home now I'm keeping shoes in a box by the door so we can grab it as we go out.

Blackhorse
02-12-2009, 02:24 PM
When I worked in a office I always kept my coat on the back of my chair and just grabbed it when we went! At home now I'm keeping shoes in a box by the door so we can grab it as we go out.

in our office it was forbidden to have a coat over your chair....they did office inspections and if we had them over the chair we had points deducted and it was reflected in our bonus!!!

the thing that worries me about the fire drill is that if you dont do it exactly as you would in the case of a fire there is not much point really? I would worry kids learn to go look for the box at the door when really they should get out?? Or do they distinguish the real thing from a drill?? It is something that worries me and I havent found a solution yet...

Tired
02-12-2009, 02:40 PM
I was so proud of my lot last time we had a drill.

I used to set the oven timer and when it went shout "pretend fire, get out"

Last time I set the real alarm off, and they didn't see me do it. I was on the stairs and they were in the playroom. I could see them through the door.


The 5 and 6 year old immediately stopped, said "fire" and walked to the door. The 2 year old looked confused, but followed them. I met them at the bottom of the stairs, where the 6 year old opened the door and led us all out to the safe place.

I was soooo proud that they didn't panic due to it being the real alarm, and that they didn't wait for me to tell them what to do.

They didn't get thier coats or shoes, just did exactly as I wanted them to.:clapping:

DIPPY DOUGHNUT
02-12-2009, 02:47 PM
I have done fire drills on sunny days and on wet days.

The first time we did one on a wet day, Child A who is 4 was about to go outside the back door when he stopped and said i need my shoes, i said no you dont and held his handout the door.:)

After we came back in i explained to him why you dont stop to put your shoes on in a real fire.

He was so excited about telling his mum he had got his spare socks on becasue he had to go outside in the rain because we were doing a fire drill!!:laughing: :laughing:

Merry-Minder
02-12-2009, 02:55 PM
in our office it was forbidden to have a coat over your chair....they did office inspections and if we had them over the chair we had points deducted and it was reflected in our bonus!!!

the thing that worries me about the fire drill is that if you dont do it exactly as you would in the case of a fire there is not much point really? I would worry kids learn to go look for the box at the door when really they should get out?? Or do they distinguish the real thing from a drill?? It is something that worries me and I havent found a solution yet...

I agree - I would do it (and do) leaving EVERYTHING behind otherwise it would cause confussion.

If its raining outside I would defer the drill to the next dry day, coldness shoulnt be too much of an issue as you will only be out there for a couple of minutes, or as someone mentioned do the drill just as you arrive from somewhere so everyone is already suited and booted.

x

little miss chatterbox
02-12-2009, 05:55 PM
thanks all for your help and advice! I will re-evaluate my fire evac procedure for practice ones only as i wouldn't dream of stopping for shoes and coats in the event of a real fire!

TheBTeam
02-12-2009, 07:12 PM
I would not put coat and shoes on, but because of the number of small children that we have i have pushchairs outside that they could be put into quickly as we are leaving. I also would grab my car keys so that we could at least get into the car if this was at all possible. I would get everyone outside and then assess my situation and what i think the problem was as to whether i leant back into my front door and grabbed my shoe box or coats.

I also have other minders near who might be able to come and help if we were stuck outside with no coats or shoes!

I always aim to have a pushchair space readily available for the number of small and poss not walking children as dh and I work together there are potentially more children to evacuate.

little miss chatterbox
02-12-2009, 08:28 PM
now there's a good idea! I always have a pushchair outside too!!!! why did I not think to put them in there - or get in the car!!!!

You're very very very clever Bteam!

Twinkles
02-12-2009, 08:39 PM
now there's a good idea! I always have a pushchair outside too!!!! why did I not think to put them in there - or get in the car!!!!

You're very very very clever Bteam!

I have on my emergency evacuation procedure that we would all get in the car, from there I would phone the emergency services.
I have all my emergency numbers in the car and can easily drive to another minders house.

Zoomie
02-12-2009, 08:52 PM
I would not get into my car in the event of an emergency.

What happens if there is a gas leak, and you starting your car sends off a spark.

It would also take me longer to strap everyone in, than it would take for us to walk to our assembly point 10x over.

TheBTeam
02-12-2009, 09:59 PM
I would not necessarily start my car, that of course would depend on any situation, but initially it can keep children from the road if they are just plonked in the car, also as there are two of us most of the time we do gain a second adult to assist which makes other things possible.

It would depend on how close etc the car is to the house and why we thought we were evacuating, i also live in a cul-de-sac and could pull back off of my drive onto an area of road set way back from the main thorough fare, which in a situation where the car could be started but would need to be moved quickly could hold the children in the back just to pull off of the drive and it may be that i would do this without fully securing them in if that was the safer option than a hand full of toddlers on the garden and road.

Also holding them in the car slightly away from the house would give us a minute or two more to get them into pushchairs which could be moved further away.

If my house was going to blow up, we took the view that we would be safer from debris if we were getting children to safety in the car also, than if they were just stood or sat by the door.

I think we can all speculate about exactly how we would do things, and it is good to have ideas and a variety of thoughts on how we would deal with a given situation, but the reality is until it happened no one knows for sure exactly how it will pan out, but preparation (like knowing first aid helps your instincts to take over) for a variety of events helps.

I know that instincts took over with my sons accident last year, and because i had spent time thinking about emergencies and back up etc, it made it easier to get through what had to be done, even though i was in shock and panic, my instincts kicked in as i had prethought out some of the options for any emergency.