Fire Drill Practice

[rachael30a]

Morning all, just wandering how often you all practice your fire drills with mindees and document it.

[tulip0803]

I do it every month on or near 20th month. I alternate between front and back door evacuation. I use the test button on my smoke alarm so the children recognise the noise. I log the time in my diary and what children were present and what door we used for evacuation. I do it every month as I have up to 8 different children over the week all doing different times/hours.

[gef918]

I do it every term (6-8 weeks) and will make sure that over the course of the week all children experience at least one drill. I record it along with details about how it went and what I can improve for next time, if anything. I also carry out a drill during the first week a child starts with me or if circumstances change, such as going from 2 children to 3 on a certain day or if a child is on crutches, etc. I also record fire safety activities that we do (we have a fire safety week at least once a year).

[dawn100]

I do one at the start of each term - that way I don't forget or lose track of time, sometimes I'll do it twice in a week to make sure all children are there.
I also do it when new children start and like tulip I use the test button on the alarm as each alarm can have a different sound, I also vary where I pretend the fire is using different exits.

One thing don't do a fire drill whilst your husband is in bed after nights - I did this once (forgot he was in bed) he came running down in his pants because he thought there was a fire because he could hear me saying come on children lets walk sensibly to the car as there is a fire in the kitchen. He was not impressed with me when he realised it was just a fire drill!

[hectors house]

I do mine every month and rotate the days as I have a different combination of children on each day, I practise a little scenerio of where the fire is which makes me think about which door to evacuate from and also practice getting non walkers up from a nap.

[covgalxxx]

I do one at the start of each term - that way I don't forget or lose track of time, sometimes I'll do it twice in a week to make sure all children are there. I also do it when new children start and like tulip I use the test button on the alarm as each alarm can have a different sound, I also vary where I pretend the fire is using different exits. One thing don't do a fire drill whilst your husband is in bed after nights - I did this once (forgot he was in bed) he came running down in his pants because he thought there was a fire because he could hear me saying come on children lets walk sensibly to the car as there is a fire in the kitchen. He was not impressed with me when he realised it was just a fire drill!

Im laughing my head off my dp works night I don't think he would be impressed too.

Can i ask how do you start this, I haven't started childminding yet, but when I have my kids, do you sit down have a talk about what happened is fire alarm went of like activity, or do you just do go for it alarm goes of and you shout come on kids fire in kitchen out the front door no running, I just don't know how you do your 1st drill... Am I being silly?

[rickysmiths]

I do it once a half term on different days so I get all the children. I do it when a new child starts.

This is roughly what schools do and I don't see any point in doing an more frequently. I mainly have under 3s in the day and its me who has to know how to get them out and I don't need to practice that every month.

[shortstuff]

Im laughing my head off my dp works night I don't think he would be impressed too.

Can i ask how do you start this, I haven't started childminding yet, but when I have my kids, do you sit down have a talk about what happened is fire alarm went of like activity, or do you just do go for it alarm goes of and you shout come on kids fire in kitchen out the front door no running, I just don't know how you do your 1st drill... Am I being silly?

of course you arent being silly.

I normally trigger one of the smoke detectors and then chivvy the LOs along to where i need them to go. The biggest obstacle i have found is their reluctance to go outside without their shoes as we dont wear them indoors.

[Glitter]

I don't do fire drills at the moment. Both my regular mindees are under 2 and would not understand what we were doing. I have written down what I would do in a fire, but to pick up two children, carry them outside, stand there for a minute then walk back in to the house would be a waste of time.

I explained this to my Ofsted inspector and thankfully she agreed with me. I will do fire drills if I ever have a child who is old enough to know why we are doing one.

[dawn100]

It depends on what age of children you have, a year ago all the children I had were under 15months so weren't really any suitable activities so I would set the alarm off and just talk it through to the children saying things like that the fire alarm we need to stop what we're doing and go outside etc i would say fire drills with very young children are more for your benefit in how you get them out of the house quickly and calmly but the noise alone can be quite upsetting for young children, but now I have older children I have included fire activities in the week of the fire drill.

Im laughing my head off my dp works night I don't think he would be impressed too.

Can i ask how do you start this, I haven't started childminding yet, but when I have my kids, do you sit down have a talk about what happened is fire alarm went of like activity, or do you just do go for it alarm goes of and you shout come on kids fire in kitchen out the front door no running, I just don't know how you do your 1st drill... Am I being silly?