October comes and goes every year and fire department schedules are filled with firehouse tours, exhibitions of firefighting equipment, school visits, and fire drills. It can be easy for firefighters to take these visits for granted as just another Fire Prevention Month. However, these drills and “touches” with the school’s administrators and teachers are critically important for firefighters to impress and strongly advocate for continued diligence of escape plans throughout the year.
With the proliferation of acts of violence in schools in recent years, there have been some calls to eliminate pull stations and to conduct fewer fire drills that result in kids exiting the building. We believe this would be a mistake. According to a National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) study released in 2020, school fires are on the decline with 4,490 being reported in 2000 and 3,000 in 2018.
Additionally, from 2014 through 2018, fires in elementary schools totaled 1,020 with only seven total injuries. This is a significant statistic showing how safe our schools are when they experience a fire and much of this has been from the consistent efforts of fire prevention programs, fire codes, sprinkler systems, and fire drills. These statistics validate the decades of prevention efforts and measures in schools by countless fire departments and organizations.
A recent incident in our fire district showed just how important school fire drills are and how critical school leadership is to the safety of our children when these incidents do occur.
On May 12, 2022, at 15:38, Florissant Valley (MO) Fire District units were dispatched to a local elementary school for a commercial fire alarm sounding. The initial alarm was for a heat detector that was activated. The typical response for this type of alarm is two fire apparatus; in this case the first-due apparatus was an engine, staffed with three members who respond urgent. Second due was a quint, staffed with three members who respond non-urgent unless directed otherwise. If a validation call indicated a fire by the school, the incident would immediately be upgraded to a full first-alarm response that would result in six pieces of firefighting equipment, two ambulances, and three chief officers. The first-due engine was less than 45 seconds away as their engine house is about a block up the road.
The building is an elementary school for children from grades Kindergarten to third grade, along with some special needs classrooms. The school is split into sections. The cafeteria/kitchen are connected to the gym on the Delta side of the building and there are hallways of classrooms that run along the Alpha and Charlie side of the gym and cafeteria. There are two more wings of classrooms on the Bravo side of the building.
While units were responding, dispatch received a 911 call from the school staff stating that they had a fire in the kitchen. Dispatch upgraded the call to a commercial building fire. By this time, the initial engine arrived on scene and reported smoke showing from the Delta side. There were cars lining the Delta side, the Alpha side, and the entire street in front since dismissal was scheduled less than 10 minutes after the alarm began sounding. The company officer confirmed a working fire and the firefighters quickly stretched a preconnect attack line to the kitchen door. The door was locked and had a small, reinforced window which the crew could see the fire and heavy through. The crew forced entry using conventional forcible entry techniques. Once in the kitchen area, they made a quick hit on the fire, which appeared to have started around a refrigerator, and then searched the immediate kitchen area for any victims.
The second-due company arrived and established command until the battalion chief arrived. The second-due engineer established truck to truck water supply with the first-in engine. The captain of the second-due company met face to face with the first-due captain, who stated that the fire was knocked down and primary search of the kitchen area was clear. The priority of the second-due crew became search of the building as school was still in session when the alarm came in. While masking up to go in on the Delta side for a search of the hallways, a maintenance worker came up to the second-due captain and stated all students were accounted for outside on the Charlie side, but he was not sure about the staff.
Command then instructed the third- and fourth-arriving companies to proceed in the Alpha side for primary search in the smoke-filled hallways. The first-in battalion chief arrived on scene and command was transferred to him on the Alpha side. The complement of the alarm, which included one more quint, one more engine, and two more chief officers, arrived on scene. The fourth- and fifth-arriving companies were instructed to bring their ventilation fans to the building and they began the ventilation process. The second-due chief was assigned operations on the Delta side, and the third-arriving chief was assigned Charlie side with the school staff and students.
Just like every fire department across the country, Florissant Valley Fire District runs numerous calls for fire alarms, and the majority of the time they turn out to be nothing, but it’s that small number that need to be talked about.
As a district, we conduct annual fire drills at our local schools including this one. Oftentimes there are firefighters who want nothing to do with the drills, and merely want to go in, pull the handle, reset, and go home. Luckily, in recent years that culture has changed for us. We have been instilling the idea of preplanning the buildings while there, walking through with school staff making sure the crews are aware of the high-hazard areas, and any other pertinent information the staff shares. We have also encouraged crews to discuss the exit drills with the staff, to make sure that everyone is on the same page on the locations where the students and staff will exit to. On this particular day, the principals of the school happened to be gone. The building principal had just gone to the hospital with a student via ambulance, and the assistant principal was not on site that day. Even with the “bosses” gone, the staff at the school performed far beyond the expectations that were set. They had the building evacuated and all the kids and staff out and accounted for within minutes of the initial fire alarms sounding and sent a representative to meet the fire department to relay that information.
Additionally, one of the biggest lessons to reiterate is the importance of being prepared. As stated above, the ambulance from the engine house up the road had just transported a child who was having “psych issues” along with the principal from this building shortly before the initial fire alarm. The crew of the first-due engine stated they discussed the possibility of the alarm was pulled by student while en route. Regardless, both the captain and firefighter were still fully geared up on arrival and were able to immediately go to work, achieving the tactical priorities within minutes.
Within 10 minutes of arrival of the first company, the fire was extinguished, the entire building had been searched, ventilation was in progress, and every student and staff member were evacuated and accounted for. Nothing extraordinary happened on this fire. No rescues, no cool stories, but it was a good reminder that those fire alarms are not always false alarms.
Brian McHugh is a 14-year career member of the fire service and a captain with the Florissant Valley Fire Protection District in St. Louis County, Missouri. He is a certified fire officer, fire Instructor, and paramedic, and is assigned as a company officer on a quint apparatus.