The new fire drill system is designed to make evacuations more organized and safe. According to ELHS Director of Safety and Security Don Hull, the change was established after realizing the old system had a major flaw: constant confusion about where to go.
With three locations for the fire drills, the turf field, the softball field, and the field hockey field, many were disoriented during drills. The softball field being hard to access became a rising problem in winters.
Students would exit the building without always having a clear, consistent place to go. This made keeping track of everyone harder for staff too, especially in a real emergency. Now, students are assigned a specific location on the field based on their advisory group, giving students a clear and consistent place to evacuate.
“I never remembered where I had to go for each class, which was pretty stressful in the moment because I would just try to follow the crowd,” sophomore Natalie Anderson said.
This new system makes fire drills much simpler. Instead of trying to figure out where to go in the moment, the hope is that it will become student’s first instinct over time. This also ensures students safety during lunch blocks, making the new system a big win.
For Hull, one big concern wasn’t just organization, it was accountability.
“In the past, we didn’t always have 100 percent accountability, and in a real emergency that can’t happen,” Mr. Hull said.
During the first test run, the new fire drill system worked as planned. Students moved to their assigned spots, and
for the first time, the school finally fully accounted for everyone. The high school was the last school in the district to
achieve 100 percent accountability during a fire drill, but now that it’s been reached, Mr. Hull can sleep lighter.
The first drill was planned during advisory and announced ahead of time, making it a relatively easy test. Still, it gave both students and staff a chance to get familiar with the new process and placements.
Mr. Hull is confident the system will improve further with practice. “The more we drill it, the more it just becomes second nature. You don’t even think, you just go,” Mr. Hull said.
As the school continues to run drills and gather feedback, Hull believes the new plan will only get stronger. “Moving forward we should be pretty rock solid with it,” Mr. Hull said.
