Fire Drills

The position of Fire Drill Floor Marshal is that of a volunteer to provide aid to other building occupants in the event of an emergency. Floor Marshals are NOT, however, expected to risk their personal safety by delaying their own evacuation from a building in order to perform rescue or structural firefighting activities for which they are neither properly trained, nor equipped.

To help achieve safe, orderly evacuations and provide the best possible aid to others, Floor Marshals are to implement these steps whenever a fire alarm begins to sound: Calmly and clearly announce that the building must be evacuated.

1. Caution occupants against the use of elevators, direct them to the nearest safe exit, and refrain them from running.
2. If there are disabled persons in the area, provide the necessary assistance.
3. With evacuation underway, quickly check their assigned floor area to make certain that no one is left behind.
4. As soon as their assigned area has been checked, complete their own evacuation of the building.
5. If the recommended evacuation route should become blocked, carefully reroute all evacuees to another available exit.
6. Conduct a "head count" of the people from their area when everyone has completely moved clear of the building. If someone cannot be accounted for, promptly advise Fire Officials and Kent State University Police Officers of the last known location of the missing person.
7. Encourage people to move at least 75 feet away from the building and away from the building entrances.
8. Re-entry into the building is not permitted unless authorized by Fire Department personnel.
9. Conduct semi-reviews with all persons normally occupying rooms or areas within their evacuation floor zone.

Should you have any questions concerning Fire Drill Floor Marshal responsibilities, please contact the Fire Safety and Prevention Office at 672-1962 or e-mail: vellis1@kent.edu.

Conducting Fire Drills in Residence Halls

1. At minimum, one fire drill per semester in each Residence Hall will be conducted, occurring within the first month of each new semester.
2. The date and time of a fire drill will be selected by each Resident Director, in coordination with the Area Coordinator, Fire Prevention and Safety Coordinator, Kent State University Police official, and the City of Kent Fire Department representative. The scheduled date and time of the fire drill to be conducted in the affected Residence Hall will be posted 24 hours in advance.
3. All Resident Assistants are to be employed in the fire drill procedure.
4. Resident Assistants are to be assigned to their respective floors to act as either "observers" or "players".
5. When all observers are in position, the fire drill can start. All observers are to make notations of anything of significance, which should then be reported during post-fire drill discussion. Issues occurring during a fire drill that warrant such concern include: occupants refusing to evacuate, inappropriate behavior exhibited by residents, doors left open, obstructions in corridors, blocked exits, and malfunctioning fire alarm systems.
6. When the floor is evacuated, the Resident Advisor must report that information to the Resident Director.
7. After all floors are evacuated, the Resident Director must report that information to the Fire Commander.
8. During the drill, no one except authorized personnel are allowed to re-enter the building.
9. Once the fire alarm is reset, the Fire Commander will authorize the "all clear" for residents to re-enter the building.
10. After completion of the fire drill procedures, a post-fire drill meeting will be held to gather all information and to discuss any and all problems that ensued during the fire drill.