Fire and High Scools

Usagimaru

Well I got to go home early today. A fire broke out in one of our staircases. From what I heard it was pretty much nothing. Apparently, some water or snow dripped on an exit sign and that sparked a flame. Thinking some awesome freshman pulled the fire alarm, I went out (26 F weather) without my cell phone, MP3, or anything else. Well had us go into our gym after they put the fire out. Any we sat there for about 30 minutes. Eventually they told us any Junior or Senior can go home if they have a ride (I guess Sophomores and Freshmen had to go on buses) but we couldn't get any of our stuff from our classrooms. So I go home and wait for a bit, and eventually my mom calls me and says tells me I could go back into school to get the stuff I left.

Not that I'm really complaining, but why would they send everybody home, without letting us get our stuff, and let us come back later to get our stuff? Shouldn't we just have finished out the day with a messed up schedule? (It cut into a couple lunch periods) Has anyone else had a small fire in their school?

Rym

Not that I'm really complaining, but why would they send everybody home, without letting us get our stuff, and let us come back later to get our stuff?

They made a decision without fully considering the impact, possibly based on a rigid contingency plan over which no one really has any control.

Shouldn't we just have finished out the day with a messed up schedule?

Probably.

Has anyone else had a small fire in their school?

Hoo boy is there a story for that one.

ZakoSoldier

In my years of school I have discovered that all the fire drills mean nothing. When there was actually a small fire in my grammar school they didn't even use the fire alarm. When there was a gas leak in high school (a few blocks away but the city made us evacuate one of the buildings) Everyone had to move into the gym and we lost the afternoon because we had 12 minute classes.

Bronzdragon

The best story I have is that I was looking at a fire alarm one day and apparently some teacher saw that. 5 seconds later a classmate pressed it and the teacher turned around and said "YOU!". I said "but, he...". He thought for a sec and said "YOU BOTH!"

We got in trouble and had to clean on our day off...

Infinity

Yeah, fire drills are pretty useless. I guess they do waste time, but when it gets pulled with 5 minutes to go in the day, it's awful. It was funny, because that was the day we had Sci-Fi club.

Usagimaru

The worst time we've had a fire alarm pulled in our school was a couple of weeks ago, when we were taking exams. In the middle of one of the periods someone messing around in the hallway "accidentally" pulled it. We basically walked outside, then walked right back in. I was in an easy class, but there are some exams that took all 2 hours that they give us.

Lord Moonstone

Well I got to go home early today. A fire broke out in one of our staircases.

Ah, what an awesome day today was.

Hmm, I think there were still some firemen up in the second floor patrolling for any other possible fire hazard. Remember, they said we could get our stuff, were it on the first floor. I believe the teacher that didn't let us in was just strict. We probably could've sneaked around and gone to your locker.

Hoo boy is there a story for that one.

Well let's hear it! =P

We got in trouble and had to clean on our day off...

Gah, I've been in a situation like that before.. They never listen when you try to explain yourself. =S

kage_rod

Fire drills are NOTHING. Try bomb scares and lock downs! Damn, those are fun.

In this year -alone-, we've had a bomb scare and a lock down. We've had two or three lock downs last year. The year before it was like, two.. Before that, I don't think any (but I wasn't there, so I couldn't say for sure). Lock downs, we huddle in a corner, away from the door (but not opposite of it) with all the blinds closed, while teachers try to stop us from texting people with cellphones and chatting away. The bomb scare made us walk outside. In the frigid cold. That sucked something hardcore, and it took forever to get them to arrange it for us to get inside of the next door recreational center. At least it wasn't in 40°C out, like this Tuesday....

Li_Akahi

On a somewhat related note, the second and third floors of my school flooded today. The administrators divided the school in half and paraded us to either the Auditorium or the cafeteria. We watched a crappy movie and were sent home.

Rym

The bomb scare made us walk outside. In the frigid cold. That sucked something hardcore, and it took forever to get them to arrange it for us to get inside of the next door recreational center.

Every time there was a fire drill, I just went to my car and listened to music (with the heat on). ;^)

YoshoKatana

I've had two or three lockdown drills in high school. Every time, we're herded through a narrow gate to the football field. Every time, I mention that if I were trying to kill large amounts of people, I would pull the fire alarm and wait at this choke point. Everyone I mention this to agrees.

Fire drills are mostly a waste of time in our school. We've never had a real fire (save some cooking classes not knowing how to fry things), and most fire drills boil down to us standing on the football field, being rained upon, talking to friends. (We're not allowed to use any kind of electronic devices. You know, in case we call the fire and tell it we're outside.)

kage_rod

I've had two or three lockdown drills in high school.

We stopped doing lock down drills. Apparently we don't take it seriously enough if we do. While I understand, at the same time, it doesn't help. In our minds - and usually in reality - it's just some kid retarded enough to bring in an airsoft. *shrugs*

Malachi

Recently there was a series of Bomb and Shooting scares at my high school. And it got me thinking about the school's plan for keeping us out of harms way, corralling all of the students into the gymnasium. And i wonder, if there is a possibility of a bomb going off in the school building, why the hell would the put all of the students in the same spot inside the building? I do not really understand their reasoning, maybe it is because the gym is a less likely place for a bomb but we would still be in danger of structural collapse. It just makes me confused.

Viga

With plans like these someone who really wanted to kill a lot of students could put a bomb in the gym or just shootout the football field. It makes killing teenagers like shooting fish in a barrel.

In school they made us go sit outside during a bomb threat. We rarely had lockdowns and the only one was 9-11. Fire drills were just bored teens pulling the alarm. Nothing special but a chance to escape school for a few minutes.

Apreche

The reason they have these things is not to actually make you safer. There is no way to make you safe. Security is a lie. The reason they have these things is to create the illusion of safety. If there are safety measures in place, even useless ones, it makes people feel safer. That's all they care about. It's also a matter of liability. Schools love to make policies, and then they like to follow those policies to the letter. This makes it harder to take the schools to court, but it also means the schools do a lot of stupid things because of stupid policies.

Andrew

The reason they have these things is not to actually make you safer. There is no way to make you safe. Security is a lie. The reason they have these things is to create the illusion of safety. If there are safety measures in place, even useless ones, it makes people feel safer. That's all they care about. It's also a matter of liability.

Case in point: The "air masks" on airplanes.

kage_rod

The reason they have these things is not to actually make you safer. There is no way to make you safe. Security is a lie. The reason they have these things is to create the illusion of safety. If there are safety measures in place, even useless ones, it makes people feel safer. That's all they care about. It's also a matter of liability. Schools love to make policies, and then they like to follow those policies to the letter. This makes it harder to take the schools to court, but it also means the schools do a lot of stupid things because of stupid policies.

There is at least the smallest reason to it: it calms the student body overall. Trust me, panicking retarded students are not good at all.

RedShirt

It creates the illusion of safety and shows the parents that the school is "doing something to keep the children safe". Doesn't matter if it involves pushing kids over a cliff as long as they are "doing something". On the other hand, regular drills do help out when the panic starts (in high pressure situations, people tend to do what they've been drilled over and over on). Of course, this is only if there are regular drills. I doubt the "every so often" drills in school are good enough.

The smart/paranoid kids will have contingency plans for if something bad happens in the assembly area. ie. that chokepoint, what are you going to do if some actually is there shooting people? Those assembly points, what are you going to do if there is a bomb there? etc. Bombs aren't going to pop up out of the blue, there's going to be a bag/box/something there in the middle of the assembly area.

kage_rod

*shrugs* No, because they never say it's a drill. It's just, "Lock down, lock down" and we hide in the classrooms and people treat it as if it's a joke...

Remind me to make plans in case something bad happens. >>;

Linkigi(Link-ee-jee)

I was at concert crew once at like 6:30 and the alarm went off. I learned about 3 minutes later that some idiot kid had tried to smoke in the bathroom. There was also that time where a guy pulled the fire alarm as a prank, and two minutes after we got inside he broke from security (which was escorting him by then) and pulled another fire alarm. That was an interesting gym class.

And there was also that time in 6th grade where someone accidentally set off a model rocket in science class...

Airpi

Man, every year during the last week of high school everything went to shit in Warwick. Kids went around setting off smoke bombs, letting rats loose, throwing "water" balloons at staff, etc, etc. The faculty always handled it in the worst ways possible. Random lockdowns, interrogating kids in the halls, banning bags. I remember once almost being arrest for carrying a backpack during the last week of senior year.
Well, I might have made an offhand remark about some fireworks I owned without realizing a police officer was standing behind me, but I don't think that had all that much to do with it.

I was actually helped by a firedrill last week though. I had forgot to set my alarm, but fortunately there was a firedrill around eight. So I got to sleep in a little and only missed one of my morning classes.

YoshoKatana

Haha, the same thing used to happen when I lived in Lincoln, RI. It's not that crazy in California, or at least not the Bay Area. I think the worst senior prank was when, last year, people planted almost $800 worth of marijuana on campus (the school was replanting after some construction we had).

Victor Frost

Haha, I heard about that! That must have been epic!

Infinity

It creates the illusion of safety and shows the parents that the school is "doing something to keep the children safe".

This is a ever-growing problem in our society, especially with parents. My parents seem to have some inclination that watching violent movies would make me violent (my mom basically just said no when I told her Sweeney Todd was rated-R). In fact, I technically could've gotten my license about a week ago, but my parents held it back from me. WTF? I drive more than most of my friends do, and I'm not that bad, I just had a small bumper that wasn't my fault the week before. But I won't go anymore into that. Does anyone have any insight on why adults are such safety freaks, even if it's false safety?

Remind me to make plans in case something bad happens. >>;

That's why you always have a plan in case zombies attacked right now.

ProfPangloss

Does anyone have any insight on why adults are such safety freaks, even if it's false safety?

GeekNights: 060601 - The Freedom vs. Safety Rant

If you haven't heard this episode yet, I suggest that you do.

kage_rod

Remind me to make plans in case something bad happens. >>;

That's why you always have a plan in case zombies attacked right now.

.... Hide in my room..? XD; Oh crap, tonight will be plan making night, I thinkz.

Infinity

If you haven't heard this episode yet, I suggest that you do.

Forgot about that episode. I guess I have to listen to it again.

Hitman Hart

I remember one time there was a bomb scare at my Best Buy(as in, the one I work in) and we all just stood outside in the parking lot while the police and whoever checked the store out. I remember thinking "If a real bomb went off, there is a good possibility that those closest to the store would be hit with debris" or something to that effect