There was a *surprise* fire drill at work recently. I was in a new office working with the mining guys when the siren went off. Everyone had to leave their office and assemble at the front of the building. I thought that was just another routine drill, but I was a little wrong.
On the way to the assembly point, we saw a fire engine and several firemen working on something! That was interesting because I thought they only wanted to test the fire siren and the people’s response . Anyway, we later found out that they had staged an emergency scenario where a pregnant lady was stuck in a 4-wheel drive and several people were hurt or dead and were lying by the road side. The “injured” people had patches of “blood” or laceration stuck onto their faces and bodies — looked quite real to me. All first aid officers were called to help out while we stood on the grass and watched. The building was full of smoke too! That was an eye-opener to me because I have never experienced such an exercise.
After about 20 – 30 minutes, the exercise was over and everyone went back to their office. I think such exercise is quite important because we won’t know when a real emergency will happen and we need to know what to do when there’s a real case.
After thought: I am sure my 4.5 year old would love to be involved in the exercise because he loves fire engine and he has always wanted to see how fireman rescue people! 🙂