Fire Drills

[Pestle]

I have a bin at the front door that the kids put their shoes in. Why? It was recommended here, after I had a house fire and had to evacuate with daycare kids one November and they didn't get their shoes back until after the ozone treatment was complete a couple of weeks after the fire.

Now we practice scooching the bin out the door with us as we egress.

[littlefriends]

We do mock ones too-run to back door and stop. If the weather is acceptable to be shoeless we go ahead all the way out to our meeting spot at the fence. I keep the shoe basket by the back door and my emergency clipboard so both get grabbed on the way out the door. No coats-takes too long and those are kept at the front door. I have a half size pack n play I keep in the kitchen for evacuating my non walkers and I keep a few warm blankets in it in case they’re needed while we’re outside.

[Blackcat31]

We do mock fire drills. Meaning we all run to the front deck/steps and stand there. In reality if there was a fire, I'd herd them all to a safe, warm place but since we are just practicing getting out of the house, that's all we do.

The kids don't stop to get their shoes on or worry about their jackets etc. Where I live that would take FOREVER. (it's currently -5F out)

We do not wear shoes in the house, ever. and the sheer amount of winter gear each child has each day is way to much to manage for every fire drill and/or storm drill required.

[GirlMomma]

I’ve never thought of it this way either. I’ll be making changes, too.

[Rockgirl]

We don’t even grab shoes. We just go, since that’s what we’d do in an actual fire. I have a backpack hanging near the door that leads from the playroom outside, and that’s the only thing I grab on the way out.

Edited to add: I’ll have to rethink that on snowy/icy days.

[Springvalley]

State tells us that children must have their shoes on ALL day including nap because if we have a fire or other type of emergency we need to get out quickly.

[Annalee]

I was curious for those of you who are required to do monthly fire drills in your daycare. Our state doesn't go into specifics on certain things and so this is maybe just more of an opinion on what some people do. So my question is do you have the kids quickly grab their shoes and put them on at the destination? That's usually what I do is tell the kids that we don't have time in a fire to put our shoes on so therefore we just sometimes may have time to at least grab our shoes other times you may not even have time to do that so we do it both ways just curious what others do. My husband seems to think that parents would be upset if we're doing a fire drill in socks and it's wet outside.

This is one reason I don't like the kids to take their shoes off but???? I do like the shoes off for clean floor purposes. But yes, you are to run out immediately regardless in the event of fire thus the same for a fire drill....I have an emergency notebook I take out with outside so I take that as well for fire drill.....parents digitally sign in but I have an attendance sheet each day in the notebook as well.

[TenderHearts]

I was curious for those of you who are required to do monthly fire drills in your daycare. Our state doesn't go into specifics on certain things and so this is maybe just more of an opinion on what some people do. So my question is do you have the kids quickly grab their shoes and put them on at the destination? That's usually what I do is tell the kids that we don't have time in a fire to put our shoes on so therefore we just sometimes may have time to at least grab our shoes other times you may not even have time to do that so we do it both ways just curious what others do. My husband seems to think that parents would be upset if we're doing a fire drill in socks and it's wet outside.