Fire Drill

Tuesday, March 27, 2007.
A day when we had the fire drill in our organization. It began with the customary lecture on fire, fire types, types of extinguishers, and the selection of the floor leaders. The training this time was much better than it was last year. They have come up with good presentation slides containing the gist of information.
During the seminar we did freak out, with imagination running wild to come up with innovative ideas. Though not official, these ideas were generated at the back benches, as usually found in any lecture.
By late afternoon, it was time for the mock drill and to the surprise of the presenter and auditor, all of us performed really well in evacuating from the scene of fire. Immediately on hearing the hooter, all of us were scrambling towards the exit, and definitely with the mantra we learnt in the morning; "Don't run, Walk fast. Don't panic" so forth and so on. I guess it was the burning desire to save one's skin from any eventuality in case, such a situation arose.
In the practice session held in the parking lot, we had the previlege of viewing the different fire extinguishers in action.
Some notable points.a) We have been adviced to look for the root/ base of the fire and direct the extinguisher at this base. I guess, in real life, we may not be interested in finding the root/ base of the fire. b) With the powder form of extinguishers, it was really a mess. I guess it does not smother us, instead of the fire and lest we drop lifeless for the fire to devour us.c) With the foam extinguisher, we were in for a surprise. Instead of the thick white foam, we were treated to a dirty black less viscous foam. Probably the dealer took it in the literal sense and filled the cylinder with foam of leftover soiled clothes which was a byproduct of washing the same.d) Thankfully the exit door was open and we did avoid another case of somebody crashing into the glass. I reiterate "The glass is not Saint Gobbain".