The fire alarms in the South Building this morning were NOT A DRILL. Last week we sent a notice to all employees that there would be a fire drill in the Headquarters Complex sometime in the upcoming two weeks. By sending out this advance notice, we broke from our normal protocol of having fire drills as unannounced events. This was done because staff from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Washington D.C. Fire Department were participating in the planned drill and we wanted employees to be aware of their presence and the activities associated with their participation.
Our observations of this morning’s event indicated that many people thought that this was the planned drill and as a result were slow to respond and/or were waiting for a Computer Emergency Notification System (CENS) message to confirm the event. Thankfully, the fire alarm was initiated by a faulty waterflow indicator and not an actual fire. Had it been a fire, the slow response could have placed personnel in jeopardy.
The major lesson we all should learn from this morning is that when the fire alarms sound, ALWAYS assume it is a real world, life threatening event and begin immediate evacuation. Do not wait for a CENS message or public address system message. In a fire, we only use the CENS and public address systems to notify personnel in other buildings about what is occurring to prevent them from coming to the affected locations. The sounding of the fire alarm is the sole means of initiating a life saving evacuation in the affected building.
We also noted that some did not use the emergency exits that provide the quickest way out of the building. There appeared to be a reluctance to exit through doors that were marked for emergency use only. Please remember, all exit doors should be used in a fire alarm initiated evacuation, whether it is an actual fire or a drill.
There were also some problems on re-entry. Some Federal Protective Service (FPS) officers gave an all clear before USDA’s security officers were positioned to allow for a controlled reentry. This caused additional confusion and potentially jeopardized the safety of persons crossing back and forth across the roads. Our security personnel are coordinating with FPS to solve this problem and will in the future use bullhorns to keep evacuated personnel informed about when an all-clear is given. When reentering the buildings, please remember to use only the security controlled entrances.
Finally, we have heard from some employees who expressed concerns about the way our emergency response staff handled the event. Please be assured that we also noted the problems and are aggressively working to resolve these issues. As always, we appreciate your comments and suggestions. In fact we need them and ask that those of you that want to share your comments with the Incident Management Team, please address them to preparedness@usda.gov