How to Conduct Fire Drills for Assisted Living in Iowa

Assisted-living facilities are challenging from an emergency-preparedness standpoint because not all residents are mobile enough to evacuate on their own. Assisted-living facility residents range from fully mobile to incapacitated, and running through fire drills can be challenging. One of the best ways to prepare for an actual evacuation is practicing for fires so that areas of concern can be addressed before an actual emergency occurs. In Iowa, the state fire marshal oversees all fire-evacuation plans and answers concerns and questions about an assisted-living facility's emergency planning procedures. The Iowa Department on Aging mandates that assisted-living facilities have emergency preparedness plans in place and that fire drills are conducted routinely.

Things You'll Need

• Evacuation plan
• Contact information for local first responders
• Map of the facility
• Listing of all residents

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Instructions

• 1

  Create your master fire evacuation plan. Use building and facility drawings to create the master plan. Work with local first responders in Iowa to request assistance in reviewing your final plans. See Resources section for contact information for the Iowa state fire marshal to assist in locating the fire department responsible for your facility.

• 2

  Conduct a meeting with your staff to schedule a day and time for the fire drill. List all residents and their motility issues and determine which residents can participate in the fire drill. Make a list of residents who can not evacuate on their own. Assign staff to assist with residents that cannot evacuate on their own and make sure that every resident is listed as either able to evacuate on their own or which staff member will assist with the evacuation.

• 3

  Contact your local fire department in Iowa to let them know when you have scheduled your fire drill. Make sure that the fire department is aware of your plans.

• 4

  Contact the Iowa State Police and your local police department to inform them that you will be having a fire drill. Give ample notice before the drill so that all emergency personnel are aware the drill will be occurring.

• 5

  Contact your fire alarm company and talk directly to a local office that services your account in Iowa. Inform them of the day and time that you are staging your fire drill. You must inform the alarm company before the drill so that they do not send first responders from the area under the assumption that the alarm is for a real fire.

• 6

  Run through your fire drill using your fire evacuation plans that you have trained your staff with. Contact the Iowa Department of Aging to inform them that you successfully practiced your fire drill. You are not required to inform the department about fire drill exercises.

• 7

  Meet with your staff to go over the results of the fire drill. Request that a member from the Iowa fire marshal's office or a local fire department attend the meeting. Discuss what worked successfully and where there are areas that need improvement. Write down everything that occurred during and immediately after the fire drill. Make changes to your fire evacuation plans accordingly.