Citywide Fire Drill

The Philadelphia Fire Department will guide students through a simulated dorm evacuation during the department's citywide fire drill.

Residents of Drexel's dormitories, fraternity and sorority houses will participate in a simulated fire evacuation this Thursday as part of the Philadelphia Fire Department’s “Dump the Dorms” initiative and citywide fire drill on Thursday, Oct. 18. Fire fighters and rescue crews will demonstrate safe egress in the instance of a dorm fire or emergency. Drexel’s dorm evacuation will be followed by similar drills at Penn and Temple to complete the PFD’s educational initiative.

Fire department-monitored evacuations of Myers, Kelly and Van Rensselaer dormitories will commence at 6:45 p.m. Students will safely exit the buildings and gather at the common area on Race Street, which is the safe meeting place for the drill.

Students are encouraged to tweet with the hashtag #dumpthedorms during the fire drill and the fire safety fair. As part of its developing emergency response efforts, the Philadelphia Fire Department is integrating social media monitoring as part of its communications plan.

Students will be greeted by volunteers from the Second Alarmers Association of Philadelphia, a fire fighter relief group, with refreshments. The PFD’s fire safety education unit will be on hand to demonstrate fire safety tips distribute information. A group CPR training session will also take place at the fire safety fair, with participants taking home a “CPR Anytime” training kit. The American Red Cross and Red Paw organizations will be on hand to distribute disaster relief information and to demonstrate proper fire evacuation procedures for pets.

Later in the evening attendees can watch a screening of “9 Fires,” a documentary produced by the Michael H. Minger Foundation about a series of nine fires that took place on college campuses in early 2012. The film compares the aftermath of each fire, talks to survivors, friends and families and looks at how to prevent these tragic events from happening again.

For more information visit www.phila.gov/fire