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| Michael Gannon, Register Staff | March 24, 2001 |
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Students saw smoke coming from the windows of a computer room on the second floor. Four fire engines plus police and Stratford EMS all came roaring up within minutes with lights and sirens activated.
Most of the firefighters were surprised to learn they would be conducting a rescue involving a seventh-grade student who uses a wheelchair.
The drill was planned over the last month or so by school and Fire Department administrators as a test for the school and the department. Don Willis, assistant principal at Wooster, said it began in earnest after he spoke with the seventh-grader’s mother.
"There had been a newspaper article about how Bridgeport schools handled handicapped children," Willis said. He said the mother wanted to ensure that handicapped children are moved to a secure area and not left alone.
"Our student has a full-time aide with him, and the aide always has a radio," he said.
In the minutes leading up to the drill, Deputy Fire Chief John Cybart said the presence of fire personnel at the school probably alerted students and faculty that something out of the ordinary was planned.
"But they don’t know the trucks are coming," Cybart said. "They don’t know that smoke will be coming from the computer lab."
Cybart said the normal procedure is for a teacher who pulls an alarm to alert the principal of the fire’s location after the building is evacuated, and for the principal to then alert the fire chief when he arrives.
"But the teachers don’t know that Deputy Fire Marshal (Thomas) Velky is going to pick one of them to pull the alarm," Cybart said. "And the firefighters won’t know until they get here that one student will be unaccounted for."
"It was a test for the teachers as well," Velky said. "I told one student that his computer was on fire and asked what he was supposed to do. He said, ‘Tell my teacher.’ Then I asked his teacher what she was supposed to do now."
Mathematics teacher Deborah DeMeo was then put to the test.
"I knew I had to pull the fire alarm, but I had never done it before," she said. "I knew about the alarms where you lift a barrier and pull the alarm down. This one had to be pushed in and pulled down. I didn’t think it was working at first. My heart was pounding, even though I knew it was a drill."
As for the student in the wheelchair, two firefighters were assigned to enter the building into a second-floor stairwell, where the boy and his aide were situated. They brought out the student.
Glenn Douglas, Wooster’s principal, said all teachers reported to their superiors, who ultimately reported to him.
"I think it went very well," Douglas said. "I’m sure there a few loose ends the department would like us to tie up, but that’s why we’re doing this."
Velky said the Fire Department would eventually like such interactive exercises at all the schools.
"We might go to a class that is evacuating and pull one student out to have him missing and check on reporting procedure," Velky said. "We might have a few of us standing in front of an exit and tell people it’s blocked to have them take a secondary route. We’ll throw in a few monkey wrenches."