Safe Church - Fire Safety Policy
Fire Drill
A Fire drill will be performed once a year to be coordinated by the Christian Education Director or the Safe Church Advocate.
Fire Drill/Alarm Evacuation Procedures:
Evacuation Plan:
Primary and Secondary Exits:
Sanctuary: Exit by the closet door, unless fire is blocking the way. That means out through the front door, through the chapel and out the side door, or through Fellowship Hall to either exit.
Balconies: Exit by the closest door- down the stairs and out the front door, or to the back stairs leading to the Pre-K and Nursery hallway, then out the back door leading to the playground.
Fellowship Hall (including Kitchen and Hospitality Room): Either the side door to the ramp or out the other side door to the playground.
Pre-K Classroom and Nursery: Straight down the hallway to the back door leading to the playground area or through Fellowship Hall and use either exit door.
Schoolhouse Classrooms: Primary exit is down the stairs and out the door leading directly to the common. Or use the fire escape but only if the stairs are blocked by smoke and/or fire.
Grade 6/7 Classroom: Down either stairwell to the Pre-K and Nursery hallway, then out the back door leading to the playground.
Meeting Place: Everyone meet at the Gazebo on the common.
Fire equipment Certification:
The fire extinguishers, fire alarms and pull handles, and exit signs are to be tested and certified by a Fire Safety Trained expert on a yearly basis. We currently have Charlie Goodrich who is certified and is willing to perform these annual tests that need to be sent to the Fire Marshall for his records.
Hallways cleared of Debris: All hallways and stairwells are to be clear of all clothing, garbage, tables, etc. for proper egress and evacuation.
Post Occupancy Limits: Need to be posted in Fellowship Hall, by the main entrance(ramp door) and by the entrance to the Pre-K classroom, as we sometimes use this area for "overflow".
Fire Alarm Policy:
When the alarm is triggered from (Heat, Smoke or the Manual Pull Handles) the Muddy Brook Fire Department is called automatically along with a key holder member of the church from our list. This call is generated by C. Goodrich Alarm Co. The alarm code when contacting C. Goodrich is 1, 2, 3, 4 and the phone number is 860-928-6518.
The key holder list consists of Calvin Neely, Seth Spalding, Glen Lessig, Rick Place and the Church.
When someone from the list is contacted they are to contact the church to see if someone is there and find out the severity of the concern. If no answer then they should go to the church immediately and meet the fire department to give access to the facility if needed. When the alarm goes off for trouble codes, that means there is a system error such as low battery or the power went out and just needs to be checked at your earliest convenience. The fire company is not called for trouble codes.
If the incident is a fire code then it should be reported to the Society Chairperson as soon as possible after the incident has been resolved by fire fighting personnel. The Society Committee and the Church Council will work to determine the course of actions for repairing damages, use of church, etc.
Adopted by the East Woodstock Congregational Church