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by Ed Schirick
In
Part One of "Fire Prevention and Safety at Camp," in the last issue of
Camping Magazine, you learned some of the regulations and standards that
must be considered when developing a written fire prevention and safety
plan and you identified potential fire hazards. Part Two focuses on developing
a written fire prevention and safety plan and creating an emergency action
plan.
Develop a Written Fire Prevention and Safety Plan
Directors are responsible for the big picture, for the overall operation
of the business. As a result, it is easy for the director to succumb
to the temptation of writing the fire prevention and safety plan for
the camp and presenting it to the staff as gospel. Resist this temptation
if at all possible! Experience has demonstrated that the more input you
get from others on risk management projects like this, the better and
more comprehensive the result.
Start a list and share it
Start with the list of fire hazards and risks you identified previously as
part of the risk management process. Share them with your key management
staff and year-round employees, including caretakers. Ask them to review
your list and add to it from their own perspective and experience. The objectives
of this process are to:
- expand everyone's awareness
- focus on the goal of protecting the camp's assets through an aggressive
plan of prevention
- protect the campers and staff from injuries in a fire.
Once you have a revised list of fire hazards, evaluate the potential
for loss and decide how to prevent, minimize, or manage each one. Keep
your staff involved in this phase. Get their input on how to handle the
fire risks and hazards you have jointly identified, and establish policies
and practices. Some of these will be general, others specific to the
hazard and risk involved.
An example of a general fire prevention policy might be that no smoking
will be allowed in camp. Another might be that you will trim brush back
fifty feet from camp buildings to reduce the potential for a fire spreading
from one building to another. An example of a specific fire prevention
policy could be that you will install an exhaust system, grease filters,
and a dry chemical fire extinguishing system over all cooking surfaces
in accordance with the National Fire Protection Association standard.
In addition, you will have this system inspected and recharged annually
by a fire systems contractor.
Put your policies in writing and incorporate the prevention and safety
practices into your staff manual and training schedules. Seek input from
your seasonal staff as you review this issue with them during staff training.
Fire prevention and safety is everyone's job, so the more you communicate
and seek help from others in maintaining a safe environment, the better
your chances of accomplishing your objectives.
Form a safety committee
One way to enlist staff in the process of managing risk, to assign responsibility
for fire prevention and safety, and at the same time to comply with OSHA
requirements is to establish a safety committee. The committee consists of
employees who help with risk identification and safety promotion and communicate
with the staff about risk management and safety. The safety committee can
help increase awareness and educate staff and campers about fire prevention
and safety. The basis of the safety committee's training and education will
come from the risk identification, risk reduction, and control work the director
and key staff did earlier.
Create an Emergency Action Plan
No fire prevention and safety plan would be complete without an emergency
action or crisis response plan. Planning your response in an emergency
should be done in advance when time can be taken to consider the issues
clearly and calmly.
Escape procedures and route assignments
Your emergency action plan for fire should include emergency escape procedures
and route assignments. The most important task for staff is to make sure
that campers are safe. Once this is determined, staff and campers should
assemble at some point a safe distance away from the fire. Roll call should
be taken to ensure that everyone is safe. Consider that you may need at least
one alternate assembly point in case the escape route is blocked or an assembly
point puts campers too close to the fire.
These procedures work best when they are practiced and reviewed regularly
with the staff. Also, have fire drills a couple of times during the summer
when all campers are in camp so they become familiar with the procedures.
Sounding the alarm
You also must decide in advance how you will sound an alarm at camp. Do you
have a means of communication that reaches all areas of camp? Is there a
signal that will be recognized by everyone as a fire emergency? How will
you let the staff know to implement the emergency action plan? Other issues
include whether you want your summer staff to fight the fire until the local
fire department arrives.
Many camp directors choose not to have counselors attempt to fight the
fire beyond discharging a portable fire extinguisher if they are the
first to discover the fire. Other camp directors have formed fire brigades
and provided training for staff to learn how to keep the fire from spreading.
This usually involves wetting down the roof and the outside of the building
as well as adjacent buildings exposed to the fire. If you choose to take
this approach, realize that OSHA has very specific training requirements
for employees who are on a fire brigade. Information on OSHA fire brigade
standards may be found at www.osha.gov.
Additional considerations
Ask yourself and your staff these important questions:
- How will you notify the fire department?
- Who will meet the arriving fire trucks at the front gate?
- Where will your command center be?
- What if your command center is in the building on fire?
- Who should you call after you call the fire department?
- Where are the phone numbers, e-mail addresses, and fax numbers?
- Who will coordinate these activities? If it is the director, what
happens if the director is away from camp or injured in the fire?
- How will you keep campers safe and occupied during the fire?
- Where will you house campers and staff if the bunkhouses were involved
in the fire?
- How will you feed everyone if the dining hall is damaged or destroyed?
- How will you notify parents about the incident?
- How will you manage the media?
Add your own "what-if" questions to the list, and consider all of these
issues when preparing your camp emergency action plan for fire. Prepare
now before the emergency strikes so you will be better prepared to take
confident action.
Originally published in the 1999 January/February
issue of Camping Magazine. |
