Fire Emergency Plan

FIRE EMERGENCY PLAN In compliance to the Fire Safety Order (FSO) 2005

Greenfields School Priory Road, Forest Row, East Sussex RH18 5JD 29 December 2009

Person producing the plan: Leonard J Daly

Job title: Estates Manager

Signature: ______

Action to be taken by a person discovering fire:

1 Raise the alarm by activating a break glass call point located at all exit points (Lower school call the receptionist and tell her to press her call point) 2 Phone the Fire Brigade on 999 3 Give the operator your telephone number and ask for FIRE 4 When the Fire Brigade replies speak distinctly “Fire at Greenfields School Priory Road, Forest Row, East Sussex” 5 Do not replace the receiver until the address has been repeated by the Fire Brigade 6 Leave the building using the nearest exit and report to the Assembly Point on the Tennis Court where a roll-call will be taken. 7 Tell the Estates Manager that the Fire brigade has been called

Action to be taken by a person hearing the fire alarm:

1 Immediately go to the Assembly Point on the Tennis Court 2 Use the nearest available exit 3 Do not stop to collect personal belongings 4 Do not re-enter the building until you are told it is safe to do so

If you call the Fire Brigade or other Emergency Services always inform the Estates Manager as he is the responsible person named and he will inform the Health and Safety Officer and Chief Executive as needed. Fire Emergency Plan Cont…..

Fire Warning systems and protection

Fire Alarm

The School main building and all outer buildings except the lower school are fitted with an inter-linked fire alarm system. The system consists of smoke detectors in all key areas and sounders and an outside bell, which will alert to the possibility of fire.

Fire doors

In the Main Building, because of boarders living on the upper floors, there are automatic fire doors which will automatically close when the fire alarm goes off. These doors are 30 minute fire doors, meaning that the doors will hold back a fire of the temperature of 1,500 degrees C for about 20 minutes, and in the remaining 10 minutes the heat will begin to penetrate. The idea of these doors is to partition the fire, to keep the fire from spreading, to keep escape routes safe and give time for people to get out of the building. The doors are also fitted with intumescent strips with smoke seals, these when heated will swell up to prevent heat and smoke from getting past the doors.

All other doors to rooms in these buildings are also 30 minute fire doors and are fitted with door closers so that they will close themselves and the door closer itself will hold the door closed in the event of fire. It is therefore not necessary to lock doors when you hear the fire alarm; you just close the windows, turn off lights, knock out any wedges under doors, remove any objects holding doors open and leave the room and go to the assembly point.

Lower School

The Lower School is fitted with independent smoke alarms which will sound in the area of fire. Upon hearing one of these follow the procedure as above and go to the assembly point.

A Fire Risk Assessor from Fire Risk UK looked over the lower school building to ensure there would be adequate escape time and safety in the event of a fire situation and his report was that because of the visual accessibility, meaning there are many windows which allows for others to see an emergency and act appropriately, and as the building is all single storey, safe evacuation is possible. Also all inner walls and ceilings are plaster boarded and this gives a good resistance to the spread of fire. The doors however are not fire doors and will only resist fire for about 3 to 5 minutes. This is a risk factor however the number of exit points will give adequate safe escape time. Because of this the building has a low fire risk. Fire Emergency Plan Cont…..

Evacuation procedures

Staff and members of the public will evacuate the buildings following the direction of trained fire marshals and proceed to the assembly point on the Tennis court and await roll call. Staff should not re-enter the building until the local Fire Brigade Officer in charge gives the all clear, or in the case of false alarm or fire drill the Estates Manager will give the all clear.

Key Escape Routes

There are details of escape routes posted on each floor. If you notice that there is a corridor where there is not an Escape route plan posted please inform the Estates Manager and this will be remedied.

Duties and identities of employees with specific responsibilities

Estates manager 1 The Estates Manager is to contact the local fire brigade, or as above if you discover a fire and call the fire brigade be sure to inform the Estates Manager.

2 The Estates Manager is responsible for resetting the fire alarm and in the evening it is the duty of the Head of Boarding Supervisor.

3 The Estates Manager is responsible for liaising with the fire brigade upon their arrival at the School along with any members of the fire containment team.

Fire containment team and liaison The Estates Manager, Estates Staff and the Sports Teacher meet at the fire alarm panel and under the co-ordination of the Estates Manager take the appropriate action. Should all three be off site, the Head will instantly appoint a male member of staff to take on these duties as explained in the Fire Emergency Plan Addendum.

Receptionist The receptionist is responsible for control of the visitor log and staff sign out log and the receptionist must bring these to the assembly point on the Tennis Court.

Director of Teaching Services Director of Teaching Services has the outings log and registers and must bring these to the assembly point on the Tennis Court. Fire Emergency Plan Cont…..

Bursar The Bursar is responsible for the taking of the roll call.

Person needing special assistance The Public Officer (Mark McQuade), in liaison with the Medical Officer is to ensure that any persons needing special assistance, such as someone in a wheel chair or someone on crutches, is assigned a responsible person who will take care of this person in the event of an emergency and help them get to the assembly point on the Tennis Court.

Fire Marshals Fire marshals are responsible for their designated areas and to ensure that all are evacuated. Then and only then if they feel they can handle the fire, meaning if it is small like a waste basket, they may use the fire extinguishers located close by to contain the fire. There are 78 fire extinguishers on site and located in each area. The Fire Marshals have training in the use of fire extinguishers. However, no matter the size of the fire always call the fire brigade and inform the Estates Manager.

Fire Marshal identities and areas of responsibility

Administration building 1 Front Deputy Head 2 Public handling Receptionist 3 Upstairs Receptionist 4 Middle Bursar 5 Trust Offices Bursar

Lower School 1 Notify Lower School Deputy Head for Delivery 2 Front areas Head of Lower School 3 Rear areas J1 and J2 Teacher

Main building 1 Ground floor right Medical Officer 2 Northeast Girls’ Cloakroom And Staff kitchen Medical Officer 3 Main kitchen/dining Head Chef 4 Ground floor left Deputy Head for Delivery 5 First floor ICT Teacher 6 Top floor girls and boys And supervisors’ flat Cleaner

Fire Emergency Plan Cont…..

Pavilion B 1 Both Science rooms Bio/Chem teacher

Pavilion C 1 Course rooms Supervisor EFL EFL Teacher

Pavilion D 1 All Class rooms Head of Maths 2 Estates and shops Maintenance I/C

Outer green Class room 1 Both areas Bio/Chem Teacher or Deputy Head for Delivery if teacher is absent

Evenings and weekends Head of Boarding Fire Containment and Liaison, responsibilities of Head of Boarding

The Head of Boarding is responsible for the whereabouts of all boarders and any visitors that may be on the School premises during evenings and weekends. The Head of Boarding should assign duties to appropriate juniors and instruct them in their responsibilities in the case of fire for evacuating the building and accounting for all personnel. The Head of Boarding must ensure that assigned duties are posted and a copy of this posting is given to the Estates Manager.

The Head of Boarding’s first responsibility is to see to the safe evacuation of all Boarders and any visitors and to account for everyone. The Head of Boarding then checks with the assigned responsible person to ensure the emergency services have been contacted.

The Head of Boarding is to write reports to Estates detailing the event, no matter whether it is a false alarm or not.

If the Estates Manager is not on site, he should be called without delay and informed of the situation. Fire Emergency Plan Cont…..

Fire protection Equipment There are 78 fire extinguishers altogether located in easy accessible places throughout the school site. The types of extinguishers we have are for use on various classes of fires and these are listed below. It is also important to remember that in order for there to be fire, 3 things have to exist; Heat, Fuel and Oxygen. Some call this the fire triangle. In order to put the fire out one of the 3 things must be removed. The extinguishers that we have here at the School work on removing the Heat or the Oxygen or both.

Class A Class “A” is ordinary combustibles or fibrous material, such as wood, paper, cloth, rubber and some plastics.

Class B Class “B” is flammable or combustible liquids such as gasoline, petrol, kerosene, paint, paint thinners and propane.

Class C Class “C” is energized electrical equipment, such as appliances, switches, panel boxes and power tools.

Class D Class “D” is certain combustible metals, such as magnesium, titanium, potassium and sodium. These metals burn at high temperatures and give off sufficient oxygen to support combustion. They may react violently with water or other chemicals, and must be handled with care.

Class F Class “F” is frying pan fires, cooking oil or deep fat fryer fires.

The fire extinguishers we have are labelled for what kind of fire they can be used on. But to help clarify things they are listed here.

Class A Water can be used on class A fires.

CO2 can also be used however the thing to be aware of with CO2 is that it puts out the fire by removing the oxygen but does not necessarily cool the fire so depending what is burning there is a possibility of the fire re-igniting.

Foam can also be used on Class A fires

Dry Power can be used on Class A fires Fire Emergency Plan Cont…..

Class B CO2, Foam and dry Powder can be used.

Class C CO2 is good to use on electrics

Class D This one is a tricky one as when metals burn they burn at high temperatures and because the temperature is so hot they tend to need a specialized extinguisher to handle them. CO2 may put out the flames but again the temperature is so hot that re-combustion is very likely.

It is unlikely that we would experience a Class D fire in the school except perhaps in the chemistry laboratory, but the quantities of metal used are very small so CO2 will have a chance of working.

Class F Ideally here the fire blanket is the thing to use. It could take a bit of confront but using a fire blanket safely smothers the fire.

This is a little overview on types of fires and extinguishers. Throughout the School Class A and C are the probable types of fires; in the kitchen, because of cooking, Class F is likely and in Estates, Class A, B and C types are possible types of fire. Because of this you will find that most of the extinguishers around the school are water or CO2.

The main aim is to keep everyone safe, so if you see a fire and you are not sure what to do – do the Safe thing: (reminder) 1 Raise the alarm by activating a break glass call point located at all exit points - doorways leading outside. (Lower school call the receptionist and tell her to press her call point) 2 Phone the Fire Brigade on 999 3 Give the operator your telephone number and ask for FIRE 4 When the Fire Brigade replies speak distinctly “Fire at Greenfields School Priory Road, Forest Row, East Sussex” 5 Do not replace the receiver until the address has been repeated by the Fire Brigade 6 Leave the building using the nearest exit and report to the assembly point on the Tennis Court where a roll-call will be taken. 7 Tell the Estates Manager that the Fire brigade has been called

And that way we stay safe. Fire Emergency Plan Cont…..

Be Mindful

As mentioned above, there are 3 things needed to have fire - fuel, heat and oxygen. If you are in a class room don’t put paper near a heat source and exercise caution and care in the laboratories, kitchens and all places where a fire is possible.

Fire is a very useful thing; we use it to cook with and stay warm and do science experiments and so on. Putting the three elements together in a controlled environment is useful. It is when it gets outside the controlled environment that trouble starts and it can be very surprising just how fast fire can spread.

Last Two Points

Arson and security

The government tells us that the biggest source of fires in the UK are fires that have been intentionally started.

A Security Checklist will be issued to staff that normally lock up. This will help to keep attention on the things to look for when locking up so that the possibility of arson is as nil as possible.

Questions

If you have any questions on anything mentioned in this Fire Emergency Plan then please contact the Estates Manager so that it can be clarified or any organising that may be required is done.

LJ Daly Estates Manager Greenfields School