Why fire drills are important?

I remembered as a student, fire drills were already being practiced once or twice every year. And I actually welcomed them, because it is a break from class, and most of the time, after gathering at the school field, we do not need to do anything but wait for the teachers to count strength, and we can chit chat and play. But of course if we got too noisy, the teacher will scold.

In working life, fire drills disrupt meetings and can be a really unwelcome distraction. For professions like bankers where every minute is money earned/ lost, fire drills could be a real pest.

Still we all put up with it, since it is mandatory.

But what is the actual reason behind having these fire drills? Most people will know that it is so we can familiarise ourselves with the route and gathering point. But there is a deeper meaning.

In this month's TIME magazine, it was reported that contrary to expectations, when disaster strike, people do not panic and scramble to escape, as movies would have us believe. The truth is most people will do nothing. The article cited a few disasters for example, when a ferry was sinking, survivors recounted that most people were stunned into inaction, simply standing or sitting down and waiting for the end to come.

So fire drills become a sort of a reflex action, an SOP programmed over time into us, so when a real fire happens, hopefully, the brain can count on this process stored in its memory and summoned the legs to move towards the staircase.

So, take fire drills very seriously.
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Read the TIME article here.