8 Things NOT to do During a Fire Evacuation

This list came about after a fire evacuation at a leisure centre, where we were gathered for the birthday party of one of Thomas' friends. All in good humour :)

Here are 8 things you should NOT do during a fire evacuation:


1. Grab everything you brought with you and attempt to carry it out. This includes wet towels, swim bags, noodles, goggles etc

2. Go to another section of the swim centre from where you currently are to retrieve your coffee. Coffee addict much?

3. Head off in the opposite direction of the exit to search for your child's discarded thongs.

4. Push your child, who is tightly wrapped in a towel and thus has no arm movement, under a table to search for abovementioned thongs. Precious minutes lost.

5. Cause mild panic by asking, "Was that a fire alarm or a bomb threat?" (You know I'm only joking J)

6. Start taking photos on your mobile phone in order to use in a blog post. Ahem, no names.

7. Congregate in front of doors from which everyone has exited, thereby blocking the fire and rescue squad's path into and out of the building. Really smart move.

8. Perve at the firemen who have turned up to do their job, and try to ask one of them out on a date. I added this one because I know someone who would do this. She once asked a funeral parlour staff member for their number...at a funeral.

Faces have been pixelated to protect the innocent :)

This man may or may not have turned up to rescue us.

This post was written somewhat in jest, but some of the abovementioned actions did take place. In the event of fire and in the interests of safety, one should immediately exit an evacuated building, leaving all possessions behind. This has been my community service announcement for the day :)

Have you ever done anything silly during an evacuation?