The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1911-02-09
FIRE PROTECTION
Excellent Arrangements in the
Public Schools
DRILL WORKS NICELY
Nearly Six Hundred Pupils Move
From Building in One dnd Three
Quarter Minutes

So long as the excellent existing
arrangements are in force at the pub
lie school building, Sank Centre par
ents need not fear that their chill
dren are in danger in case of fire in
| that structure.
| Supt. Angus and his competent
corps of teachers have a fire drill in
force that empties the building. in
short. order. Monday afternoon j.
n. McGibbon Of the Board of Educa-
ton, Geo. Fish chief of the fire de-
partment, accompanied by the pub
| Usher of the Herald. witnessed fire
drill. Chief Fish held the watch and
| found that exactly one and three
quarter minutes elapsed from the
sounding of the alarm by Janitor
John Kerneghan until the last pupil
was outside the building. 1t took
the SO pupils to return to their
rooms. On going out each pupil took
his wraps. Books are not taken as
they are the property of the school
board and are insured.
The three entrances were used in
the drill. There was no confusion
nor disorder, though everybody moved
with reasonable degree of speed in
passing out. The largest number of
pupils pass out the front door, the
side doors being used as exits from
the the addition to the main part of
the building.
Supt. Angus tells The Herald that
l. the fire drill is used often, sometimes
twice week; sometimes not so often.
The pupils, he says, never exhibit
any nervousness. This, in his esti-
nation, is the best part of the pro-
gram, and he believes that, in case
of fire, the boys and girls would pass
out of the building with no more ex-
citement than they show during the
drill. Certain it is that the young
people go through the drill in good
time and do not for single moment
become excited or lose their nerve.
Then there is an additional safety
promoter. It's sort of "Shoot the
ChuUes" arrangement to be used in
case of fire if room full of pupils
should chance to be cut off from es-
cape by the stairways. The second
story rooms and the recitation rooms
in the third story are each provided
| with one of these appliances.
The appliance in question is stout
canvas chute about three feet wide
and foot deep and sufficiently long
to reach at an angle of something like
As degrees from the window to the
ground at a distance of fifteen or
twenty feet from the building. The
upper end is held in place by an inch
iron rod longer than the window is
wide: the lower end is grasped by a
number of the larger boys of the
school or by the firemen and held
securely, while the pupils slide down
it to safety. No matter how fright
ened the boys may be or how hysteri-
cal the girls may become. all that is
necessary is to place them, one at a
time, in the chutes and gravity does
the rest; it's simply swift and gen.
tie toboggan trip to the ground. The
boys enjoy the drill greatly, and it is
quite evident that, in case Of fire, very
few if any would close their heads. y
1t worth while for any one interested
in the welfare of the public schools
to visit the building and see what the
Board of Education has done for the
protection of the lives Of teachers anG
pupils