The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

THE Police Fire Branch staged a fire evacuation drill at the College of the Bahamas yesterday, telling participants there is no room for mistakes during a real emergency.

Director of the Fire Services Supt Walter Evans told faculty and staff in the Portia Smith Building they deserved an ‘A’ for their “excellent job” in evacuating within the international standard time of three minutes.

“I think you did an excellent job overall,” Supt Evans said, addressing scores of staff members inside the lobby of the PS building. “And by saying that, don’t think that you’ve arrived as yet.

“If there are any mistakes to be made, we prefer them to be made during the drill. We have no room for mistakes to be made during an actual event. During an actual event, you have to be on cue,” he said.

COB’s director of health and safety Wendy Poitier-Albury said: “This drill is for us to find out how quickly we can evacuate the building, and to make sure that all of our fire safety procedures, according to our emergency procedure manual, are followed.

“And this gives us an opportunity as well to ensure that all of the persons that are employees, staff, faculty and students, and also our visitors, are aware of what our safety procedures are.

“One of our mandates is to ensure that we have a healthy and safe campus. And as part of that mandate, we also have to put in place fire safety and prevention and this is part of it.”