Chinese Fire Drill

Kunshan International School
Fire Drill, May 2012

As a student, I always enjoyed fire drills.  It was a break from the monotonous dull of class and a chance to get out into the fresh air where I might spot a friend I wouldn't normally see.  Well, as you have probably guessed, my experience was slightly different in China.  Here's the story of my first Chinese "fire drill" (May 2012):

Before starting my high school English lesson, I was approached by the class monitor who informed me of our 1:40 fire drill.  At 2:00, our panic-stricken class teacher ran into the classroom and urgently herding us outside.

"Did you hear the alarm, Wendy?"  I asked her confused.  

"No, and we're late!"  We shuffled downstairs and out the front doors of the school to see a small portion of the school's student body had been listening to two speakers standing around some fire equipment.  I was surprised to see that students weren't in regimented lines standing quietly in a location far from the building.  It was quite obvious from the sight that this wasn't a practice drill but a demonstration on fire safety.  And, the presentation was just about to begin...

Outside, there were no chairs, benches, or bleachers.  Students stood in clustered groups and apathetically watched as some of the KSIS staff worked together to create a fire pit.  Some standing, some of the more weary had brought themselves down to a squat, slumped over with their head in their hands. Looking around, I viewed teachers who had left their students and had moved to the back of the audience to talk quietly among themselves.  To my surprise, many uninterested students stood nearby, doing the same without any reaction from the faculty. 

It was at this time that the Dean of Students took the microphone and spoke out to the crowd.  Simultaneously, the school's security guard grabbed an orange bucket full of gasoline and poured it into the pit where four wooden sticks with rags tied to one side lay soaking. 

Then, the speaker set the pit ablaze.  All eyes held a steady stare into the fire, anticipating the speaker's next move.  

It was time to pull out the big guns!  First, the Dean of Students demonstrated how to use the fire extinguisher, but I could tell the students were expecting something more.  The longer he spoke, the more the students inched up closer to the fire pit.  A teacher had to come through and ask them to scoot back.  

And then, it happened.  In all its glory, a large white cloud shot out from the mouth of the slender red device and smothered the fire.  Students stunned themselves into a silence, then a large applause.  The security officer poured more gasoline into the pit and lit it.  The speaker looked around the crowd and began calling up students.  With guidance, lucky volunteers had the opportunity to distinguish a fire.

The show came to an end.  All students were excited and went back to learning in their classrooms.  

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In this experience, as in many I have had here in China, it is not uncommon to learn at the last moment of an event or function that you are expected to attend.  This is mostly because it just happens this way in China.  In fact it is quite common for wedding venues to be booked three days before the service, and for cancellations of major community events to be rescheduled up until the day of the celebration.

Bringing your western ideas of how people should be informed and how things should be run can easily get you frustrated  I can tell you that from time to time, I can find myself slipping into negative feelings.  It's then you catch yourself and realize that you are a guest in their country.  You redefine why you came to live in China in the first place.  I did not come to China to live the "western high-life."  I came here to immerse myself in everyday culture.  I want to live in China

For the students, the fire drill was exciting, like seeing something that for them would only happen in the movies.  For me as a teacher, it was a safety hazard.  The fire demonstration area had not been taped off, nor adequate seating arrangements made to keep students a safe distance away.  This meant that during the presentation, students in clear aim of the fire extinguisher were covered in a mix of chemical smoke and fire debris.   

But at the end of the day, and despite my very western view of how to run the event, we learned about fire, no one got hurt, and we went back to learning.  We covered most of the important components of a fire demonstration anyway, right?

Please take a look at exciting moments from the afternoon below:

Dousing the flame pit with some kind of flammable liquid.  Surely not a recommendation by Smokey the Bear.

Our featured guest, invited by Lisa our principal, along with the High School Dean.

Starting the fire.

Anticipation growing.

The beginning 

How to use a fire extinguisher.

The boring lecture before the cool stuff started to happen.

Students standing side-by-side awaiting fire demonstration.

Excited student body inching closer to the fire pit.

Smoke hurled into the air  Shifting the group of students on the left to cover their mouths and eventually move to a non-smokey area.

Calling all volunteers!

But first, a demonstration by the dean.

More gagging students in the midst of the smoke.

Teachers and students uniterested to the demonstration going on.  No one seemed to be bothered.

Our bravest students take on the task of extinguishing the fire.

Now, a firing line.

SUCCESS!