Huntley High Fire Drill Reveals Malfunctioning Alarm

Huntley High School conducts three fire drills per year.

Most of those drills take place without a glitch.

However, during a fire drill held at 9:25 a.m. on Nov. 10, evacuation procedures and student exit rates did not reflect the norm. Officials from the Huntley Fire Protection District were on hand - in an advisory capacity -as were school administrators.

“Everyone noticed it took the students much longer to exit the building,” Huntley Fire Marshall Ernie Link said. “The time it took for the students to empty the building and for accountability wasn’t even close to last year.”

The problem?

One sound alarm on the school's second floor was not functioning, Link said.

“There was a problem with the fire alarm system that the maintenance man knew about, but never told the school principal or dean about,” Link said. “Someone had to go up to the second floor and knock on doors.”

Link said he was told the building maintenance worker was waiting for a replacement part to fix the malfunctioning alarm. The Huntley Fire Protection District only observes one drill per school year, Link said.

District 158 Superintendent Dr. John Burkey said he was not aware of the fire drill incident. When contacted by Patch, Burkey looked into the matter and quickly responded saying the malfunctioning piece was a circuit. The part was received, and the circuit since replaced, Burkey said.

“I’m told the problem’s resolved,” Burkey said. “Apparently, one of the sound alarms was not working, but the rest of the alarms in the building were.”

During the time between the drill and the maintenance, Link recommended school administrators set up a fire watch program. He suggested having students or teachers sit at desks in the second floor hallways, ready to knock on doors should the fire alarm activate.