Assisted-Living Facility Smoke in a Resident Wing
At 02:40, the night supervisor at a 60-bed assisted-living facility calls. She reports smoke coming from the laundry room on the east wing. The fire alarm is sounding, but the sprinkler system has not activated. There are 24 residents on the east wing: 18 ambulatory, 4 require wheelchairs, and 2 are on oxygen. The wing has a fire door at each end and an elevator. Staff are asking whether to evacuate everyone outside or move them to the west wing. The building is at 715 Willow Bend Drive. The supervisor is calm but says the smoke is getting thicker in the corridor. She has not checked the laundry room door for heat and does not know whether anyone is inside.
1. What key information do you obtain, and what response do you recommend?
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Confirm the address, the wing, and the laundry room location. Ask whether the laundry room door is hot, whether smoke is visible in the corridor, what color and density it is, and whether the fire alarm is general or localized. Establish the resident count and needs: 24 on the east wing, 4 wheelchair-dependent, 2 on oxygen. Ask whether staff have begun moving anyone and whether the elevator is being used. Recommend a full structural fire response with multiple EMS units because of the occupant load and non-ambulatory residents. Dispatch while continuing to question, and update units with: smoke from laundry room, east wing, 24 residents including 6 with mobility or oxygen needs, sprinklers not flowing, staff beginning horizontal evacuation. Do not wait to confirm fire before sending; smoke in a residential corridor with vulnerable occupants is a life-safety emergency.
2. What evacuation guidance do you give: outside, horizontal, oxygen, and elevators?
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Advise horizontal evacuation first: move residents from the east wing through the fire doors into the west wing, closing doors behind them. This protects them from smoke without exposing frail residents to outdoor weather or long carries. Do not use the elevators. If smoke is heavy in the corridor, staff should stay low and move residents in order of immediate danger, starting with those closest to the smoke and those who cannot self-evacuate. For oxygen users, oxygen cylinders should be moved away from the smoke area if staff can do so safely, but do not turn off oxygen on a resident who needs it unless directed by medical personnel. Wheelchair users should be pushed, not left in the corridor. If the west wing becomes smoke-filled, then consider outside evacuation, but that is a secondary choice. The principle is to protect residents behind fire doors while firefighters address the source.
3. What do you tell the supervisor about meeting firefighters and accounting for residents?
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Tell her to send a staff member to the main entrance with keys, the resident roster, and any floor plan or wing map, and to tell firefighters where the east wing laundry room is and which residents remain. Staff should account for all 24 residents by name or room number at the relocation point. No one should re-enter the east wing until the fire department clears it. Keep the phone line open if possible, or confirm a callback number, and update the dispatcher if smoke spreads to the west wing or if a resident is missing. Do not have staff attempt to force the laundry room door if it is hot. The accounting information is critical because responders need to know whether anyone is still inside, and the roster helps them verify evacuation completeness.