In a way, Friends’ first fire drill of the year began with an announcement in the weekly G-Mail on Sunday night. In his email, interim Upper School head Jon Garman let students know they would be having a fire drill during their Advisory block. 

Many students said that they appreciated being informed about the drill ahead of time – in contrast to the many surprise drills last year. Others said they thought knowing about the drill beforehand defeated the purpose. 

The drill itself, on a gloomy Wednesday morning, began with a noticeably quieter fire alarm than the out-of-the-blue, blaringly loud alarms of years past. The alarm tone was so quiet that multiple students remarked that they didn’t think it would wake them up if they were sleeping.  

Despite some skepticism about the alarm, from an adult perspective, the drill went very well. 

“I thought it was one of the best ones I’ve ever seen,” Mr. Garman said afterward. “The students were terrific: assembled quickly, quietly. Everyone got to the appropriate spot.”