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LANETT — The Lanett Senior Center had a fire drill on Tuesday, and everything went off without a hitch.

“I am so proud of my seniors,” said Senior Center Manager Sandra Thornton. “They couldn’t have done it any better. It was  an excellent practice.”

Lanett Fire Department firefighter/paramedics Dylan Moncus and Amanda Lockhart were there to coordinate the drill and to talk to the seniors and senior center staff afterward.

The seniors were gathered inside the center like they usually are at 11 a.m. on Tuesday when the fire alarm went off. In a calm, orderly fashion they walked single file to the main entrance and out the doors to the raised garden area at the back of the center. A member of the senior center staff then called the roll from the daily sign-in sheet. One person, Ruth Lariscy, was not there.

Her sister, Betty Ward, said that she had gone to the bathroom just before the fire alarm sounded. The firefighters present re-entered the building and escorted her outside.

“When you get to be my age, you’d better know how to take care of yourself,” Lariscy said in a kidding way.

The final exit was part of the original plan. Ward stayed behind on purpose to practice what to do when someone is still in the building.

From the time the initial alarm sounded, until everyone was present and accounted for in the safety zone outside the building it took less than 10 minutes.

“Everyone needs to know what to do should you ever have an actual emergency,” Moncus told the seniors after the drill. “You need to have an evacuation plan and to practice the kind of drill we just had. Everyone inside the building needs to know what to do in case of an emergency. When you do a drill, you need to stop whatever it is you are doing and calmly follow the exit route in a single-file manner.”

Moncus said he was well pleased with the way the drill went.

He noted that the center has an excellent evacuation plan. In addition to the main exit route that was used, there’s an alternate way out as well. There’s a back exit for the lunchroom in case the front of the building is blocked by dense smoke or fire.

There are five steps involved in a fire drill:

(1) to have an evacuation plan,

(2) educate everyone in the building about the plan,

(3) conduct fire drills to validate the plan,

(4) consider ways to improve the plan, and

(5) conduct regular fire drills.

Moncus and Lockhart reviewed what to do in the case of an approaching tornado. “Everyone needs to know where to be in that situation,” Moncus said.

The safest location at the senior center is the hallway outside the L.B. Sykes classroom area. It’s a very short walk from the lunchroom.

“The main thing is to be away from windows,” Moncus said. “It’s best to be next to the wall and away from windows. Hopefully, some chairs will be set up so you can wait out the storm danger.”

The East Alabama Area Agency on the Aging encourages all senior centers in its 10-county region to have an evacuation plan for their senior center and to practice it. They also encourage local communities to have safe centers or to have safe areas they can easily get to in the event of an approaching storm.