This is a drill, this is a drill

Well we had our first fire drill yesterday since arriving in Cameroon. It all seemed to go quite smoothly.It always begins with the same. The alarm goes off and you hear the fire team called to a location on the ship where a "fire" has been discovered. A few minutes later the general alarm sounds everywhere in the ship and we hear the announcement....."This is a drill, this is a drill, all crew report to your muster stations." This time it included a mock evacuation of the hospital due to the fire. crew members were dressed in gowns (over their clothes) and were the patients. Every department had to respond as they would if we were open and taking care of patients. Several crew members were put in make up and placed at the source of the fire and were "injured crew members". The training team really made it believable and even provided smoke and orange light that gave the appearance of flames.

The reason  I know all this is because this time the "fire" started where I work. I began quite close to my office and I was witness to the set up ahead of time and manage to snap some pics before the general alarm  went off. Once that happens everyone must head to their muster station. (that is salty talk for where we all must assemble and have a head count)

My cabin mate Damaris was one of the "victims". She told me all about it after and said she feels quite safe on the ship now. As a "victim" she pretended to be unconscious quite close to the fire and appeared to have taken a fall. She said she was quickly found. Next she was picked up under her arms and drug down the halls of the ship to a safer location. When she failed to respond to her rescuers she was then carried off the ship on a stretcher by the fire team. There she was met by a medical team who accessed her "injuries" and determined she needed to be sent on the hospital for tests. She was then carried to a vehicle and loaded. It was all done quite quickly and efficiently.

Worry not, she recovered quite quickly with a little soap and water.  :)
In the end the ship was evacuated and the fire team did well, the "fire" was put out and we were allowed back on the ship in time for dinner.

The "smoke beginning to fill the room pictured below and my office just next door with the orange light of flames beginning. 

A few of our "victims" pictured below.

Part of the fire team and muster station on the dock

finally....my office after the drill filled with residual "smoke". Got to love those fog machines.