Evacuation preparedness and intellectual disability: Insights from a university fire drill

Abstract

People with intellectual disability are vulnerable to building fires. Yet, they continue to be one of the most underrepresented groups in evacuation research. To bridge this gap, this study presents one of the very few analyses of building evacuation for people with intellectual disability. The purpose of this study is to collect data and determine unique evacuation parameters of people with intellectual disability (as opposed to those without intellectual disability). Here, we present findings from 1) a full-scale unannounced fire drill and 2) a post-drill survey in which 18 college students with mild to moderate intellectual disability participated. First, a fire drill was conducted in a 6-story residential university building where 148 other non-disabled students were present. The drill was recorded using cameras throughout the building. Analysis of the videos provided data on five key evacuation characteristics regarding evacuation times, speeds, exit choice, and behavior (along with some of the 148 students without disabilities). Then, a post-drill survey was conducted for the 18 students with intellectual disability. Information was analyzed for evacuee decisions, pre-drill behaviors, and a general understanding of the fire drill. Our findings uniquely represent students with intellectual disability in evacuation and show that exit choice and pre-movement times for the sample of students with intellectual disability diverge from the non-disabled group. Such information is necessary to improve performance-based design of safe and accessible residential buildings and mental health care facilities.