Fire alarms in 60's hospitals

[thereallyle]

I'm writing a story that takes place in a mental hospital in 1965. I wrote a scene where a fire alarm goes off, but then realized I don't know what the procedure would have been back then. This site says there were fire alarms in most public buildings by the mid 60's, which is slightly vague... so I'm not even 100% sure if March 1965 in a mental

Comments

[green_grrl]

I would say there would definitely be fire alarms in any institution in 1965--mid '60s for universal adoption sounds late to me, but I grew up in California which may have adopted stricter codes earlier than other places. Where your institution is located may make a difference, but unless your institution is severely underfunded I doubt anyone would call you wrong for having an alarm.

However I don't know what procedure at a mental hospital would have been. I don't think they would have had much choice except to bring the patients out on the grounds; you can't keep people inside a potentially burning (or gas leak, or ...) building.

You are correct--large scale de-institutionalization didn't really happen until the '80s.

[thereallyle]

Well... they certainly don't bring them to the grounds nowadays! They seriously just herd everybody into a public space and make sure they're all there. It's weird. I mean, generally it's just popcorn burnt in a microwave somewhere, but sheesh...

[lilacsigil]

Even if there's not an automated fire alarm, there's almost certainly one where you break the glass and press the button - those were common by the 1930s. I lived near a big mental hospital that was built in the 1940s (it was turned into independent living units in the early 90s), and they had fences around the grounds, so I don't see why they wouldn't be able to bring them onto the grounds for evacuation.

Public institutions will certainly have a fire policy, though they may not ever practise it and it's possible no-one knows what it is.

[thereallyle]

Thanks! :)