Iowa fire drill log

Fire and evacuation drills must include COMPLETE EVACUATION of the premises, not less than six times a year on a bimonthly basis, with not less than two conducted at night when residents could reasonably be expected to be sleeping.

The building

Iowa requirements loaded — the rules below are Iowa’s own.

Iowa — Assisted Living Program: Fire and evacuation drills must include COMPLETE EVACUATION of the premises, not less than six times a year on a bimonthly basis, with not less than two conducted at night when residents could reasonably be expected to be sleeping.Iowa Admin. Code 481—69 (assisted living programs); Iowa Fire Code ch. 4 · Iowa Dept. of Inspections, Appeals & Licensing · checked Jul 2026
Your target for the year

6 drills this year. 6 a year under the state rule.

Worked out from Iowa Dept. of Inspections, Appeals & Licensing's rule as we have it recorded. Confirm it against your licence before you rely on it — then leave the box below empty and we will keep using this number.

0 of 6 logged, 6 to go.

0 of them recorded on a night or sleeping-hours shift; Iowa wants at least 2.

The drills

One row per drill. Vary the time of day and the scenario — most states require it explicitly, and a log showing four drills all at 10am on a Tuesday is the first thing a surveyor notices.

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What Iowa requires

Assisted Living Program — Assisted living / residential care

Fire and evacuation drills must include COMPLETE EVACUATION of the premises, not less than six times a year on a bimonthly basis, with not less than two conducted at night when residents could reasonably be expected to be sleeping.

Iowa Admin. Code 481—69 (assisted living programs); Iowa Fire Code ch. 4 · Iowa Dept. of Inspections, Appeals & Licensing · Iowa Fire Code ch. 4 / Iowa Admin. Code 481 · checked July 2026

Filling it in so it survives a survey

Vary the time and the scenario between drills — most states require it in terms, and a log showing every drill at 10am on a Tuesday is the first thing an experienced surveyor picks out. Record what went wrong and the date it was fixed: a run of flawless drills reads as a log nobody actually ran, and the corrective action is the part that shows the drill was worth holding.

The plan behind the drills

A drill tests a plan. Everything Iowa requires of that plan — filing, prescribed forms, retention — sits alongside this, and the emergency plan builder writes it from the same research, so the two cannot disagree.

General information, not legal advice, and not a compliance determination. CompliMaint issues nothing — Iowa’s licensing agency and your authority having jurisdiction do. The rule above is cited and dated to when we last checked it; verify it before you rely on it.