How often are fire drills required in Wisconsin?

Wisconsin fire drill log

Fire evacuation drills at least quarterly with both employees and residents, and at least one a year simulating conditions during usual sleeping hours. Tornado, flooding or other emergency and disaster evacuation drills at least semi-annually.

The building

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

Facility name *Year

Address

State *

Wisconsin — Community-Based Residential Facility (CBRF): Fire evacuation drills at least quarterly with both employees and residents, and at least one a year simulating conditions during usual sleeping hours. Tornado, flooding or other emergency and disaster evacuation drills at least semi-annually.Wis. Admin. Code DHS 83.47 (fire safety) and DHS 83.48 · Wisconsin Dept. of Health Services — Division of Quality Assurance, Bureau of Assisted Living · checked Jul 2026

Your target for the year

4 drills this year. 4 a year under the state rule.

Worked out from Wisconsin Dept. of Health Services — Division of Quality Assurance, Bureau of Assisted Living'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.

Use a different number instead

0 of 4 logged, 4 to go.

0 of them recorded on a night or sleeping-hours shift; Wisconsin wants at least 1.

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.

DateTimeShiftAnnounced?

ScenarioClear / accounted (min)StaffResidents

What went wrongWhat was done about itConducted by

What Wisconsin requires

Community-Based Residential Facility (CBRF) — Group home / residential care home

Wis. Admin. Code DHS 83.47 (fire safety) and DHS 83.48 · Wisconsin Dept. of Health Services — Division of Quality Assurance, Bureau of Assisted Living · Wis. Admin. Code DHS 83.47 · 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 Wisconsin 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.

Everything else we’ve researched about Wisconsin

Same state, the problems either side of this one. Each carries its own statute and the date we last checked it.

General information, not legal advice, and not a compliance determination. CompliMaint issues nothing — Wisconsin’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.