A fire alarm activates due to a confirmed fire in a third-floor resident room. Under staged evacuation procedures, which group of individuals must the coordinator prioritize for immediate evacuation first?

Residents located in the immediate vicinity of the active fire condition on the third floor

Mobility-impaired individuals waiting in a designated secondary staging area on the fourth floor

Medical-device dependent residents requiring physical assistance on the floor below the fire

Staff members and residents located on the floors immediately above the confirmed fire

Why is it risky to evacuate the whole shelter the same way in every emergency?

It ignores the full or partial evacuation, relocation, or shelter-in-place actions in the plan

It allows vulnerable residents to bypass the one-way voice communication system requirements

It forces emergency responders to document all individual resident movements in the safety log book

It requires the impairment coordinator to manually reset the standpipe system during the event

Light smoke is detected in the primary vertical stairwell, but no active fire is present. Several residents on the floor use wheelchairs. What is the MOST appropriate evacuation strategy?

Relocate the occupants horizontally past the fire doors to an in-building relocation area on the same floor.

Move the occupants to the roof of the building using the secondary emergency vertical exit stairwell.

Instruct all staff to carry the wheelchair-bound residents down the compromised vertical stairwell immediately.

Wait for the smoke to completely clear from the primary stairwell before initiating any evacuation procedures.

During a partial evacuation, heavy smoke blocks the main exit stairway. What should the coordinator do?

Use the pre-selected alternate egress paths or relocation areas from the plan immediately.

Break the corridor windows to ventilate heavy smoke from the primary egress path.

Hold evacuating residents in the hallway and wait for the arriving fire department.

Instruct residents to return to their rooms and place wet towels under the doorframes.

Residents are told to shelter in place during a local incident, but people on an unaffected floor panic and start to leave. What should the coordinator do first?

Deploy designated FEP staff members to intercept, reassure, and hold the residents

Demand that arriving FDNY units bypass the affected floor to manage the evacuating crowd

Lock the stairwell doors electronically to prevent residents from entering the egress path

Immediately sound the general building alarm to transition to a full evacuation

Concept · Zone B · Key terms

Evacuate, relocate or shelter in place: matching the order to the fire

Evacuation, partial evacuation, in-building relocation and shelter in place are four different orders, and the Study Material glossary defines each one. The whole glossary is on the Zone B page (Key terms).

Plan ref B1Updated October 25, 2026

The plan picks the word

The emergency preparedness plan must state how the building will be evacuated, or how an in-building relocation will be done (Source: Study Material §5). The plan is also called the fire safety and evacuation plan. The Zone C page (Preparedness plan) covers what else it holds.

So nobody on the floor invents a response. The plan names it, and the question is which response the plan and the situation call for, and who carries it out. During a drill, FEP staff guide occupants to the stairs the plan names for each floor, then search the floor and report to the coordinator (Source: Study Material §7.1).

Drills practice the same four words. The Study Material defines a fire drill as practice of sheltering in place, in-building relocation, partial evacuation, evacuation, or any combination of them.

One floor, two ways out

Figure 1 A floor with a stair at each end. Which way people go, or whether they move at all, is written in the shelter’s plan before the day it is needed.

How the order reaches each floor

One-way voice communication lets the coordinator, fire guards, FEP staff or the FDNY make announcements from the fire command center to all parts of the building. It is used to warn and instruct occupants in a fire or non-fire emergency (Source: Study Material §2).

A general alarm sounds every notification device in the building. A selective alarm sounds only on the floor of alarm and the floors directly above and below it (Source: Study Material §10.10). The horns, strobes and voice page covers the devices themselves.

Some residents may not follow an English announcement. The Study Material suggests announcements in English and other languages during drills (Source: Study Material §8.2).

Which order fits the floor

Checkpoint round

0 of 6 checked · 0 cleared

Practice questions written for study, not taken from the test. The real F-80 is a multiple-choice test on a touch-screen computer at FDNY Headquarters.

Read the four options first and name the response each one describes. Then strike every option the stem’s plan would not allow.

How the checkpoint round works

Read the options first and rule out the ones that break a rule, then pick from what is left. After you answer, the debrief explains every option and scores your strikes. Keys: 1–5 or A–E answer, Shift with a number rules that option out, the arrow keys move.

Checkpoint 1 of 6

Checkpoint 01
A fire alarm activates due to a confirmed fire in a third-floor resident room. Under staged evacuation procedures, which group of individuals must the coordinator prioritize for immediate evacuation first?
Rule out what you can with the ✕ buttons, then choose. The debrief for every option opens here.
1. APeople on the floor above are next in line, but those right at the fire face the most immediate danger.
2. BResidents who need help get priority within their area, yet the floor below the fire is at lower risk than the fire room.
3. CCorrect: Staged evacuation moves those in the most immediate danger first, starting at the fire, then the floors around it.
4. DFloors above the fire come right after the fire area, since smoke rises, but they are not first.
Checkpoint 02
Why is it risky to evacuate the whole shelter the same way in every emergency?
Rule out what you can with the ✕ buttons, then choose. The debrief for every option opens here.
1. ACorrect: The plan can call for evacuation, partial evacuation, in-building relocation, or sheltering in place; one blanket response can move people into danger.
2. BEvacuation does not exempt anyone from announcements; the voice system is how instructions reach them.
3. CResponders do not keep the shelter’s log book; that is not why a blanket evacuation is risky.
4. DStandpipes supply firefighters’ hoses and have nothing to reset during an evacuation.
Checkpoint 03
Light smoke is detected in the primary vertical stairwell, but no active fire is present. Several residents on the floor use wheelchairs. What is the MOST appropriate evacuation strategy?
Rule out what you can with the ✕ buttons, then choose. The debrief for every option opens here.
1. ACorrect: With the stair compromised, moving residents past fire doors to an in-building relocation area on the same floor keeps them out of the smoke.
2. BSending wheelchair users up to the roof moves them away from rescue and adds stairs.
3. CCarrying people down a smoky stair exposes everyone to the very smoke you are avoiding.
4. DWaiting for the smoke to clear means doing nothing while conditions may get worse.
Checkpoint 04
During a partial evacuation, heavy smoke blocks the main exit stairway. What should the coordinator do?
Rule out what you can with the ✕ buttons, then choose. The debrief for every option opens here.
1. ABreaking windows is a firefighter tactic and can pull smoke and fire toward residents.
2. BHolding people in a hallway near the smoke wastes the time the alternate route gives you.
3. CCorrect: Drills cover every stair because one may fill with smoke; switch to the alternate route or relocation area in the plan.
4. DSending people back to their rooms is a shelter-in-place call the plan did not make for this event.
Checkpoint 05
Residents are told to shelter in place during a local incident, but people on an unaffected floor panic and start to leave. What should the coordinator do first?
Rule out what you can with the ✕ buttons, then choose. The debrief for every option opens here.
1. ADirecting the FDNY is backward; the coordinator follows the responders’ directions.
2. BExits must stay unlocked in the direction of egress at all times; locking stair doors traps people.
3. CCorrect: FEP staff carry out the plan, so send them to calm the residents and guide them back to the instructed action.
4. DA full evacuation because some people panicked abandons the plan and can send everyone toward the incident.
Checkpoint 06
During an outdoor chemical release, the coordinator tells clients to stay in their rooms and not move. Which response is this?
Rule out what you can with the ✕ buttons, then choose. The debrief for every option opens here.
1. ARelocation moves people from an endangered area to a relocation area in the building; here nobody moves.
2. BA partial evacuation empties some of the building; these clients stay inside.
3. CCorrect: occupants are told to remain indoors at their present location, which is shelter in place.
4. DEvacuation empties the whole building; the clients here are told to stay where they are.

The four words, as section 2 defines them

Evacuation: The emptying of a building of all building occupants in response to a fire or other emergency (Source: Study Material §2).
Partial evacuation: The emptying of a building of some, but not all, building occupants.
In-building relocation: The controlled movement of occupants from an endangered area to an in-building relocation area in the same building.
In-building relocation area: Also called the IBRA: a designated area that occupants may be moved to, as set in the emergency preparedness plan.
Shelter in place: Directing occupants to remain indoors, at their present location, in response to a fire or non-fire emergency.

Relocation or partial evacuation?

Ask one thing: does anyone leave the building? If they do, in-building relocation drops out, because relocation keeps people inside, in an IBRA. If nobody leaves, partial evacuation drops out. Shelter in place is the order where nobody moves at all (Source: Study Material §2).

Before anyone moves

Does every fire alarm mean everyone leaves?

No. The plan can call for evacuation, partial evacuation, relocation or sheltering in place, alone or combined. The coordinator carries out the plan and tells the arriving FDNY how the building has responded (Source: Study Material §4).

Is the in-building relocation area the same as the assembly area?

No. The IBRA is inside the building. The assembly area is outdoors, where evacuated occupants gather and are counted (Source: Study Material §7.1).

Who decides which response my shelter uses?

The emergency preparedness plan sets it, and the FDNY gives directions on the scene. Your shelter’s plan and the FDNY decide; this page cannot.

On an iPhone or iPad?

Then F-80 is the one to install. On an Android phone or a computer, keep practicing here; it costs nothing.

Get the iPhone app Practice free on this site