Fire drill
What does Fire drill mean?
In workplace slang, a fire drill is a sudden rush to handle an urgent request that disrupts planned work, often with hurried coordination or unclear priorities.
The expression can imply that the urgency was avoidable, but it does not prove someone planned badly: an external deadline or new information may be real. To make the request actionable, identify the actual deadline, the decision needed, the person coordinating it, and which existing work should pause.
Illustrative workplace example
An executive asks for a revised forecast an hour before a meeting. Three teams stop their planned work to reconcile different spreadsheets. A colleague calls the scramble a fire drill; the coordinator narrows the request to the two numbers needed for the decision.
How it differs from related ideas
A literal fire drill is an exercise to practise a safe response to a fire, including evacuation. The workplace metaphor is different from that planned safety exercise and from an actual emergency. In safety communications, use the precise meaning rather than office slang.
Say it in plain English
We have an urgent unplanned request; clarify what must be done first.
Original dictionary entry
A corporate euphemism for "crisis we created" that makes poor planning sound like an emergency, usually caused by someone who forgot to do their job and now needs everyone else to fix it.
Sources and further reading
Expanded November 2, 2026. Examples are illustrative, not accounts of specific companies.
Satirical usage
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