ORIGINAL COMPOSE DATE: 04 October 2006
Today there was a fire in my hotel. A contractor was soldering and caught some material close by on fire. He pulled the fire alarm and extinguished the fire with a fire extinguisher that he had on him (bravo to the contractor for practicing fire safety when soldering).
During the last month and a half, this was the fifth time that I have been driven outside by fire alarms in hotels. Three of them were false alarms and two were actual fires (both put out before they could do any major damage).
What struck me during these alarms and the evacuation of the hotel was the nonchalant attitude of most of the guests.
Many guests never evacuated. During one of the fires in Vineland, New Jersey, my two coworkers never exited the building and continued to sleep while the fire fighters entered the building and extinguished the small fire in the laundry room (someone forgot to empty out the filter in the dryer).
Ten minutes after the fire alarms were sounded people were still walking out. One woman made a comment about how she needed to put makeup on. Another woman made a comment about having to change into decent clothes before she headed down the stairs.
Several business men were gathered together with all of their laptop bags and briefcases. They took over five minutes gathering all of their business items before they finally evacuated.
Having seen the wrath of fire in both my civilian and military life, I am not one to take alarms nonchalantly. I am not going to die in a hotel fire while looking for my best pair of jeans and a decent shirt. If I have to run outside in my underwear, then so be it.
While my laptop contains my life (photos, web pages, banking accounts, articles, and my book) I would never risk my life to save it. If I can grab it quickly on the way out, then so be it.
What is it that causes most people to ignore warnings? Why do most people walk casually as if this is just “another stupid drill?” Are people still warped from all the fire drills we conducted in school that the sound of fire alarms still rings of drills instead of the real thing?
Why do most people go out the front door of the hotel through the lobby? There are exits everywhere and many of them much closer to your room. Why are people such creatures of habit with a desire to exit the way they came in?
That behavior killed a lot of people at the club fire in Rhode Island and it has killed thousands more in other disasters and emergencies. Watching hotel fires on television it is amazing how fast they spread when not put out immediately. Evacuation has to begin immediately – not after you found your best clothing, secured your brief case, and put makeup on.
Common sense people… it will save your life one day.
