How many times have you spent the night at a hotel? If you are like me, your answer is: “too many.” Nothing made me believe that more than an experience I had at a hotel last week. It’s a stay I won’t soon forget.
At 1:47 a.m. (I know this because I memorized the numbers on the digital clock out of fear) a high pitch wail tore through my hotel room. Within seconds I realized it was the fire alarm. The noise shook me to my core, but curiously it didn’t trigger my feet to move. In fact, I stood near the door of my room for at least a couple of minutes before opening it—I was frozen. Honestly, I had no clue what to do in the event of a hotel fire.
Long story short, there was no fire. The alarm was triggered by a “systems error” (or at least that’s the story hotel employees were trying to get us to buy). In any event, the entire false alarm event served as a wake up call for me. I realized that I needed to brush up on what to do when an alarm goes off in a hotel.
Before I share the information I learned about hotel fire safety I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that in the last decade hotel fire detection and alarm systems have become very technologically advanced. According to the leaders in the hotel industry, a highly sophisticated system can detect smoke in a single second and turn on alarms and strobe lights in the next second. By the third second the local fire department is called and within minutes should be responding to the hotel. That said, no system is foolproof (see my story above) and thus it is a good idea to know what to do in case of an emergency.
Tip #1—Do Your Homework
I’m not saying to memorize the entire building’s floor plan, but it is a good idea to familiarize yourself with your surroundings. If you have to evacuate you need to know how to safely leave the property–without panicking. Do you know what I was doing as I stood frozen at my hotel room door while the alarm was blaring? I was speed-reading the placard on the back of the door–you know the one that has a picture of a little map that shows the location of the nearest stairwells and exits. Ideally, you should look at that sign upon entering your room–don’t wait until the alarm is going off to memorize it. Also, it’s a good idea to pay attention to the distance from your room to these exits. This is especially important if the emergency lighting and exit signs fail to work in a fire. Just be prepared for the worst–count the number of doors between you and an exit that way if the hallway is smoky you’ll have a good idea of just how far along you’ll need to crawl to reach a stairwell. And whatever you do NEVER use an elevator during an alarm. If you think things are bad in a smoky hall, imagine how much worse things would be if you were stuck in a small box and the electrical systems failed.
Tip #2—Pay Attention
When you hear a fire alarm, stop what you are doing and pay attention. The shrill sound is ear splitting for a reason—it is a WARNING and should be treated as such. Your sleepy spouse may want to roll over dismissing it as a false alarm, and it very well may be, but do you really want to stay put to find out it isn’t? As I mentioned before, hotel fire systems are extremely sophisticated, and according to hotel managers, false alarms are rare.
Let me be clear; an alarm may not mean that a fire is raging on the fifth floor, but it does mean something is wrong. An alarm may be triggered by heat, smoke, flooding, or even a failed electrical system—you won’t know if the situation is harmless until after it’s over.
Check back for more tips in my next blog.
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