Originally Posted by
fairhsa
So I was in a hotel in the UK last year - one of those low storey sprawling hotels where most rooms are on the ground floor. There were several exits to the garden clearly marked as Fire Exit. They were all sealed with yellow zip ties. The zip ties did seem to be "special" ones and had some instructions written on them in small letters, which I could not read without my glasses on. I could not figure out by looking at them how you would break them in the case of a fire, so I reported them to front desk and when they ignored me, to the local fire station (who did reply to my email and said it was "fine"). However I won't stay there again. If I could not figure out how to open those doors in broad daylight, with my glasses on and no panic, then I have no idea how I would have done it in the dark, perhaps forgotten my glasses etc.
Any firefighters on here that can explain why a fire exit would be sealed with zip ties? I realise that being on the ground floor they are probably great for burglary, but surely there are better ways????
I am a fire/EMS official in the WDC area. In the US, albeit without seeing a pic, a 'zip tie' would be illegal without a doubt. Emergency exits are to operate without anything to inhibit the operation, i.e. operate via a panic-type bar, with an option to set off an alarm. This is per the NFPA Life Safety Code, which is adopted by many other developed countries with modifications.
That said, I've paid attention to fire safety, or lack thereof, on past trips, but now I'm doing something about it. I had a recent stay at an otherwise nice condo in Central America. The instant hot water heater leaked (dripped), had a bucket under it, but the hot water heater was over the electrical panel. Water and electricity do not mix, and there was no form of smoke detection in the condo. I sent a note to the owner and he wasn't aware that such a thing would be an potential hazard!
I am headed on a RTW and I am going to purchase a travel-sized smoke detector/carbon monoxide detector. I am just as concerned about CO as I am about fire. A quick search this morning shows these to be 20-25 USD.