msfi

A layer of smoke in the stairwell sounds implausible to me, in a modern stairwell.

From the fire education classes I've attended, I think my biggest concerns are that a fire door might be too heavy for me to open if there is a lot of smoke outside, and I often stay in lower quality accommodations that may not have as sophisticated fire equipment as the large chains.

I have always at least checked the diagram of where the exits are and the evacuation plan, and carry a small torch, but will now add a visual inspection to my check in routine.

Thanks for bumping this up.

Karen2

I have been in two hotels where the fire alarms went off. One was the Four Seasons Vancouver where I was on the 26th floor. We could not see or smell anything and called down to the desk to ask what was happening. They said it was a false alarm. This was 2 am. About an hour later, it happened again. Again, they said it was a false alarm. I got dressed and (shame on me) took an elevator to the lobby to find out what was going on. It was not actually a false alarm. There was a small kitchen fire but it did not go any farther. Other people were also downstairs, many of them demanding a move to another hotel.

The other was more recent at a hotel near JFK. It had been a Doubletree but was now JFK Club or some such name. What a dump. That alarm went off at 5 am but the hotel was only a couple of stories high and we went out to see what was going on but nothing seemed to be. The alarm went off another couple of times and then there were firemen in the corridor telling us to go back to bed. There was no fire but the firemen decided to check out the hotel's fire safety while they were there and one remarked as we passed by at 6 am that the violations were huge and the hotel should be shut down and forbidden to have customers until the violations were fixed. One violation mentioned was that the door to the roof from the escape stairwell was locked. Evidently that is not allowed.

One other point I would like to make is that most hotels where we stay have sealed windows. And most are at least double paned. I suspect some would resist a chair being thrown through them. What is recommended when you are sealed in your room? I always heard you should wet towels and place them, rolled up, at the bottom of your door. I would bet that most jumpers have fire, not smoke, at their backs. That's the only thing that would get me to jump.

Landing Gear

As a New Yorker, I ask you, please to follow up on this. You can e-mail our Fire Commissioner, Nicholas Scoppetta, at http://www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mailfdny.html

You can do this anonymously if you wish.

kdny13

The very very BEST item I found - for safety AND peace of mind is at (redacted)

I carry it EVERYWHERE I go. Please let me know what you think of this product.

Landing Gear

I am not qualified to evaluate this product, but the question comes to mind as to how the TSA reacts when they find it in your carry-on bag.

jcherney

Thank you for taking the initiative to bump this. I am quite happy to have copied it and sent it to all of my friends and family.

UA9861

I never put much thought into hotel fires, I guess I thought that it would never happen to me.

I recently came back from Mexico, and at all of the four hotels I stayed there, ALL of them had signs posted everywhere on how to survive a hotel fire, but different directions for each floor. Then I come back and find this article... I guess it is more serious than it seems. Thanks!

yyzprincess

Thanks to cblaisd for bumping this up^

I will now always look for the exit on my floor.

iCorpRoadie

Great Read!!!

There is a Hotel in Boston we stay in every year the same week, the fire alarm has gone of every morning of our stay every year for the past four years. (Aparenlty the hotel knows this every year and just warn's us when we check in ). I have grown to SLEEP thru them and not even look out to see/hear/call to ask about it.

thunderbirdfan

Remember the 12/31/86 Dupont Hotel fire in San Juan?

Several of the survivors in the dramatic rooftop rescue were AA crew members.

As I recall, it was a local press helicopter which responded first.

mkt

wow... this is a good thread. I was in the Dupont Plaza Fire in Puerto Rico many years ago as a kid, and to this day I have nightmares of burning alive.

All of these and more are good advice.

kdny13

Never had the slightest problem with taking this product along with me on travel. I keep it bedside in the hotel and, along with finding the exits ahead of time, it really makes me feel prepared.

Again, it's www.evacutech.com for anyone interested.

Fly Safe!
K

blahman

I may be wrong, but judging by your previous posts, it appears to me that you have some financial interest with the site/product you mentioned.

Anyhow, I'd rather just get a surgical mask and a pair of swimming goggles.

alanh

FWIW, the original article is from the October 2001 issue of The Combat Edge.

moman

I just stayed in the DuPont Plaza, now known as the San Juan Marriott Stellaris hotel and casino.

I remember reading the story about the fire in readers digest in 1987. I was quite curious to find that the hotel hadn't changed too much from the fire research schematics, but it made me feel wierd to have stood and looked out at the ocean from a place where so many died.