When Hotel Alarms Sound
I often wondered what an 'average' reaction would be to a fire alarm sounding in a hotel. My question was answered a couple of weeks ago in misty San Franscico, CA. It was checking into SANSFire 2013 here in muggy Washington, DC that made me think to post this. Before I tell the story it would be good to give out the simple template I follow every time I check into a hotel.
The Basic Plan
1) Plan and Walk my Exit Route
2) Locate Nearest Fire Extinguisher (if one is installed, not so often anymore)
3) Pick a spot for key items in hotel (Tablet, Laptop, Cell Phone)
These are simple things that if walked through once should aid a late night wake up call from a fire alarm when that collides with drowsiness.
What Happened
At 1222AM an alarm sounded at my hotel in San Francisco and I executed basic plan for egress. I was stunned at how few people were leaving hotel rooms. Some had heads peaked out of rooms looking to see if perhaps others were leaving or if they maybe "had" to leave?
When I got down stairs (Yes stairs, I did see one person staring at the elevator) this is what I was met with:
T+5 min
After about 45 minutes and hotel staff walking the floors and then instructing everyone to wait in the lobby, this was the result:
T+45min
So the moral of this story is have a plan. Even though this was most obviouly a false alarm, I always treat them as if they are real.
Signing off from DC SANSFIRE 2013!
Richard Porter
@packetalien richard at isc dot sans dot edu
Comments
Great pre-planning steps. One thing I add to those, is I have appropriate clothing staged and ready to be put on in under 30 seconds. Going from a 70 degree room to a 40 degree night outside, this becomes a "must have". Also, car keys are a great thing to have, if you have to be outside for a prolonged period of time.
Another tip I use is to put a damp towel at the entry door. This helps to keep any smoke from coming into the room in a real fire and will generally buy you a little bit of time.
RyanH
Jun 14th 2013
1 decade ago
fsnuffer
Jun 14th 2013
1 decade ago
It exactly reflects my own experience.
On our second last US vacation, in a hotel somewhere in Arizona.
Around 3.00AM the fire alarm knocks me out of deepest dreams.
I wake up my wife, we jump into our cloths, grab our most important stuff (Passport, wallet, flight tickets) and run the **** down the floor were the next fire exit stairs are.
On our way down there were several heads that pop-up in the doors, take a short look on what is going on and... get back to bed.
After 15 minutes at the emergency meeting point I guess not even half of the people left the hotel.
Luckily:
a false positive
Robert
Jun 14th 2013
1 decade ago
@snuffer Great comment on the lower than 10th floor and I agree totally.
Richard
Jun 15th 2013
1 decade ago
doj
Jun 15th 2013
1 decade ago
Because they shouldn't "look at what other people are doing"; they should be running their evacuation plan, or the evacuation paths printed on the map in their room. When alarm in a large building goes off: you have no way of knowing, if the alarm was due to a bomb threat, or imminent hazard, and you might have 10 minutes to save yourself: if there is a fire a floor above or below you, if your exit path may be cut off in 5 minutes.
You cannot count on a quick emergency response in such a situation, if you ignore the evac plans. A hotel is a pretty big place: plenty of places for a serious danger to be out of view, but still likely to be life-threatening...
Although I always wonder, if opportunistic thieves are sometimes intentionally setting off alarms, for a chance to burgle vacant rooms, or mug people on the way out who just woke at 3am; security concerns there?
I suppose, statistically, your stuff might be safer in your room in some cases, although you might lose access to it for a long time, since most alarms are false: many/most fires will be suppressed quickly by sprinklers and firefighters, and your laptop/bags cannot inhale smoke.
Hotel building owners and insurance companies want to protect their investment too, and try to keep their guests happy.... Perhaps you should always pack all your electronics in a waterproof bag though :)
Mysid
Jun 16th 2013
1 decade ago
The book "Influence" by Robert Cialdini describes very well the situation of those poking their nose out the door - they are looking for social proof of an emergency. All they see is other people poking their nose out the door looking for the same thing, leading to the phenomenon of 'pluralistic ignorance'.... which has historically lead to fatal consequences in real emergencies.
In a real fire seconds make a difference, so it pays to treat every alarm as real until proven otherwise.
JeffR
Jun 16th 2013
1 decade ago
Good tips for valuables/tech - keep it light and easy to grab on the way - or review what you really need to take when travelling especially what you might lose and what you cannot afford to lose.
Perhaps leave as much as you can at home/base.
I try to keep important data etc seperate in case of theft or at least a backup on a stick or something small.
nic
Jun 16th 2013
1 decade ago
- locked until the alarm sounds, or
- opening them sets off the alarm.
Heck, I've even been in a few high security buildings where an alarm activation *does not* unlock the fire escape doors until a predetermined time has passed with no security personnel interaction (anything in an airport complex is an excellent example of this).
As techies we are more likely to be in 'odd' areas of buildings we do not know well, away from other people, so knowing how the fire alarm system works in the building can be equally important as knowing the exit routes.
But with all the preparation in the world, sometimes you just have to look for the nearest fire exit sign, follow it and hope for the best.
Alex
Jun 16th 2013
1 decade ago
I keep my keys, wallet, and knife in the jeans and laptop bag, phone, etc all right by the bed in case I have to run.
bsredick
Jun 19th 2013
1 decade ago