What a frightening experience Vince.  I can understand why you've never
forgotten it.

Fire safety is still something of a passion for me, and I still find myself
doing "fire safety inspections" in buildings where I'm shopping, eating, and
what-have-you.  That kind of thinking becomes habit.  Naturally, in the past
few years I've narrowed my interest to fire safety for people with
disabilities.

In the process of advocating, advocate for accessible exits!

The well known fire at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas was estimated by the
Clark County Fire Dept. as having traveled across the ceiling finish at 17
feet per second.  That's pretty darned quick.  Fire moves faster than you can
imagine.  Fire is no respecter of your life, or your child's life.

People at the Coconut Grove Club fire died piled up at locked exits.  The
finishings were highly combustible, but a fire inspector had given the club a
clean bill of health just a week before.  Some of the exits were chained
shut.

Triangle Shirt Waist Co.Fire -- same problem.  The exit was locked to keep
piecework employees in the building.

The latter two examples occurred years ago, but these conditions exist today.
 When I was in Mexico, I went to a restaurant in Tijuana with my old
battalion chief for a couple of beers.  We had to go down a flight of stairs
to get to the restaurant. The stairs were winding, and more narrow than I was
accustomed to.  There was one other exit aside from this staircase on the
opposite side of the restaurant that was chained shut, with extra tables and
chairs piled up next to it.

Side note: The Bomberos (firefighters) there are great guys, professional
behavior, great guys -- but often they don't have water.  San Diego has been
known to dispatch tankers to Tijuana to provide water for fire suppression.
Listen, I love those guys, don't get me wrong.  I'm not about to pick on good
men with limited resources.  Somewhere in Mexico is a 1957 GMC ("Jimmy")
brush firefighting rig that I used to drive.  My old department sold it to
some dept. in Mexico.  Personal history nobody cares about but me. End of
side note.

There are clubs in the US right now that are reminiscent of our old
"Speakeasies," clandestine bars that existed during the time of prohibition.
These clubs are in impossible locations and hidden from the public eye.  I
know they exist in New York City, and I imagine elsewhere too.  Conditions in
these establishments mirror those of the Coconut Garden Club at the time of
its fire.  In most cases, nobody but the patrons knows where they are until
something bad happens.

A few years ago, there was a flap in DC because some of the school exits were
chained shut due to concerns of forced entry by the bad guys.  Chained exits
at school -- whodathunkit?  There are ongoing concerns about other fire
safety issues in the same schools.

In the state of Maryland, one school had a fire "sprinkler system" that
consisted of sprinkler heads glued to the ceiling.

For the most part, we have made good changes, and the fire loss record
improves every year.  I know this is true in the US and I suspect that it is
in other nations with enforced fire codes, inspections, and fire safety
education.

Nevertheless, things can go wrong, and the same three causes of fire still
exist: Men, women, and children.

Yippee if you can get in; yippee better if you can get out.































In a message dated 05/30/2000 9:18:03 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

> Thanks Betty,
>
>  You woke me up.  I hadn't consciously thought about fire evacuation /safety
>  for a long time now.  I'll have to make sure I'm ready both at home and
>  work.
>
>  Also, I'd like to relate a childhood experience.  I vividly recall being
>  left in my Grade 1 class room alone during a fire drill because the school
>  had
>  no evacuation plans for handicapped students.  It was terrifying (and
>  deafening).
>  So I'm glad you've informed others to be prepared...
>
>
>  Vince
>