I once arrived at a fire in a junior college dorm (female) at the same time as the fire department (actually, slightly ahead of most of them). After observing both the students and the fireguys, an old poem comes to mind:

When in trouble
When in doubt
Run in circles
Scream and shout.

No one, other than my partner and I, were even concerned to check the individual rooms to be sure that all of the occupants had exited. Instead, the fire guys, ignoring my advice/questions (after all, I was just a Chippie, while they were professionals), decided to break open the doors at the end of one wing, thereby venting the place, and within less than a minute flames were shooting 20 feet out those opened doors...