Yes, I had my key.

The essentials -- glasses, pants, shoes, id, light, key are all on/by the bedside tatble so its grab and go...

TRO

Stairwell = chimney.

Pressurized stairwell? Uh hu - and from whence is the intake for the fans? The basement you say? Ah, yes, where those nice smoky transformer fires are.

>Stairwell = chimney.

Not so.

Please don't scare people away from using the stairs. The best course of action is to get out immediately, and the stairs are the safest course.

Smoke control is a basic requirement for today's buildings. No system is perfect, but there are some very intelligent folks that have put a lot of thought into these systems. If you Google using key words like fire, alarm, pressurized, and stairwell, you should come up with links like this:

http://www.esmagazine.com/CDA/ArticleInformation/coverstory/BNPCoverStoryItem/0,2500,65962,00.html

(the following information is from this link)

Engineered smoke control systems are incorporated into a building's design to prevent the loss of life and property. These systems consist of dedicated mechanical fans for the purpose of controlling smoke migration within a building. Alternatively, fans that normally serve the building's hvac systems can use building automation system (bas) controls to modify operation to provide building smoke control. Smoke control systems are incorporated in building design to allow safe egress during smoke and fire incidents, provide firefighter staging areas, and provide areas of "safe haven" for those who may have difficulty evacuating.

Past disasters have shaped current codes and standards (Sidebar). Operating parameters for these systems have been formulated by studying fires and the physical conditions encountered in spaces engulfed in thermal smoke. Because no value can be assigned to a human life, systems must be designed, constructed, and maintained such that past failures are not repeated and additional human life and property is not lost.

Some of the most common smoke control system requirements and recommendations for high-rise buildings by local and model building codes, the NFPA, and ASHRAE include:


A smokeproof enclosure (fire-rated stairwell), with vented vestibules at each floor;
Positively pressurized egress stairwells;
Floor pressure sandwich schemes to contain smoke within the zone of incidence;
Zoned smoke control compartments on each floor;
Air-handling unit (AHU) shutdown and smoke purge;
Firefighters' hands-off auto override controls;
Sprinkler system waterflow switches and manual pull station system activation; and
Elevator hoistway pressurization.

...

I'll look into the county SOG's but last time we were in the classroom, they were quite clear that the firefloor and above are the only areas considered "active" in a hotel fire - the rest of the hotel is considered uninvolved.

you think 4 blocks and 10 minutes are bad? I was working in a building that had a fire alarm triggered, it took the FD about that long to get there. sad thing is we were right behind the FD, across the street, but because of the way the streets are designed around there, the firetruck had to take the "long way" around to get to us.

Very good point. Until the WTC attacks, the MGM Grand fire in Vegas was probably the most studied structure fire in America, and it resulted in changes to all the building code standards, but it took/still is taking years for them to be adopted.

If any of you have any stroke in your communities, try to get them to adopt the very latest standards from whatever code compliance councel they are a member of, and from NFPA [National Fire Protection Association].

There are ots more smoke deaths than dead hikers.

Pete,
You are right stairwells are a safe area.

In most modern high rises the stairwells (or fire towers) should be equiped with self closing doors, panic hardware, increased lighting, vents and sometimes fans that open either automatically or can be controlled by building engineers/fire department. Yes, opening up a door may let smoke into the stairwell of onto your floor however if the door isn't blocked open the damage should be minimal. Of course a smoke charged stairwell shouldn't be entered and another means of egress should be found. In some cases the FD may choose to use a tower for fire operations and restrict access to that one while the remaining towers are used for escape and rescue. Once you enter a tower you should not exit unless you have reached the outside or are directed by the FD. Of course, it always isn't that simple and some situations may require different actions. However, getting to safety without harming others should be your number one priority.

Today, especially after disasters like One Meridian Plaza, MGM Grand Fire and Pioneer International to name a few, highrises are much safer than they were in the past.

You did the right thing, and reconize your mistakes (not checking the doors is a major one). So... this was practice incase the unthinkable happens.

Pooch, great post... sorry I didn't see it before I posted my own!

As far as fire department response times go there are a number of factors to take into consideration.
First, what is the FD's policy for fire alrams? Some FD's respond without lights and sirens to alarms especially to address with freq, false alarms.
Second, was the first due truck avalible? Some people tend to forget how busy a fire company can be. If the first due comapnay is already on a call it will take longer for the second or even third due company to arrive.
Third, how long did it actually take for FD dispatch to recieve the call. Automatic alarms aren't always "Automatic" and may be screened by the alarm monitoring company. In larger occupancies they may actually be monitored on site and require an operator or security guard to call.

Of course, the company may be dragging their feet because the know that they run to this address everyday and either find nothing or get canceled before they get their each and every time in the past...It is the cry wof syndrome, and unfortunatly human nature.

My impression of how fire actions are supposed to work (at least in buildings such as this) is that the initial direction is for everyone to stay in their rooms. The premise being that:

a) The rooms should be a safe environmentt for a minimum of two hours and thus a safe place to stay with no risk of having to travel through potentially dangerous areas.
b) People travelling means opening up fire doors and stairwells thus aiding the fires ability to spread.

Then after qualified help has arrived and the situation assessed they can instigate an evacuation of areas (if required) where doing so will have no effect on the spread of the fire (those below the fire floor) and arrange the safest way of evacuating any danger areas (again if required), depending on the location of the fire and the buildings layout.

The idea of all the fire doors being to contain the fire and limit the amount of oxygen getting to the fire, and this being completely negated if people just evacuate with no form of control or direction.

Of course some places, with out such high standards of fire safety construction, the premises is "get the hell out of there as fast as possible". But if your being told for everyone to stay in your room I'm pretty sure the idea is to minimise the risk for all concerned as per the buildings fire plan.

Groo,
Of course if the alarm rings your out of there - Current standards (at least here in NYC) have eliminated the "Macy's tone" (aka alert tone) and you ONLY get an alarm on the fire floor, and one floor up - aka a full "active" alarm - you hear an alarm on your floor, you are IN the active fire zone - get the heck out!!!

On floors not "involved" you will get NO alarm, not even the alert tones

You hear an alarm - you GO - don't make the floor wardens and/or searchers look for you. Before you open any doors btw - check them with the back of your hand to see if they are hot - and almost all stairwell doors also have a window - check for smoke - there will always be at least 2 stairways off of each floor - if one is blocked, try the other