Sounds like you did better than everyone else. How did you find the stairs? Bonus points for
locating them before you went to bed. :-)

Low batteries shouldn't have been a problem IF you were carrying more than one flashlight. I have
one on my keychain (Arc AAA) and a larger one in my pocket (Arc 4). I use the larger flashlight for
everything, saving the keychain light for situations like this, where there's a problem with the
primary flashlight. (Sounds like a lot of flashlights, but the AAA is only a little bigger than the
battery, so I hardly notice it. And I like having a lot of flashlight in my pocket, so I carry the '4.)

Congrats for completely ignoring the "front desk". If a fireman tells me to stay in my room, well,
I might. Anyone else....

Oh, and most of all, good for you for not taking time to find out if there really was a fire. Get out,
then figure it out.