Safety Education
Fire Safety Away From Home
By Troy Neville
Feb 21, 2003, 23:09

Two recent tragedies - the nightclub stampede in Chicago and the fatal fire at a nightclub in Rhode Island - highlight the need to think about fire safety away from home. The following is an excerpt from an article I wrote in 1999. The full article appears in our Education section.

Think about the last time you were at a restaurant on a busy night. You are talking with your family or friends when you notice smoke beginning to fill the dining area, then someone yells 'FIRE'. Did you happen to notice the location of the emergency exits on your way in? Perhaps like most people, the only exit you know of is the front door you entered. What if the fire is between you and that exit? Hundreds have died from similar incidents in the United States and abroad.

Here's another. You are on vacation or away on business and are staying in a hotel. Do you know where two different stairwells are from your room? Do you know the location of the two closest emergency exits to the meeting room where your conference is being held?

As these two recent tragedies have shown, looking for the location of alternate exits when you enter a building can be the difference between life and death when something happens that requires you to immediately exit an area. However, these tragedies are not limited to just nightclubs, and while the Chicago incident was not fire related, the same safety procedures could have saved lives.

If you want to be prepared to act to save yourself and others when the unexpected occurs, make a habbit of looking for these alternate exits when you are in stores, restaurants, and office buildings.

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