Many Hotels Not Equipped to Retard Fire Spread

The statistics are not particularly encouraging. According to the National Fire Protection Assn., there were more than 10,500 hotel/motel fires last year. And more than $100 million in damage was reported.

But the recent New Year’s Eve fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel that killed more than 96 people in San Juan, Puerto Rico, once again served to focus attention on one of the most serious travel questions: How safe is your hotel room from fire? How well protected are you?

The answers, it seems, are not always comforting, nor are they always readily available.

This much, however, is known:

According to the most recent studies provided by the NFPA, cigarette smokers account for roughly 30% of hotel/motel fires; fires of suspicious origin (arson) account for 25%.

Not Properly Equipped

A majority of hotels are not properly equipped to report or retard fires effectively, and most hotel guests have no idea how to give themselves a fighting chance before a fire might break out, or in the event of a fire how to safely escape a burning hotel.

Much of the blame can be assessed against outdated city and state fire codes. This fact, combined with a historic unwillingness on the part of many hotels (and chains) to upgrade their fire safety systems has led to a number of well-documented tragedies.

Not surprisingly, the worst record for fire prevention and fire safety methods is held by resort and convention areas such as San Juan and Honolulu, especially where high-rise buildings are involved. The fire codes in Las Vegas have long been detailed in the wake of the tragic MGM Grand hotel fire in 1980 that killed 85 people.

Since then, as a direct result of that tragedy, the Nevada fire codes have been strengthened, requiring sprinkler systems in the construction of all new high-rise buildings. But few cities and states have required the sprinkler systems in all buildings (whether new or old).

Some cities, like Washington, D.C., don’t require sprinkler systems at all. And only one state, Massachusetts, has adopted a law that requires all high-rise buildings be equipped with sprinkler systems within the next 10 years.

Too Expensive, Some Say

Owners of many hotels argue that to install sprinkler systems in older hotels is too expensive. In Honolulu, for example, an overwhelming number of hotels were built without sprinkler systems, smoke or heat detectors.

Until 1975 the 50th state had one of the most pathetic fire codes in the United States. Even now, the Hawaiian fire codes, which require sprinklers and smoke alarms in new construction, don’t call for hotels to retrofit these systems into their buildings.

As a result, only two hotels in Waikiki come even close to adequate fire safety. One is the Kahala Hilton, which voluntarily chose to equip its building with the devices. The other is the Tapa Tower at Hilton Hawaiian Village, a building that was constructed after 1975.

Many hotel owners continue to fight against new fire codes, despite the fact that NFPA statistics show that only two fatalities have ever occurred from fires in buildings that were fully equipped with sprinkler systems.

“We don’t have the fire equipment to go above the eighth floor,” says one Honolulu firefighter, “and new laws contemplating the retrofitting of older hotels seem to always get hung up on language.”

Danger in Delays

At some hotel fires, fatalities occur because hotel management often delays notifying the fire department. Strange as this may seem, some hotels are more concerned with the inconvenience factor for their guests than they are in prompt response to alarms. They don’t call the fire department until a fire is confirmed. In doing so, precious minutes are often lost.

“We would rather the people see us in the lobby than for there to be any delay in notifying us,” says one Chicago Fire Department lieutenant.

Little by little, that indifferent attitude on behalf of some hotels toward fires is changing. “We now prefer to inconvenience guests, even if it’s a false alarm,” says a spokesman for the Ilikai Hotel in Honolulu.

And when a guest checks in at the Plaza Hotel in New York the bellhop gives a brief fire safety lecture, pointing out the emergency exits.

System Tested Daily

At the Seattle Sheraton Hotel the noisy fire alarm system (no alarm system is good unless you can hear it) is tested every day, with a special emphasis on the detection of smoke.

When the MGM Grand was rebuilt in Las Vegas, a new $5-million, computer-controlled fire safety system focused on the detection and removal of smoke. (Investigations following the 1980 fire showed that more than 60 of the 85 victims died of carbon monoxide poisoning from smoke that swept quickly through the building.)

The Fairmont Hotel in Denver has installed one of the more advanced fire safety systems, complete with automatic sprinklers in all public, private and service areas, smoke detectors and speakers to each guest room for direct communication to all guests by the fire department, and headsets for two-way communication with the fire department at each location.

Once a fire is discovered, many firemen suggest that you do everything you can to get out of your room, if possible. First, don’t open the hotel door. Instead, check the door by feeling it with your hands. If it feels very hot, don’t open it at all.

Stay in your room. Shut off the air conditioner, stuff a wet towel under the door and remove all the draperies from the window. Next, head for the bathroom. Fill the tub with water . . . and wait.

If, however, the room door doesn’t feel hot, drop to your knees before opening it and crawl out the door and head for the nearest stairway.

Perhaps more important, guests should know where their nearest exit is. (When was the last time you really took the time to discover this at a hotel?)

Most hotels place an emergency exit map in guest rooms. If your hotel doesn’t provide one, or if the hotel staff seems unfamiliar with emergency procedures, you might consider changing hotels.

And while a growing number of officials are calling for uniform hotel fire safety codes throughout the United States, there are still hotel officials in the Caribbean who argue against such an imposition.

In the meantime, some hotels aren’t waiting for legislative action.

Trained in CPR

“Nothing is more important to us than fire safety,” says Marcel Van Aelst, general manager of the Mark Hopkins in San Francisco. “We are constantly training, and retraining, our staff.”

Not only do Mark Hopkins employees regularly drill in emergency fire procedures but most are trained in CPR. And as part of its new multimillion-dollar refurbishing program, the hotel has installed fire, heat and smoke detection devices in each guest room and hallway.

“But the most important thing about hotel fires,” Van Aelst says, “is the decision-making process at the management level once a fire is discovered.”

As an inflexible rule, Van Aelst requires that at least one member of his senior management team stay at the hotel each evening. “In a fire,” he says, “time is of the essence. Decisions have to be made quickly, and correctly. A new night manager with only two years’ experience can’t be asked to make those decisions. Luckily,” he adds, “we haven’t been in those situations very often.”