Fire + Secret Shop

[bhskittykatt]

So I was in the back office today getting ready to do my bank run and grab a bite to eat. CW was on the phone taking a reservation. I heard some pops and noticed the breakroom looked a bit smokey. I figured CW was popping popcorn or something so I went back to turn off the microwave...

...except the microwave wasn't running, and the socket the A/C was plugged into was sparking and smoking.

I turned off the A/C. Outlet was still sparking. I unplugged the A/C. Outlet was still sparking, and flames started shooting out.

I grabbed a nearby towel and shoved it against the socket to try and smother the flames.

Me: "CW! We have a fire! Call 911 now!"
CW: "Just a minute!"
Me: "No 'just a minute'! There is an electrical fire in the breakroom call the fire department right now!"
I grabbed my radio.
Me: *on the radio* "Maint Man, I need you to shut off the electricity to the breakroom. We have a fire. Go turn it off immediately."
CW handed me an extinguisher and her eyes went wide when I pulled the towel away and flames shot out. I used the extinguisher on the fire and stopped the flames.
Me: *on the radio* "Maint Man, we have an electrical fire in the breakroom. I need the power off right now!"
*radio silence*
CW: "The fire department wants us to evacuate. Oh God."
Me: "Calm down. Print off a guest list and start calling rooms. I'm going to move my car [parked right outside the door to the breakroom] so the firefighters can have better access. I'm taking the radio. Call out whatever rooms don't pick up and I'll check them."
Maint Man: *walking up to office* "You called?"
Me: "There is an electrical fire and I need the power cut to the breakroom right now."
Maint Man: *runs off to find the breaker*

(And no, the fire didn't trip the breaker. You would think it would have, but it didn't.)

After I move my car:
CW: *over the radio* "I called Boss Lady and she said to do an incident report."
Me: "No f***king shit I need to do an incident report! Have you called all the rooms yet?!?"
CW: "Um...some people aren't picking up."
Me: "Which. Rooms. Tell me specific numbers. Now."

I went and checked all the rooms that didn't answer, and we got the building evac-ed. Fire Dept came and determined that we had managed to put out the fire completely and gave us the all-clear. CW was overwhelmed and freaking out and I had to basically calm her down and break things into simple steps for her because otherwise she shuts down when she gets like that.

While we were mopping up and waiting for an electrician to arrive, a fax arrived. Now to back up a little bit: GSRs who are bored (who have spare time) are supposed to do quality checks ("secret shops") on other properties. You basically call to make a reservation and grade the GSR at the property you are calling, then fax them a feedback form when you are done.

The reservation CW was taking when the fire broke out? It was a secret shop. There were a few notes at the beginning of the page, and at the bottom in the comments section:
"She was doing great till you guys had a fire at the property. Hope everything is ok!"

I just burst out laughing so hard CW had to grab me a tissue. I can only imagine the GSR at the other property overhearing me shouting at CW and what it must have been from their perspective on the other end of the phone. The more I think about it, the more it amuses me.

I mean, you can't plan that. That was the funniest secret shop we'd ever gotten. (There was no score, just the comment. How would you score that?!)

I took the feedback page, put it in a plastic frame, and displayed it above our now-fried A/C unit. I spent the rest of the day giggling about it.

[csquared]

Well done!
*hands bhskittykatt the keys to the liquor cabinet*
Help yourself and pour one for CW too.

[Pimento]

You did awesome.


CW should be let go. If you weren't there wed have been seeing the body count on the news

[bhskittykatt]

Yeah...I think I have an idea about what the next safety meeting is going to cover...

Oh and fun fact: some of our breaker boxes aren't labelled, and others are labelled improperly. Maint Man never did successfully find the right breaker. I've been asking Regional Maint for years to label our boxes properly, since it's been like that as long as I've worked here. Maybe this fire will finally prompt them to do something about it. (Electrician of Awesomeness at least labelled the ones he was able to figure out for us.)

[Aethian]

CW should be let go. If you weren't there wed have been seeing the body count on the news

What? More training before just axing someone cause of how they react to a situation.

[bhskittykatt]

CW did have the sense of mind to grab the extinguisher for me. More training I think would suffice. The procedure for an evac is fairly simple, but it's obviously not something that you do every day or even every year. I think CW just needs help figuring out which steps to prioritize (why was she calling Boss Lady who is two hours out of town when she should have been focusing on the guests that were here?). I think her issue is that she knows all the steps, but she just tries to do them all at once and gets overwhelmed. I break things down into little linear steps. She sees the big picture; I get the tunnel vision. Or something like that.

[Seshat]

CW should be let go. If you weren't there wed have been seeing the body count on the news

If she's otherwise competent, training should be sufficient.

Some people - a very few - act instinctively correctly (or close to it) in an emergency. The rest need to be trained.

Co-worker tried to do correct things, she just couldn't prioritise as BhsKittyKat said.

Many, many people would have either 'frozen' and stayed put, tried to put out the fire with their bare hands or (worse) water!, or just run away themselves and not given a fig about the other people in the building.

BHSKittyKat: do you think your management would object to having prominent 'in case of emergency' checklists posted up in appropriate positions?
Professionally-printed ones that look like "Our Company Cares For Your Safety" sorts of marketing crap. But with the list itself made up by you and based on ambulance/firefighter/police provided information. Checked by them, too, if you have friendly emergency service folk.
Something that people who tend to freeze up can follow almost blindly; and that people like you can use to verify 'yes, I HAVE done everything. Everyone living is safe, I'm outta here.'

[bhskittykatt]

BHSKittyKat: do you think your management would object to having prominent 'in case of emergency' checklists posted up in appropriate positions?
Professionally-printed ones that look like "Our Company Cares For Your Safety" sorts of marketing crap. But with the list itself made up by you and based on ambulance/firefighter/police provided information. Checked by them, too, if you have friendly emergency service folk.
Something that people who tend to freeze up can follow almost blindly; and that people like you can use to verify 'yes, I HAVE done everything. Everyone living is safe, I'm outta here.'

We have a "Safety Center", but the topics displayed change quarterly, and they're usually more OSHA-focused things (how to lift safely, use chemicals, etc). I think a more standard overview that stays up all year long for disasters/emergencies is a good idea. I'll bring it up with Boss Lady and the area manager.

[Desk clerk knows all]

Did any of your guest demand a discount for being evacuated?

[cinema guy]

Is there not a fire alarm?

The mystery shop report was great!

[bhskittykatt]

Did any of your guest demand a discount for being evacuated?

Surprisingly no. It was early afternoon, so most stayovers were out and about and most reservations hadn't arrived yet. Those that were there seemed more amused than anything. Some were so amused they either refused to evac or took their sweet time sauntering downstairs, even with two firetrucks outside.

Is there not a fire alarm?

We don't have a central fire alarm system at the motel (they're not networked or anything, just regular ol' smoke alarms here). There is a fire alarm in the breakroom and it does work. I just heard the popping and stopped the fire before there was enough smoke for the alarm to be triggered.

[PepperElf]

How would you score that?!

I'd pass with flying colors myself. You did the right thing at the right time.

You potentially saved the lives of the customers inside the hotel, and saved the hotel a LOT of money. Had the fire gone unchecked the costs in lives and damage ... those can get pretty big.

(And no, the fire didn't trip the breaker. You would think it would have, but it didn't.)

Sometimes stuff like that doesn't. We had a breaker situation on my first ship where a wave had crested over the fantail, gotten in through a vertical watertight hatch (that clearly wasn't as watertight as it should be) and it soaked a power panel. The panel didn't trip off like it should. The generators tripped instead. Dead in the water!

[raudf]

Dad once got so fed up with the breakers in in place we lived that he went through turning them off one by one to see what they did. Then, he took a piece of thick poster board and put in larger letters what each breaker did, so he "could read the damn thing in an emergency!" He then laminated it and put it beside the breaker box.

Now this isn't exactly possible for you, but for those breakers you do know what they do, you might do the same thing. This way, Maint Man isn't shutting off random breakers or trying to figure out which ones he does know. Or if Maint Man isn't available, the panicking coworker types can do it.

[Chromatix]

Pro tip: if you can't work out which specific switch or fuse isolates a serious problem, throw the main switch. Having extra stuff lose power for a while is usually preferable to dealing with an electrical fire that is still live. Any truly critical stuff should have battery backups anyway - including emergency lighting.

Bad wiring and no fire alarm in a hotel, incidentally, sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. Any building large and populated enough to need an evacuation plan also needs an alarm that works, is tested, and staff drilled on what to do if it goes off or needs to be set off.

Your electrician should investigate why the breaker didn't trip as a matter of priority. Either there is no breaker inline with the live end of the circuit, or the breaker is faulty, or you have an earth fault - all of which are incredibly dangerous.