Plan before leaving home. Prepare every member of your family of the importance of hotel fire safety. Always pack a flashlight and a portable smoke detector. A battery-powered smoke detector can be hung with a coat hanger placed near the top of the door entrance to your hotel room. A flashlight will be invaluable in finding your way through dark, smoky halls to the exit paths.

Begin planning escape routes immediately upon check in at your hotel. Notice where ground floor exits are located and where stairwells lead to lobby areas and exit routes. Try to memorize exact locations and approximate distances in case thick smoke makes it difficult to see. Ask the desk clerk if stairwell doors are open to each floor or if they are only open at the ground floor. While you're on the ground floor, choose a meeting area outside the hotel where family and friends will meet in case of an emergency evacuation.

Map-out and discuss survival plans and exit strategies. Familiarize everyone with fire exit locations and fire extinguisher locations. The nearest escape routes are posted on the back of your hotel room door or in a closet. Take the entire family on a little "test walk" to identify at least two exit routes. Count the number of room doors to the nearest exits. This is extremely important if smoke penetration makes it difficult to see the exit points.

Checkout possible escape routes through windows or balconies. Do not consider jumping more than one floor unless it is absolutely a last resort. Know the easiest way to dial for emergency assistance and check for the direct number to report a fire and keep that number written down on a notepad next to your phone.

If a Fire Breaks Out in Your Hotel
When awakened by an alarm, phone call, the smell of smoke or panic noise in the hall, take your key, roll out of bed and crawl to the door, because smoke and toxic gases rise. In fact, the air just a few feet above the floor could be filled with deadly carbon monoxide.

After crawling to the door, stand and using the backside of your hand feel the door for heat. If the door or knob is hot, do not open it . If cool, open it slowly but be prepared to quickly slam it shut if smoke pours into your hotel room. Check the hall for signs of smoke and take the clearest route to an exit. Do not take the elevator for reasons discussed later. Use the stairwell exit moving quickly but in-control. Go down, not up. Fires always move up and become progressively more intense. Rooftops are not safe areas and regardless of what you've heard, hotel rooftop rescues are extremely dangerous for both those being rescued and the helicopter pilots that may make rescue attempts.

As you proceed down stairwells and discover dangerously thick smoke clouds, turnaround and go back to your room where you'll likely be safer until the fire subsides or equipped help arrives.

Preparing For Survival
Stay in your hotel room if the door is hot or smoke is dense in the hall or in the stairwell. If you're no higher than a second floor, you may be able to drop to the ground safely. If you're higher than the second floor, do not jump.

If you can't safely escape through a window or balcony, begin preparing your room for survival. Open your window slowly because a sudden draft could suck fire and deadly smoke into your room. If that happens, close your window quickly.

Turn-on the exhaust fan in your bathroom, which could draw minor amounts of smoke through the exhaust system. Immediately fill your bathtub and let it overflow. You want to keep the room as wet as possible. Place wet towels under the door and into any crevices where fire and smoke could enter.

Using your ice bucket or any other container, continue throwing water on the door and progressively saturate the carpet areas beginning at the door area.

If you can safely jump from the window and if the window is large enough, throw the bed mattress to a convenient landing location. Jump to the mattress to cushion your fall. If jumping is unsafe and it isn't wise to open the window, saturate the mattress with water and place it over the door and reinforce it with a heavy piece of furniture. Continue drenching the mattress, furniture and carpet with water.

Keep everyone covered with wet sheets. A towel or piece of clothing that is wet and folded into a triangle and rapped over your mouth will minimize smoke inhalation. Consider hanging a sheet through a narrow window opening to let fire fighters know you are in that room. Using the fire department phone number next to your phone, call them and give them your precise hotel room location. The typical fire truck ladder can reach the seventh floor. For that reason, remember that floors below the seventh and closest to the ground floor are the safest places should you experience a hotel fire.

Avoid breaking windows. This could create dangerous sudden drafts that will quickly worsen the situation by attracting sudden bursts of incoming fire and smoke. Breaking glass could also be dangerous to those below trying to rescue you and your family. Also remove the drapes and anything else near windows that are flammable. Again, keep everything flammable continuously soaked with water. It's much easier to say than do, but remain calm and focus on doing everything needed to survive until the fire is out or someone rescues you. Again, stay low since heat, smoke and carbon monoxide rises.

Never Use Elevators During A Hotel Fire
Elevator shafts provide draft areas that attract smoke and fire as it seeks upward movement. When fires occur, elevators are designed to be recalled to a designated floor and in some situations an elevator malfunction may cause the elevator to travel to the fire floor of the hotel. Extreme heat could melt and weaken cables. Therefore always use the stairwells whenever possible.

These are basic approaches to remaining safe and to help surviving a hotel fire. The particular hotel configuration, its high-tech safety systems and emergency instructions could slightly alter those suggestions mentioned above. If you're unsure about any procedure or emergency measure, ask the hotel security staff for more definitive instructions. But most important is preplanning, being prepared and knowing the best way to survive a hotel fire in the safest way possible.

Visit Security World , NFPA Online for other ways to survive a hotel fire.

Always be prepared for fire safety to improve your chances of survival.