Fire safety called into question after fire at the Shamrock Hotel
Posted Aug 29, 2012 4:51 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Fire and police are determining what went wrong after 5 people had to be rescued from a fire at the Shamrock Hotel.
Calgary’s fire chief says crews rarely expect to find people still inside a burning building when they show up to a fire.
Bruce Burrell says they are re-determining what constitutes a fire exit after one man tried to use a fire escape only to find it chained shut, fire crews had to throw him bolt cutters.
“We are looking into that as part of the course of the investigation, to determine what exactly would define a fire escape, what the maintenance requirements are if there is a fire escape decommissioned,” said Burrell.
A hotel spokesperson had said the fire escape in question was decommissioned years ago and had cleared safety inspections.
