Fire In Oxford Hotel

There was a fire in Oxford’s iconic Randolph Hotel on Wednesday 17th April.

In a statement, Oxfordshire Fire & Rescue Service aid that they did not have to rescue anyone from the building which is probably testament to a well executed emergency evacuation plan by the hotel staff.

A hotel presents challenges in this department as many of the visitors will not know the layout of the building or what those procedures are and will not be taking much notice of these things. Add to that the majority of visitors are in individual rooms and the staff will be distributed all around the building.

Hotels will normally have building plans with evacuation routes marked out so they can be easily referenced by guests in an emergency. An audible alarm will not leave any of the guests in any doubt as to what is happening. Staff may well have designated area of the building to check if it is safe to do so.

The staff will probably run through fire drills regularly that will cement what to do in an emergency into their minds so that procedures can be carried out quickly with minimal or no communication.

Also fire doors throughout the building will stop smoke and flames spreading quickly which will give people the building the best possible chance to get out in time. The reports say that there was a lot of smoke which had an impact on the local community.

Hotel staff  were housed in Oxford playhouse while fire firefighters did what they do both which is a nice illustration of community spirit in a crisis.

By the sound of it there was extensive damage which will be from the fire itself, the smoke where it spread to and the water used to combat the flames. We wish the hotel all the best and hope they can be back in business soon.