Ariana Arghandewal shares her experience at a New York City hotel, where “some kids pulled a dangerous prank..that sent at least one person to the hospital.” And, she says, the prank is happening at hotels all over the city according to the fire department.
- “Kids will sneak onto an elevator to a guest floor, pull the fire alarm and bang on people’s doors yelling “FIRE!”
- “When people open the doors, they spray them in the face with fire extinguishers.”
In her case, there’s security footage of the perpetrators “but they got away through the back staircase.” She warns that if “someone knocks on your door yelling “FIRE”, don’t open it without checking who is there.”
And we’ve seen similar elements to this before, such as:
- prank calls to hotels getting people to pull fire alarms, activate sprinklers and break windows
- banging and kicking hotel room doors as part of socail media challenges (filming reactions and fleeing)
- and spraying people throughout the city with fire extinguishers for social media content. People wind up hospitalized.
I haven’t seen other similar reports that the fire department says are happening ‘all over the city’ but broadly stupid social media tricks and restless youth lead to bad things, and people banging on your door in a hotel aren’t always harmless actors. Last year a naked woman banged onmy hotel room door at 4:30 a.m. and then yanked the fire alarm.
I wouldn’t say ‘don’t open even if the alarm is blaring’ – instead I’d say:
- Know the exits from your room. Read the evacuation map, find the two nearest stairwells, and count doors between your room and each exit. Think about it the same as best practice on a plane. I’m vigilant about this onboard, where my mental model is that a cabin could fill with smoke so I need to know how to get off without seeing – but should be better in a hotel.
- Lock the door properly. Use the deadbolt and security latch. Keep your shoes, phone, room key, glasses, and essential meds reachable.
- If someone bangs and yells “fire” you should look through the peephole, keep the latch engaged if you initially open the door, and call the front desk or even 911 if it seems off.
When you see kids with fire extinguishers in the hallway, don’t engage them..
That’s y’all’s future leaders right there ‘Merica
@John T Buckholder: more ones acting like the current idiot now in the Oval Office.
@Ray: Yeah………maybe some valium might ease that TDS of yours.
“I’ll take ‘Urban Legends’ for $500, Alex.”
@stogieguy7 — Naw, @Ray gets it. And, John is wrong to hold prejudice for an entire generation. These yoots are following after that bad role model. (Besides, please use a generic. No one needs to overpay for name-brand. Diazepam would work just fine. *wink*)