Aruban Hotel Fire Exercise … It Turned Out that Some Media was still not Informed”

Those that do not learn from history are destined to repeat it. It appears that some in the Aruban media misreported a fire exercise, ala Orson Wells and “War of the Worlds.”

“Despite the fact that in broad circles news got out that it was a fire exercise, it turned out that some media was still not informed.”

At least this time it is not being reported that there was no fire or that security guards or American tourists were responsible.

Amigoe; August 22, 2007: Commotion with fire exercises at Riu

ORANJESTAD – There was a fire exercise at the Riu Hotel around noon yesterday. The fire department decided on the exercise in cooperation with the hotel. They wanted to see what the deployment is supposed to be in case of a real fire. They also wanted to see how the accessibility of the buildings is for the fire engines and the personnel. The fire exercise did cause some commotion though.

Several radio stations, like Canal Nobenta broadcasted that there was fire at the new sugar palace. Despite the fact that in broad circles news got out that it was a fire exercise, it turned out that some media was still not informed.

In order to make the fire look as real as possible, some old outside furniture of the Grand Hotel was set on fire on the upper deck of the parking garage. That caused a whole lot of smoke and this was training material for the fire department to extinguish. During the exercise, the fire department also checked the behavior of the hotel personnel in case of fire and if their effort is adequate to avoid injuries and/or casualties. An exercise at new hotels is very usual for the fire department. The exercise went well and there were no special circumstances.