What about risk of fire?

[Vovo]

I would have to admit, my very first question is, maybe, unusual. Fire is not my greatest fear and I do not shun all risk. However, I often read that a hostel door is locked for the night and out of curiosity would like to ask the following.
Does a staff member remain overnight? Or how does one get out in any emergency such as a fire... an appendicities?
Are smoke detectors usually installed in Albergues? And, yes, I realize this is basic limited accommodation.
All being well, a future hope is be on the Camino next year, early or late summer, while I am able, as am elderly and it will be a slow camino. I have been preparing. Spanish lessons (a la South American style) stimulate my mind no matter what eventuates!
The fact there is a lot of accommodation and amenities seem to make the Spanish walk do-able and in that way, more so than other appealing walks with fewer pilgrims.
I also give consideration to the environmental impact of flying from Newcastle, Australia and the environment may win out. Is global travel a tad unethical?

 

[Deleted member 3000]

New albergues are built to fire codes. Older ones are not. Some become death traps when the doors are locked at night. It won’t change until there is a tragedy. Sorry to be a downer.

 

[MikeJS]

Don’t think I have ever been in an albergue that has locked its doors and I have never noticed any smoke alarms. However, I have never heard of a fire in an albergue.

 

[Anniesantiago]

There ARE a few Albergue’s whose owners lock the doors at night and personally I would not stay in one.

 

[Vovo]

Nice instant replies, thanks, not reassuring but I can live with it....a bit surprising all the same.... probably the least of my concerns at the time!

 

[MikeyC]

Fire is probably low risk in albergues. Residential fires are often associated with smoking and cooking in terms of ignition. Indoor smoking in Albergues is not something I have come across and kitchens are often well separated from sleeping rooms. There is far less combustible material in Albergues which tend to have little in terms of soft furnishings. Your intended Camino dates are for a warm time of year so heating appliances will be off further reducing risk.
For additional peace of mind you might like to check how you would exit in case of a fire.( In hotels I always check where the fire exits are - just in case.)

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Don’t think I have ever been in an albergue that has locked its doors

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/pilgrims-locked-in-at-albergue-la-robla.55533/
https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/albergue-locked-doors.54482/
https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/being-locked-in-a-hostal-or-albergue.32123/
https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/locked-in.8244/

I have been locked in at Ruitelan, Ventosa, and Boadilla. It is more common than you might imagine!

 

[Ianinam]

In Roncesvalles (where I work as a hospitalera every year) this item is always a point of attention. Every new group of hospitaleros (groups change every two weeks) must organise a fire-alarm excercise with the fire-hoses. On every dormitory there are powder extinguishers.
There are smoke detectors and the hospitaleros sleep in the same building.
The doors are locked from 10 PM till 6 AM, but only one-way: you can't come in, but you always can get out. This is to prevent vagrants and beggars to enter the buidling.
(By the way: this keeps us sometimes quite busy after 10 PM as smokers get out for a cigarette and can't get in ....)

 

[Deleted member 3000]

The doors are locked from 10 PM till 6 AM, but only one-way: you can't come in, but you always can get out. This is to prevent vagrants and beggars to enter the buidling.

That is the case with all newer albergues. Everyone LOVES the church albergue in Granon, but evacuating two floors of beds down the single staircase should give everyone pause. There is continuous cooking and an active fireplace. Smokers ignore the posted regulations; one cigarette on a nylon sleeping bag, and POOF!

You won't spoil your pilgrimage if you are alert to fire danger, and stay in appropriate housing. If the exits ever are restricted by overflow pilgrims on the floor, complain to management. It is illegal and dangerous, and is an old tradition that has all-but disappeared.

 

[Vovo]

Your replies are about the good and the bad. I had imagined similar circumstances and is good to hear how some places are taking normal safety measures. Whether one will have a ready list of the right hostels or would ask beforehand about the door locks or other clues is difficult to know. The forum names some of the info. I suppose life is a risk. And life is beautiful....

 

[RJM]

I have stayed in some albergues that locked pilgrims in for the night. I do not remember how many or which ones and some I did not realize locked me in until the next morning when it was time to leave, and possibly some that were but I just never knew because they were opened before I left. If memory served me correctly I do not remember any of the ones that locked us in for the night having substantial doors. They had doors and locking mechanisms that could easily be forced open by a stout pilgrim(s) and perhaps aid of some type of object. In a previous thread I related an instance where in one albergue the hospitalero was late arriving the next morning and everyone was up and ready to leave, so we simply manipulated the hook/hasp securing the doors using a pocketknife and exited. In an emergency that hook/hasp would have come flying off after a shoulder or boot was applied.
I can only say do not let the prospect of the small possibility of encountering an albergue that does the lockdown bit deter you from walking the Camino. Be more concerned about footwear comfort, light backpack etc.
Is global travel unethical? I hope not. I have no other way to reach Spain than to travel globally, and global travel played a big role in my job(s). A man's gotta work (eat) and walk.

 

[Anamiri]

I stayed in only one that locked us in, and had bars on the windows. I wouldn't have stayed there if I had known.
Before I realised we were locked in, I was laying on my bunk looking at the bars thinking that if there was a fire we would all be killed. They had far too many bunks in all the rooms, (as you climbed up on to the top bunk your back touched the neighbouring bunk) and single narrow stair case, people would not all have made it out.
It was the same albergue where the glass shower door fell of the rails hitting me on the head and pinning me to the wall. I had an egg on my head for days.

 

[Former member 49149]

I would have to admit, my very first question is, maybe, unusual. Fire is not my greatest fear and I do not shun all risk. However, I often read that a hostel door is locked for the night and out of curiosity would like to ask the following.
Does a staff member remain overnight? Or how does one get out in any emergency such as a fire... an appendicities?
Are smoke detectors usually installed in Albergues? And, yes, I realize this is basic limited accommodation.
All being well, a future hope is be on the Camino next year, early or late summer, while I am able, as am elderly and it will be a slow camino. I have been preparing. Spanish lessons (a la South American style) stimulate my mind no matter what eventuates!
The fact there is a lot of accommodation and amenities seem to make the Spanish walk do-able and in that way, more so than other appealing walks with fewer pilgrims.
I also give consideration to the environmental impact of flying from Newcastle, Australia and the environment may win out. Is global travel a tad unethical?

Here is a link to an article on the ethics of flying. It will set you off on further searches if you want to follow links: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/nov/18/lucy-siegle-airline-carbon-emissions

 

[Vacajoe]

My professional opinion as a recently retired professional firefighter: the likelihood of a fire happening is very slight, but the effects of such a fire would be devastating. Too many people trying to leave too few exits in unfamiliar surroundings and across rooms cluttered with backpacks...

HOWEVER, you are more likely to die in your car going to the airport or flying in the plane to Spain! You’ll end up ignoring the disconnected exit lighting (too bright for sleepers I guess?), extinguishers wire-tired to their brackets, no CO detectors, alarms with clipped wires, and inward-opening exit doors because you’ll be so darned tired after walking that you won’t care.

Buen Camino

 

[Ferenjinan]

http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/carboncalculator.html


Note that most people can save twice as much carbon by going vegan than by not flying.