Over the weekend I lectured at a conference in Las Vegas given by the Public Safety Writers Association. Most of the attendees were in law enforcement who have written books or articles. I was there to talk about how handwriting analysis could help them understand their characters better by looking at what motivates them.
The hotel was off the Strip, my room was fantastic (and very inexpensive!). One entire wall was glass, looking out over a golf course and in the distance, the mountains.
All went well until Saturday, when everyone was awakened at 5:20 a.m. by an emergency alarm and recorded announcement to stay put. The alarm and announcements continued for about 30 minutes, which pretty much freaked me out. I was running around, trying to get my contact lenses in and get dressed in case we had to evacuate. Through the window (which, since it was a wall of glass, did not open), I could see a few people gathering on the ground below.
They never did call an All Clear, which would have been nice. What I later heard was that a car had hit a power pole and knocked out electrical service to the casino and 3 surrounding blocks. Don't know what happened to the driver.
When I went down to the conference, I asked the fire chief what he did when the alarm went off. Turns out he was one of those people who gathered on the sidewalk--he'd rather be wrong and safe on the ground than hanging out in his room, waiting until he was told to leave, when it might be too late. Then he said something else that I thought very important and enlightening: never stay in a room above the 8th floor--that's about how high a ladder can reach.