Paris on fire.

Not again. More African immigrants die from a fire in Paris' shanty transitional housing. Does anyone else remember when this happened back in April? There were so many calls for inspections and regulations of public housing. Did they ever happen? Most of these old hotels only have one staircase for residents to use as an exit.

I stayed on the ninth floor of an old hotel in London. The fire alarm went off in the middle of the night once, and I remember the creeping feeling of fear that hit me as I made my way down the winding staircase surrounded by German tourists in their pajamas. Everyone was in high-sensory mode, trying to smell smoke, trying to gauge the danger. Fortunately it was just a false alarm in our case. But that hotel had a fire alarm. I wonder if the families in this recent fire even had a warning.