Apartment Fire in Paitilla

Hi Don,
If you wake up in the middle of the night and find your living room "fully engaged" in fire, there isn't a domestic fire extinguisher that would have any meaningful affect on it. In fact if you were lucky enough to wake up whilst such a fire is in your living room and you decide to tackle it, all you would be doing is using up the last of your good luck because you would be putting yourself in a situation that you would most likely not survive.
Your advice to have fire extinguishers available is good, but people need to be aware of what these extinguishers are capable of. They are not capable of doing any good in a living room (or any room) fully involved in fire.
The best piece of equipment you can have in your home in case of fire is a correctly sited and working smoke alarm (preferably more than one). It is important that smoke alarms are sited correctly and tested regularly. A smoke alarm will in most cases alert you to a fire before it has had time to develop, giving the occupants of the house time to get out.
Now is the time to tackle the fire, only If the fire is still in its very early stages and you have the competency to assess the situation and use an extinguisher effectively.
The most dangerous aspect of having a fire in your house is not the fire itself but the smoke. If you close all internal doors at night before going to bed you will hold back fire and smoke for long enough to allow you to escape if you act quickly when the smoke alarm is activated. It is important that everyone in the home knows what to do in the event of fire. Normally this would be for them to ensure everyone in the home is aware that there is a fire and to get everyone out.
I am aware that a lot of homes in Panama have bars fitted to windows and doors. Whilst these may be good from a security point of view they are not so good if you are locked inside a burning house. So thought will be need to be given to where keys are kept in case of the need of a hasty exit.
The best thing that you could do in the case of fire is ensure that everybody is out of the house. Only then decide if you can tackle the fire safely. I don't know how effective or efficient the fire service is in Panama but for your own safety you would be well advised to leave the fire-fighting to them.
And to recap; FIT A SMOKE ALARM.

Cheers Kevin.

We are living in a recently (4 month ago) delivered condo which has smoke alarms and sprinkler system in each unit. I recently discovered that the big red boxes built in the wall by the elevators have big portable extinguishers and a big hose REEL. There is no hose....just the reel!

BVH built this place and apparently the hose reels on every floor all over the building are without hoses. Apparently this building passed inspection (is one required) in this condition.

Should we worry?! LOL