Voces del Prado

The fire alarm in the 1940s

José Torreblanca Prieto, Grandson of José Prieto, Lead Concierge, 1936-1948

There was a very curious thing that many people won’t remember which was that there was permanent firefighting team in the Museum. There were 2 or 3 firemen on guard 24 hours a day. I suppose the authorities at the Museum were quite concerned about the possibility of a fire. I don’t know if it’s still the case but then they quite often did fire drills, which I got caught up in a couple of times. Suddenly all the alarms went off and interestingly the guards gave the orders, getting out the extinguishers and making the staff leave the rooms. The Museum’s doors remained totally shut so that no one could get out, so people gathered in the entrance rotundas, and the foreigners and tourists had panic attacks because they couldn’t understand why they couldn’t get out in a fire. The Museum’s staff remained extremely calm as they knew all this was going to happen. Although it sounds a bit excessive, it was very important to set off the fire alarms and immediately close the doors so that no one could get one. I suppose they opened the doors after the people inside had been checked out.