A childhood belief about excursions

We didn't go too many places that had elevators when I was a child, but one place that did was the local swimming pool (it was an olympic-size pool and there was a spectator area where people could sit to watch the competitions...you could use the elevator to get up there or you could climb up stairs from either the lobby or the pool deck area). I used to believe that the "do not use in case of fire" signs I saw near elevators meant people shouldn't ever use the elevators, "just in case" there was a fire in the building. Oddly enough, I never questioned why they put elevators in the building at all if they were that dangerous. I'd stand around and see other people using the elevator and feel self-righteous because I was "obeying the rules" and using the stairs.