A system and method (10) are shown for providing a guided emergency exit to personnel (12) within a building (14), and includes the steps of: automatically determining the location of each of a plurality of wireless communication devices (22) within a building in response to an emergency, each of the communication devices being assigned to a person (12); determining an escape route (28) from the building for each of the communication devices based on the location of the communication device (22) and the available paths (20) from that location to a safe exit (29); and wirelessly transmitting a sequential series of images to each of the communication devices to guide the person assigned to the device from checkpoint (18) to checkpoint along the escape route (28) until the person (12) safely exits.