One thing I’ll always remember from high school fire drills is, “Whatever you do, don’t take the elevators.”
Those coordinating the drills liked to utter that phrase over and over, so that explains my confusion when I read this headline on the Building and Fire Research Laboratory web site: “Elevators Seen as Playing Hi-Rise Fire Evacuation Role.”
Since 9/11, researchers have been rethinking evacuation strategies in high-rise buildings, and that’s led to discussions on the use of elevators in emergency situations. A paper called Emergency Egress Strategies for Buildings by Richard W. Bukowski, a fire prevention engineer with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, touches on the challenge people with disabilities face during tall-building evacuations.
“The time needed to descend undamaged and smoke-free stairs is about one floor per minute,” Bukowski says. “If the fire is on the 60th floor, occupants on that floor or above will spend one hour or more trying to escape the building. Escape from such a height can be exhausting for those in the best shape, let alone those who are elderly or have lower stamina.”
Evacuation becomes more difficult, if not impossible, for people who use wheelchairs, crutches, or walkers, and for those with respiratory issues and temporary conditions, such as injuries or pregnancy.
Elevator evacuation allows people with disabilities to self-evacuate with other occupants, Bukowski says, and elevators in modern high-rise facilities are engineered to move an entire population out of the building in an hour or less. During an emergency, Bukowski says managers can program elevators to evacuate occupants on the highest floors first.
No matter what technological strides are made in emergency elevator evacuations, my first instinct – thanks to high school fire drills – will be to take the stairs. But one thing I never considered back then was the challenge people with disabilities – temporary or permanent – face during an evacuation. So any advances that make emergency egress safer and more efficient for everybody are certainly welcome.