What do Wheel chair bound or other handicapped people do during fire drills when they may not use the elevator. Also, in case of a fire or any actual emergency how would they escape if they cannot walk down the stairs. Are there volunteers who will carry them? Or are they screwed?
If a building has a properly designed emergency plan, mobility-impaired persons (I’m trying to be inclusive, and not necessarily PC) are supposed to go to the safest place near the exit.
The building should have people designated to carry the people up or down the stairs. There are numerous drills for this (which I’ve done) and different techniques depending whether or not there is more than one person to help.
Most of my time in emergency training was spent on such situations.
You know, that is a damn good question. Thank you for asking it. With over six handicapped people in my family and husband’s family I have never once entertained that " what if".
The “model” fire code for exits is called the Life Safety Code, NFPA 101. It’s adopted by most states as their legal code for how to get people out of a burning building. Herein, when I say “Code,” I’m referring to this particular code.
Definitions:
Exit Access: The portion of a building leading to an exit (a non-fire rated hallway leading to a stairwell)
Exit: The portion of an egress system that is seperated from the rest of the building by construction or equipment that leads to the exit discharge
Exit Discharge: Portion of the egress system that leads from the terminating point of the exit to the public way
Public Way: The street
According to the Code, there are three main ways of protecting those with mobility impairments.
1) Take them through a horizontal exit to the public way
This method is really only good for floors at the level of exit discharge. Once you get a few stairs above or below the level of the door, the person will not be able to get out unassisted.
2) Put them in an area of refuge
Areas of refuge are the most common solution for buildings with multiple stories. Generally, they are found just inside stairwell doors, kind of a large landing. There are also whole rooms considered areas of refuge (that huge tower thingy in Las Vegas has a large AOR near the top). Also, areas of refuge aren’t always for mobility impared, they are also used when you can’t move a ton of people out of a space quickly (as in that tower). For a normal building, though, they are usually reserved for those who can’t take the stairs. There are 6 requirements to consider a place an area of refuge, but I’ll just hit on the high points:
- Space for one wheelchair per 200 people using the space
- In a space less than 1000 square feet, tenable conditions must be maintained for at least 15 minutes by test or design (stairwells usually have 1 or 2 hour rated walls and 0.5 to 1.5 hour doors).
- Access for each wheelchair shall not be through another wheelchair’s space (can’t triple-park chairs)
- Areas of refuge shall be seperated by 1 hour rated walls, unless you’re in a sprinklered building or 30 minute barriers are already there.
- There must be signs indicating that the space is an area of refuge.
3) Take them down with elevators.
No, you should not use elevators during fires. However, there are elevators designed to operate under fire conditions. Basically, if no one has ever shown you personally how said fire rated elevator works, take the stairs.
So, the Code pretty much makes the building protect those in it, if it’s up to code. If it’s not, stairwells are always supposed to be fire rated. If you can’t get out any other way, a stairwell will provide the most protection you’re going to find inside the building, unless someone has chocked open the door on the fire floor (don’t think it doesn’t happen in every building).
Once they are in the stairwell (either because thats where the area of refuge is, or its a last-ditch effort), the only way down is to be carried. As BobT put it, there are numerous ways to do it, depending on the situation. A few years back in our Junior High School, a two story building (with elevator), there was a student who was in a wheelchair. Any daytime response to the Jr. High had an additional engine company assigned, whose sole purpose was to evacuate that student from the second floor (if he was up there). When all thie engineering stuff fails, we’ll do our best to get 'ya out.
I once worked in a factory with several other technicians. One of them was handicapped. He was barely 4ft tall and had club feet. But the real problem was not the handicap but his weight. He weighted nearly 300 pounds.
One of the other technicians was assigned to the safety committee.One day he said If there is ever a fire you and I are to help Dave(not his real name) get out. At first I thought “why me” but then I looked around and the answer was obvious.
Well thank God we never had a fire but we did have a fire drill once.
Tom and I decided to pick up Dave and carry him out. Ha
By the time we got him to the stair well we were all puffing like asmatics. Then there were the stairs. We all stood there looking at them.Dave said “If there is ever really a fire Roll me out.Now go get me my crutches”.Now we are all three in hysterics as the other factory workers were beginning to filter back in.
Dave Tom and I never got outside that day.
The thought always haunted me. How were we going to get him out.
I suppose we should have made a special wheeled cart to get him to the stairwell and some sort of a pulley type device to allow him to ride down the stairs.This was way before there were provisions for the handicapped. Dave brought a spare wheelchair to work.I guess he had a plan of his own.
The plant closed within a year.