screambirdscreaming:

tisfan:

This is GOOD TO KNOW. why do they not tell people this??

girlfriendsofthegalaxy:

I use a cane. When I did a day-long fire safety training at my northeast American university (UMass Amherst), I asked that exact same question: “what am I supposed to do if the fire alarm goes off and I’m in my lab on the twelfth floor?” 

the fire marshal hemmed and hawed for a while and then said to take the elevator- you’re supposed to leave it free for the fire department to use and they want able-bodied people out fast not waiting for elevators. if the fire alarm has just gone off the building probably hasn’t suffered enough structural damage to make using the elevator dangerous, and modern elevator wells are heavily reinforced. many large and high-trafficked buildings on my campus have fire rated elevators that link in with the fire alarm system so they won’t let you off on a floor with a possible fire. 

if the elevator isn’t working, wait in the stairwell and call the fire department to let them know where you are. modern stairwells are also heavily reinforced- it might not be pleasant but modern building code usually requires fire-resistant stairwell doors in office and big residential buildings, also to help firefighters get in and out safely. older buildings’ stairwells may or may not be retrofitted with fire-resistant doors but a stairwell is generally the safest place to wait if you can’t get out. 

what happened to your friend was horrible, and i’m very glad you were there to help her out, but you can absolutely use the elevator to evacuate if it’s not shut down. those don’t-use-the-elevator rules are for abled people.  

official-lucifers-child:

“fun” little story:

last summer my friend who is an amazingly talented artist and i were in this super tall building, and she’s in a wheelchair and i’m pushing her around the room. it’s an art exhibit and some of her art was chosen to be showcased there and so it’s all fine and dandy until suddenly an alarm starts going off

a FIRE ALARM

everyone starts running for the stairs and my friend just looks at me with this forlorn look on her face

“i can’t go down the stairs”

but i’m a stubborn bitch “i’ll carry you”

“what about my chair? it’s too expensive for me to be able to get another one if i can’t get this one back”

“i’ll carry that too”

and i did. we went to the stairs (by then most people from our floor were gone) and i lifted her up in a fireman’s carry over my shoulder and then lifted her chair up and used the ridiculous amount of adrenaline that was coursing through my veins to make it down approximately 20 half-flights of stairs until we met some people exiting lower floors, one of which who kindly took the chair. I changed positions so i was holding my friend bridal-style which was, somehow, easier and the person who took her wheelchair (with her permission to handle it of course) accompanied me to the ground floor and then out the doors

basically there is no real protocol for people who can’t use the stairs in an emergency. it’s up to the people with them, if anyone, to help them or the person to somehow make it down the stairs alone, unassisted

thank fuck that it was just a faulty alarm system, because if i was unable to carry her down those stairs and the building was on fucking fire???? then i don’t know what would have happened to her, but i don’t think it would have been very good.

it’s fucking ridiculous and ableist to the absolute max.

teaboot:

That’s fucking horrific, thank you

durpacerangerrogjro:

in america at least, in this situation, there isnt one. either your loved ones or the firemen can get you out using the emergency fire escapes or stairs, or you die 

teaboot:

But what if you have a walker or a wheelchair??

lazodiac:

You go down the stairwell/fire escape. Is that weird?

teaboot:

Wait what’s a buildings fire evacuation plan if you aren’t supposed to use the elevator to get down

Many modern buildings have what’s called an “area of refuge,” which usually is positioned like a large landing by the stairwell. This has an emergency communication system (like the one in an elevator), and emergency lighting and ventilation. It’s designed so that a fire burning somewhere else on the same floor would take over two hours to compromise it structurally. The idea is that people “in need of rescue assistance” can wait in the area of refuge for firefighters to come get them.

Obviously it’s Pretty Fucked Up that the official design consideration given to disabled folks in case of emergency is “wait to be rescued,” rather than a design that gives people agency to get out unassisted. But that is what is in the ADA. (I don’t know about other codes internationally.)

As for elevators - whether it is physically possible to use them depends on several things. For one, the regular electrical system might be down in a severe fire. Some elevators have an independent backup power supply, some don’t. In tall buildings (more than 4 stories), at least one of the elevators in the building will have backup power, so the fire department can use it.
Then there is the question of whether the elevator has been put in a fire operational mode. In some buildings, this happens automatically as soon as the fire alarm goes off, in some it has to be activated manually. In phase I of fire operation, the elevator will automatically be recalled to the ground floor so anyone in it can exit. In phase II of fire operation, the elevator is directly under the control of the firefighters, and won’t respond to being called.
In theory, this is because elevators are sometimes safe during a fire, and sometimes deathtraps, and the fire department wants to be able to make the call on whether the elevators are safe to use. Also, if the firefighters are using the elevator to move people down from areas of refuge in a systematic manner, they don’t want people calling it to slow down that process.

Which are reasonable concerns, but once again, leave disabled people without a designated means to evacuate under their own power.

In summary:
- try the elevator, it may or may not work
- if it’s feasible to have other people help you evacuate, do that
- otherwise, find an area of refuge and use the communication system to contact the firefighters and tell them where you are

Sources:
Areas of Refuge
ADA Requirements of Accessible Evacuation
Elevator Fire Modes