Fire Escapes and Firefighters

A glance into the back yards and side alleys of this nation will reveal many rusted, corroded, and broken fire escapes. The fire escapes on most old buildings are very different from the sturdy, freshly painted fire escapes found on the drill towers of fire training centers. Some have been attached to walls of buildings for half a century or more and have become extremely dangerous to use because of neglect or improper maintenance. In the s uburbs, fire es capes often ser ve at tics of tw o-and-a-half-st ory houses .

When the attic is occup ied by a f amily member or a boarder , a f ire escape is often attached on the out side of the str uctur e near an attic window, p roviding a second exit fr om the att ic. M ulti- story public schools, commer cial buildings, and apart ment houses are also served by fire escapes.

In s ome neighborhoods, as a f ire escape becomes more s uscep tible to corros ion and collapse because of age and neglect, t he chances of a firefight er having to climb it dur ing a fire become greater, for the threat of fire in t he building its elf becomes greater.

Fir efighters use f ire escapes for many purp oses: to gain access to a burning ap artment in order to r escue and remove trapped or unconscious people, to force ent ry through windows at a minor fire, to advance a hose line into a burning apar tment , to ventilate windows, and to op erate hand lines from exp osed buildings at major f ires.

Ther e are many typ es, designs, and var iations of metal fir e escapes; however, most can be grouped into one of three clas sifications: exterior scr eened stairways , par ty balconies, and st andar d fir e escapes with mechanical street ladders .

Exterior Screened Stairway The safest ty pe of fire escape, t he exterior scr eened stairway, is enclos ed by a high met al screen or railing, and extends f rom t he top floor of the building t o the street by way of a p ermanent, stationary metal stair. U nlike other fir e escapes, the exter ior s creened st airway has no s liding "dr op" ladder or movable counterbalance stairway from the lowes t balcony to the street.

I t is like an interior stairway in t hat t he rise of the step is similar , it is wide enough for two people to descend side by side, and it includes a handr ail .

Des pite these positive features, the exterior screened stairway still presents a hazard to firef ighters. I t is const ructed of metal and becomes rusted by exposur e to the elements. Weakened by corros ion, its s teps can collap se suddenly under the weight of a f irefighter . A New York City firefight er fell while climbing an exterior screened s tairw ay. T he firefighter suf fered fractured pelvic bones, a broken elbow, a ruptured spleen, and a torn bladder. He spent four months in the hos pital and was p ermanently disabled.

Fir efighters use f ire escapes to gain acces s to upper floors more of ten t han occupants of buildings use t hem t o flee fir es. Consequently, firefighters are injur ed by fire escape collapses mor e oft en than building occupant s. The cause of most of t hese injur ies is step failure. Cor rosion causes t he failure of t he connect ion between the step and the s tringer to which it is attached.

T his s mall space betw een t he st ep and the stringer, wher e the connecting bolt or weld is located, is inaccessible to normal maintenance procedures like scraping and painting. Even a visual insp ection will not detect this weaknes s. When a firef ighter runs up the step s, the imp act of his body weight pounding on a cor roded metal step can caus e the step to collapse s uddenly.

T o reduce t he chances of t his happening, firef ighters should climb the step s smoothly and not s tamp their feet down on t he tr ead; continuous ly gr ip some por tion of the fir e escape r ailing; place one foot on the step above and apply pres sure to the step fir st, before putt ing his full weight upon it; and place y ou feet close t o the side of t he step. The las t procedur e causes less deflection of the fir e escape s tep, thus reducing t he str ess on the connection bet ween the t read and t he st ringer.

Party Bal con y Fire Escape Unlike t he exterior scr eened stairway or the standard fire escape, t he party balcony fir e escape has no stairway or ladder connecting intermediate balconies. There is no access t o the balconies above or below, or to t he st reet. The party balcony is str ictly a horizontal emergency exit, with an exit pathway afforded through the adjoining occup ancy.

A person fleeing a fir e opens a door or window, enters the out side party balcony, walks several f eet t o the adjoining occupancy , and enters it through a door or w indow . The real prot ection provided by a part y balcony is the unp ierced fir e division betw een t he tw o adjoining occupancies. Formerly constr ucted of metal, the party balcony is made of wood or concret e.

The hazard of the party balcony is collapse from over loading or failure of the supp orts fas tening the balcony t o the outs ide of the building. Because t here are no ver tical stairways bet ween party balconies -and since most peop le es caping a f ire do not go t o the adjoining occupancies-p arty balcony fire es capes become quickly over crowded during a fir e. The weight of several people can exceed the load-bearing capacity of a new balcony and cause a cor roded old balcony to collapse.

The most tragic incident involving a p arty balcony fire es cape occur red during a fire in an old tenement , a metal party balcony f ire escape in t he rear of the structure collapsed, and a young mot her and her inf ant daught er fell to their deaths.

When arr iving at a fire wher e people have t aken refuge on any t ype of fir e escape, fir efighters should act immediately to remove them fr om these old, r usted, met al st ructures. If par ty balconies ar e involved, fir efighters should use port able ladders or aerials, taking special car e not to s trike the weakened f ire escape with excessive force when placing the t ip of the ladder on the fire escape railing. If possible, the ladder should be leaned against the building next to the f ire escape.

In all cases, firefight ers s hould help the victims down.

S tandard Fire Escape The most common ty pe of fire escape found on res ident ial buildings, the s tandard fire escape is a s eries of metal balconies inter connected by narrow metal ladders. The t op balcony may have a gooseneck ladder leading to the roof, and the lowest balcony w ill have a sliding drop ladder or a counterbalance s tairw ay pr oviding access to st reet level.

The ladder on this fir e escape is much mor e dif ficult to climb than the stair of an ext erior screened stair way, as the angle of the ladder is very s teep (sometimes as much as 60 or 75 degrees) . The ladder step tread is very narr ow and the step rise is very high. Also, only one thin bar may be available as a handrail.

When fir efighters see a young child or an elderly per son s tanding out on a fir e escape, they should consider it a life hazard and immediately remove the individual. T he victim should be brought through the window of a s afe apartment, below the fire, and taken down the interior stair way. This procedure is saf er than walking down the entir e fir e escape. If a fir e escape is used, a step might collapse or the per son might lose his balance because of the fir e escape's steep angle or unus ually small steps.

Step collapse is t he most fr equent cause of injury to firefight ers using standard f ire escapes, but firef ighters have also been serious ly injured when activating the drop ladder or counterbalance stairway , which can collapse or f all apart when operated. A sliding drop ladder is held in place on t he lowest balcony of a st andar d fir e escape by a p endulum hook.

The hook holding t he ladder in place is released when a firefighter standing in the street or yar d places t he hook of his pike pole beneath the bot tom r ung of the drop ladder and raises it several inches. The pendulum hook swings aw ay, and the weight of the ladder is transferr ed to the f irefighter 's pike pole.

T he ladder drops straight down as the fir efighter quickly removes the hook end of the pike pole from beneath the rung; however , if the drop ladder is not encased in its tracks or guides when it is r eleas ed, it can fall away from the fire escap e and strike the fir efighter operat ing it. For this reason, a fir efighter lowering a drop ladder should always stand beneath the f ire escape. If the drop ladder falls out of its tr ack, the fir efighter w ill be protected.

Counterbalance stairway s on the s tandard fire es cape are also extremely danger ous t o operate. Some of t hese heavy metal str uctur es have not been tes ted or operated for a quarter of a century and can collaps e upon act ivation. Sup ported on a pivot, counterbalance s tairw ays are balanced in a hor izontal p osition by heavy cast -iron counterbalancing weights . Several hundred pounds of met al ar e eit her att ached to one end of the counterbalance s tairw ay or held up by a s teel cable against t he side of the building.

T o act ivate a counter balance st airway, a simple manual bar that pr event s the ladder f rom descending is moved out fr om beneath the count erbalance stair way. A fir efighter wit h a p ike p ole can do this from street level. The end of the stair way can then be lowered t o the street by the pike pole or by the weight of a per son w alking out on it.

Sometimes, how ever, the sudden imp act of the counterbalance stairway striking t he gr ound can cause the ent ire metal stair way t o collapse; the heavy, suspended metal w eight s can fall off; the cable holding the w eight s can snap and become a deadly whip ; or the entire pulley as sembly thr ough which the cable moves can drop into the street.

When encount ering peop le aw aiting res cue on the lowest balcony of a standard fire escap e wit h a counterbalance s tairw ay, fir efighters should use a fire department ground ladder inst ead of the counterbalance stairs. I t is safer for every one involved.

In some unusual cases, safe operating procedures cannot overcome the hazards presented by fire escap es. I n New ark, New J ersey , for example, a fir efighter venting windows from the t op landing of a three-story, w ood f rame residence fell to his death when the entire fire es cape pulled away from the building and collap sed into t he rear yard. T he bolts fastening the fir e escape t o the inside of the building w ere missing, and the weight of the fir efighter caused the fire escap e to separ ate f rom t he building wall.

Les sons Learn ed A f irefighter cannot pr event a major collap se of a fire es cape, such as balcony failure or the ent ire f ire escape's pulling away from the building, but a firefight er can minimize his chances of suffering serious injury from a sudden s tep collap se or a fall by taking the following precautions.

1. When climbing a fire escape, a firefight er should place one foot on the step above and app ly pr essur e to that step first , bef ore p utting full weight upon it.
2. Firef ighters should remember t hat a miss ing or broken s tep s erves as a warning: A fir e escape w ith one defective st ep is likely to have anot her one
3. When climbing a weakened fire escap e ladder or stair, a firefight er should place one foot near the outer side of the s tep, where it meets the s tringer. T his p rocedure causes less def lection of the step and r educes the amount of stress caused by the fir efighter's weight.
4. When on a fire escap e balcony preparing to advance a hose line into a flaming window, a fir efighter s hould not lean against the enclosing rail bef ore t esting it but s hould firs t app ly out ward press ure t o it with a hand.
5. A fir efighter s hould test the vertical ladder (gooseneck) leading from a fire es cape balcony to the roof bef ore ascending or des cending it . The firefight er should try t o pull it out from the wall to w hich it is attached.
6. If a firef ighter has any uncer taint y about a stair or a sliding drop ladder use a fir e dep artment gr ound ladder. The ext ra time required to obtain and place the ladder is out weighed by the dependability and safety of the fir e dep artment equipment. Veteran fir efighters will attes t that it is much safer t o climb a fire depar tment ladder than a fire escape.
7. Befor e using a pike pole from the ground to activate a sliding dr op ladder, a firefighter should s tand beneath the fir e escape balcony. A firef ighter will not be s truck by t he ladder if it falls outw ard.
8. Firef ighters should never stand beneath a counterbalance stairway or its cable, pulley wheel, or heavy metal balancing w eight s.
9. When descending a weakened standard fire escape ladder, a firefighter should face the ladder and hold on to t he guide r ail. If a step suddenly f ails, The firef ighter will fall int o the ladder, minimizing the risk of losing his balance and tumbling off t he balcony .
10. When climbing up or down a fire es cape, a firefighter should keep one hand free to grip continuously some portion of the fire escap e. To do t his, officers s hould attach shoulder str aps t o their hand lights, so t hese can be car ried in sling f ashion. Engine company fir efighters stret ching hose up a fire escape should support the hos e line wit h a s houlder or one hand. Ladder company fir efighters should int erlock their axes and halligan tools and carr y them in one hand.