Elevator Use

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mike Walker on April 5, 2008 at 9:34am

Hey John,

Thanks for joining and for sharing your departments practice on this. When you speak of the added safety features on passenger cars, what safeties are on the passenger cars that the frieght elevators don't have?

Permalink Reply by John Salka on April 5, 2008 at 8:02pm

I remember a story I heard about an old FDNY chief talking with a younger west coast chief about elevetor use. The younger chief was concerned with the hazards that firefighters might encounter using an elevator, including being dropped off at the fire floor by a malfunctioning elevator. He said his people would never use the elevator. The FDNY chief asked him if his firefighters rode an apparatus to the fire or walked from the firehouse to the fire building. When the younger chief said his people responded on an apparatus the FDNY chief told him that fire apparatus responses were pretty darn dangerous too, but we deal with it to get there in time to fight the fire. He added that we use elevetors for the same reason, knowing that there are hazards and dealing with them as best as we can.
Yes we definitely need to use elevators to quicken our response and preserve our firefighters physical condition for the firefight ahead. In the FDNY we walk up to the 7th floor and ride the elevator above that. We certainly always try to use an elevator in a bank (of elevators) that does not serve the fire floor, and if that is not possible, we use an elevator equipped with fire service controls and get off several floors below the reported fire. We even allow firefighters to use an elevator to reach a floor above the fire if that elevator has a blind shaft at the fire floor (does not serve the fire floor). Elevetaor use at HR operations can be very dangerous and is also very helpful.

Permalink Reply by Mike Walker on April 5, 2008 at 10:16pm

I totally agree with everything you said. How many firefighters do you guys allow on a typical passenter elevator at a time?

In fact, I stole much of our elevator ops out of yall's SOP's. Thanks!

Permalink Reply by Mike Walker on April 5, 2008 at 10:18pm

I have heard, don't know for a fact, but I've heard that some cities hesitate to use a freight elevator because of all the crap that the building maintenance people store around their freight elevators. I wonder if thats true?

Permalink Reply by Howie Smith on April 9, 2008 at 7:33pm

We typically walk up if the call is to the 6th floor and under. If given a choice in elevator cars, we usually use the passenger car. In my experiences, the freight cars are well used and pretty beat up. For example, we have a freight car elevator that we use when we respond to a hi-rise jail building in our responce district. Mainly because that is what the jail guards use and we accompany them up to the upper levels when investigating. It's unreliable at best most of the time.

When we use the elevator, we "capture it" and put it on fire service using a 3502 key. Destination is two floors below the fire floor. The crew exits the car and leaves a taxi person behind to control the use of the car. Our department is pretty strict on following this SOP.

Amusing story - one of my first hi-rise calls happened when I was new here in Cambridge. I was feeling under the weather and knew I was coming down with something. But being a new employee with LITTLE time on the job, I did not want to call in sick so soon. First thing in the morning, we get an alarm activation on the 17th floor of a residential condo building. When we arrived, there was water flowing through the elevator shafts. We hiked up the 17 floors via stairs to investigate. By the time I made it up, I was useless. Problem ended up being a broken sprinkler head. When we got down, the Deputy in charge asked if I ever had any buildings this high in my previous department. My reply, " No, I don't ever remember throwing up on the 12th floor before."

Permalink Reply by Anthony Avillo on April 12, 2008 at 4:20pm

for anything above the 6th floor, we use the passenger elevators and make sure thay are in fire service mode
this, as per our SOP, is assigneds to the chauffeur of the first -arriving engine
he is to take control of the elevators, announce to command that the elevaators are under FD control, and then operate no higher than 2 floors below the lowest reported fire floor
he is to remian in the elevator at this post until relieved at the orders of a chief or until the incident is under control and/or the elevator service is no longer required
He also takes a standpipe phone (hard wire high rise phone) and uses it to contact the command post via the connection inside the elevator or just outside it in the elevator bank lobby

Permalink Reply by Dan Ryan on April 21, 2008 at 7:54am

Mike,

We recently did a department drill in which we fully bunkered out grabed all the equipment that we would use for a highrise fire and walked up 5 floors. everyone had to go atleast 5, more if you could make it. Some went to the top in 9 minutes 29 floors. One thing we learned from this experience is that you are physically drained for up to 10 minutes after the climb.

We ride up the elevator to two floors below the fire, we also have wooden boxes in most FCR's with hoses ect... already in the buildings, we roll our equipment to the elevator. \

We want to be ready to work when we get to the fire, no sucking air.

Good topic

Dan Ryan

Permalink Reply by Frank Ricci on April 22, 2008 at 8:52pm

Our policy is the same as most 6 floors and above take the easy way 2 floors below with the elevator under control. Check out this photo as a reminder that any elevator that does not return to the lobby must be searched. Note on this alarm the car was on the floor below the fire. The guard went to check out the alarm and when the doors opened took in super heated air and died the car settled to the floor below. I have also been on a activated alarm call that we reset as a malfuntion, when we were leaving we heard someone in a car that did not return.

Permalink Reply by Mike Walker on April 23, 2008 at 9:28am

Thanks for sharing the picture. I will use this in the elevator portion of our High-Rise Class and the story that goes along with it as well.

Permalink Reply by Frank Ricci on April 23, 2008 at 5:10pm

Thanks Mike, we should have members post more photo to improve all of our presentaions.