Throughout the country, fire departments respond to reports of stalled elevators with people trapped in them on a daily basis. Depending on department protocols, which unit responds to these calls may vary, or the incident may require a multicompany response. Most of these calls are routine and involve just shutting the power off to the stalled car and using an elevator key to open the hoistway door. It’s easily accomplished, and we’re back on the rig available for our next call in minutes. However, every now and then, we’ll face a more involved extrication that may require using air bags, portable ladders, rope and rigging, or power tools to access the elevator and remove the victims.
Taking in a run for a reported stalled elevator at a mixed occupancy building out of your first-due area can be a learning experience. You may be unfamiliar with the building, the power shutoff locations, and the type of elevators involved until you see them.
Arriving on scene, we met the building manager out front; he told us that the security camera showed one person stuck on the third floor and that the elevator company had been notified. Luckily, this new building had a communication system tied directly to the car. The person was not in any state of panic and was advised of our arrival.
We interviewed the manager, who told us the power room was on the roof, nobody tried to recall the elevator or open any hoistway doors prior to our arrival, and the car was in a blind shaft (no access to the car for numerous floors).
As per department procedures, we attempted to recall the car to the lobby using the “Firemen’s Service” key feature on the wall between the cars. Unfortunately, it only brought down the opposite car with a few disgruntled occupants in it. Shining a flashlight up the shaft from that car, we could barely see the base of the stalled car.
Next, we took the cars out of Firemen’s Service and then put them back in, this time pressing the lobby call button; again, no luck: The stalled car didn’t move. Our next tactic was to see the car’s physical location in the blind shaft. We used the drop key and opened the outer hoistway door and shined a flashlight up the shaft. (Whenever opening up a hoistway door, a backup firefighter should be holding onto the firefighter leaning inward so he doesn’t fall into the shaft. The firefighter looking into the shaft can position himself with his back pressed into the doorframe and foot pressed firmly into the ground, reducing the chances of leaning too far forward and falling into the shaft.) It was difficult to spot the car’s exact location. The three exterior walls were poured concrete, and the front wall had tin plating running up the shaftway to the sixth floor, making it hard to count the floors and pinpoint the car’s location.
Closing the door, we then took the opposite car up to the sixth floor and had one member continue up to the roof to the elevator power room. Once he got up to the roof and gained entry into the room, he shut down power to the stalled car. In some cases, shutting the elevators down for a few minutes may reset their electronics and, once the power is turned back on, they will function properly. We tried this tactic twice because of the blind shaft problem, but it didn’t work either time.
Next we opened up the sixth-floor hoistway door and could see the car was below us. Of course, with our luck, the blind shaftway didn’t allow us to stop even with the car on a floor and use elevator poles to pole over between the cars and open the door to free the victim. Realizing the victim was way below us, we started to formulate plans to extricate him from the car.
We were hoping the elevator mechanic would show up and help us with the situation. Formulating a plan was becoming quite a headache: The building’s small concrete stairwell wouldn’t allow us to transport a portable ladder up to the sixth floor and lower it down into the shaft for our access. The building’s windows were fixed in place, and it would take quite a long time before a window glazer would arrive on a holiday to remove them so we could transport a ladder up using our tower ladder bucket.
We next scoped out the rooms across from the elevators to see what type of high point anchor we could use in case we needed to use our rope and rigging system. Meanwhile, a member went to the other occupancy, which was on the first through fifth floors of the building, reporting that the walls we would have to breach were all kitchenette areas with sinks, piping, electrical service, and marble tile.
Just as we were going to call for additional units, the elevator mechanic arrived. After checking our tactics and trying his own, he realized the only way to remove the victim was to ride down on the top of the working car to the stalled car. He did that down to our location and picked up a firefighter with tools and a suitcase/folding ladder. They descended downward and leveled the top of the two cars. Next they crossed over to the stalled car and removed the emergency hatch and lowered the scissor ladder down to the victim to remove him. They then safely escorted the victim across the top of the cars and transported him upward to us. The incident was resolved despite our exhausting our regular removal options. Maybe sometimes waiting it out is better.
MICHAEL N. CIAMPO is a 31-year veteran of the fire service and a lieutenant in the Fire Department of New York. Previously, he served with the District of Columbia Fire Department. He has a bachelor’s degree in fire science from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. He is the lead instructor for the FDIC Truck Essentials H.O.T. program. He wrote the Ladders and Ventilation chapters for Fire Engineering’s Handbook for Firefighter I and II (Fire Engineering, 2009) and the Bread and Butter Portable Ladders DVD and is featured in “Training Minutes” truck company videos on www.FireEngineering.com.
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