Elevator Operations at High Rise Incidents by Capt. Trey Smith L-1-A
You find yourself the first
due company at an automatic alarm in a high rise in Battalion I. Once confirming
the fire floor from the annunciation panel in the fire control room, (in
this case the 26th floor)
you make a critical decision for both the engine company and ladder company
(6 personnel) to
ride the elevator. Good choice, but you need to take a moment to size-up the
building and ensure the safety of you and your crew is not compromised during
the ascent.
Ask yourself a couple of
questions...
Where are
the stairs? They will be needed if you gotta bail out in a hurry.
Do we have our irons? Take
your forcible entry tools in case you must self-extricate your way out or
you can stop the car in an emergency by prying the inside elevator doors
open.
Should I
make a pit stop(s) on the way up?
If you are
unfamiliar with the building or this is your first time responding to the
building, make a plan to briefly stop on a lower floor.
What is the
typical layout of
the floor?
Count the number of doors to the stairs.
How is the hallway
numbered? Remember the layout of each floor in a hotel or apartment or is
usually identical just numbered differently. Business high rises will
usually have an open core and will have different layouts from floor to
floor.
"How do
I know which elevator to use?"
High rises with floors in
excess of 30+ floors may have multiple elevator hoistways that serve portions of
the building that are only accessible by choosing the right elevator. We refer
to these as “banks”. There may be a low-rise bank, a mid-rise bank, and a
high-rise bank. These are usually separate hoistways.
Low-rise elevator banks
typically serve the basement through 10th floors (may vary from
building to building)
Mid-Rise elevator banks
may serve floors 11 through 30+. (these have a blind shaft which do not stop on
lower floors)
High-Rise elevator banks
usually serve only the upper floors and bypass lower floors.
(these also have a blind shaft which do not stop on lower floors)
Service Elevator banks
usually serve every floor and are often used as the primary emergency elevator
because they do stop on every floor.
There may even be hydraulic elevator
shuttles located on upper floors
Choosing the right elevator
becomes critical because we do not want to pass the fire floor nor do we want to
arrive directly on to the fire floor. (Memphis Fire Dept. Regis Towers, First
Interstate Building fires...)
When selecting the correct
elevator to ascend, you will need to select a car that will stop two (2) floors
below the fire floor the annunciation panel identifies as the fire floor.
In this response, we
determined the 26th floor as the fire floor; therefore, we would use
the mid-rise bank to gain access. You may ask... "Can we use the other
elevators? Yes, but there will be more stairs to encounter and the delay in
getting fire resources to the fire floor will be delayed.
"Once we
arrive at the elevator what should I be on the lookout for?"
When you arrive at the elevator bank, is the
elevator car already on the floor and parked with the doors opened? If so, this
should alert you that maybe using the elevator is not such as great idea after
all.
Why?
Fire code requires that if a smoke detector
activates on any floor in the elevator lobby of the building, or a smoke
detector activation in the elevator equipment room; the elevators will
return to the lobby and park and is unable to be used unless a fire dept. access
key is used to override this action known as Phase I Re-call. The
possibility exist that there may be smoke or fire entering the hoistway. The
possibility also exist that if fire conditions exist around the elevator buttons
on the fire floor could result in the elevator traveling directly to the fire
floor without stopping and you may find yourself unable to stop the car in time.
But wait... what if the smoke detector
activates in the lobby? Then the elevators are re-routed to an alternate
floor. (possibly 1 floor up or down)
How do we
manually use the Phase I Re-Call?
If the car is not on the ground floor, then
we must manually re-call the elevator using the Phase I re-call key which should
be provided by the facility. Unfortunately, in North Carolina there is not one
fire dept. key that fits every Phase I operation. In most cases the facility
should have one provided on their fire dept. key rings.
By engaging the Phase I re-call, the key is
inserted into the fireman's service panel located on the outside of the hoistway
adjacent to the exterior elevator doors. Moving the key from "Off" to "On" or
"Run" will activate the Phase I re-call and the entire bank of elevators
will return to the ground or designated re-call floor.
Once the elevators arrive on the ground
floor, leave the Phase I re-call in
"On" or "Run" DO NOT TURN THE PHASE I RE-CALL OFF or PUT INTO BYPASS
or you'll get stuck in the elevator!!
"I hear I should look and smell..."
Once removing the key from Phase I service,
while entering the elevator car, shine your flashlight up the shaft looking and
smelling for smoke in the hoistway. Are you really going to see or smell smoke
in a 60+ story building though? In this case, plan on stopping the car every
5-10 floors to look and smell and to make sure you maintain control of the
elevator.
(During a 2nd alarm fire at the Omni Hotel
several years ago, we could smell the smoke banking down the hoistway!)
If
you see or smell smoke in the hoistway or see the flashing firefighters
helmet...get out and hit the stairs!
Consider splitting the Engine and
Ladder company in two separate elevators in case you get stuck! This way, you
don't exceed the load capacity of the car and you now have a crew to rescue each
other.
"What do
we do upon entering the elevator car..."
Locate the fireman service panel which is
usually donated by the red colored buttons.
What is the firefighter's helmet doing? If it
is flashing do not use the elevator! If it is flashing it means there are
problems with the elevator.
"How do I use Phase II Operation?"
Phase II operation is simply taking complete
control over every operation you wish the elevator to perform. Think of it as a
manual operation for the elevator!
If no smoke is apparent, take the same
key you used for Phase I and locate the Phase II switch inside the elevator
car.
(Usually denoted as having "Off", "Hold", and "On")
Insert the key into the switch and twist
the key to the "On" position. This activates the Phase II control for
this elevator only! Other elevators will remain parked.
Select the floor two floors below the
reported fire floor. (in this case we will select the 24th floor) and a
second floor that we should stop to ensure we have control over the
elevator. (such as 12th floor)
If you select the wrong
floor hit the "Call Cancel" Button"
Because the car doors are still open, we
must manually close them by pushing and holding the door close button before
the elevator car will ascend. (letting the button go will retract them to
the open position.)
Once the doors close, the car will begin
its ascent, stopping at the lowest floor (12th floor in this case). Push the
door open button and look and smell for smoke.
Re-close the doors and when you and
arrive at two floors below the fire floor the doors will remain shut until
they are manually opened by the door open button.
Before you go opening the
elevator doors two floors below. Try to "bump" the open door button to
briefly opening and close the car door to make sure no smoke is present.
By "bumping the door" the smoke has little chance of entering the car thus
catching you off guard.
Upon opening the doors, rotate the key in
Phase II to the "Hold" position. This prevents the car from moving or being
recalled while you investigate. If you have the manpower available, leave
someone to operate the elevator for subsequent arriving units to gain access
to upper floors. Leave the key in the car!
What if they car doesn't stop on my selected
floor?
With your forcible entry tool
such as a halligan tool, gently pry open the inside doors. This will engage the
safety features and stop the elevator.
Returning the Car to Ground
Floor: (assuming you are still
two floors below the fire floor)
Insert the elevator key and rotate the
Phase II switch from "hold" to the "on" position.
Close the elevator car doors manually
holding the "close door" button.
Select the ground floor.
Once the elevator arrives at the ground
floor, manually open the doors holding the "door open" button
After doors open, rotate the Phase II
switch to the "Off" position
Exit the elevator and place the key into
the Phase I switch in the lobby and switch the key to "By-Pass" then to
"Off".
These videos are
a summary of just some of the basics I have discussed, watch the video to see
how the key operation is performed.
Review:
As per the
CFD High Rise Procedure, the 2nd due arriving ladder company Engineer
should be designated to run the elevator during multiple alarm incidents.
In order to use elevators
safely at fires, we need to know how they operate and the limitations that may
exist with their use. At your next run to one of these occupancies,
especially at “routine” alarms, take time to look at how your elevators work.
Take the time to learn then, this preplanning may save you time and energy
expended when its out 3 windows on an upper floor.
