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EVACUATION OF HIGH RISE BUILDINGS: THE INGSTROM FIRE ESCAPE CHUTE

pressing against the sides of the chute with either hisknees or his hands. The harder he presses, the slower hewill go and the less he presses, the faster he will go. Also,as shown, a person at the bottom of the chute will helpthe evacuees to exit the chute.

INGSTROM ESCAPE CHUTES IN INDIA

Mobiltex Escape Systems, Sweden, the manufacturersof the Ingstrom Escape chute, are represented in India byLinear Technologies, an engineering company based inMumbai.

Multi Entry Ingstrom Chutes are being used in India forthe first time by Godrej Properties Ltd. in their project,"Planet Godrej" consisting of 5 Towers of 48 storeyseach and situated at Mahalaxmi in Mumbai.

These chutes have also been incorporated by ArchitectRajaAederi, one ofIndia's leading Architects, into manyof his forth coming high rise proj ects.

It is only a matter of time before many others will alsosee what Godrej Properties Ltd. and Mr. Aederi havealready seen - The sheer life saving potential of theIngstrom Chute in a High Rise Emergency.

Are you safewithout an escape chute?

We have the answer toall these questions

Install our chute and all you have to do is jump into it

and reach the ground safely, easily and quickly

regardless of your age and fitness level.

Do you sometimes wonder .In case of a fire in my building .

• What if the Fire Brigade does not come in time?

• How will my elderly parents climb down 30 floors?

• What if the staircase is blocked and full of smoke

and there is a stampede?

• What if the Fire ladder does not reach my floor?

• How willi climb down with my young children?

Fire Escape Chutes from MobUtex, Sweden

Indian Distributor:

Linear Technologies206, Jagruti Industrial Estate, Mogul Lane, Mahim (W), Mumbai - 400 016.

Tel: 022-2430 0096/97 Fax: 022-2430 0098 • Email: sales@lineartechindia.com

We Save Lives!!Escaping from Danger bas never been this easy

escape in difficult conditions during emergencyevacuation. It is possible to enter this chute from everyfloor thus making access to the chute extremely easy andfast incase of emergencies.

The Ingstrom Chute is manufactured from 3 layers ofspecial, patented fabrics developed by Mobiltex.Mobiltex make use of advanced materials such as

Kevlar (a bullet proof material having 10 times thetensile strength of steel), Twaron, Spandex, Modacryland E-Glass Fibre to provide a chute that is extremelystrong (can support upto 7-8 tonnes), fire resistant (upto800ue) and elastic so as to allow the evacuees to controltheir speed of descent. All material used in the chute are

EU (European Union) approved and of the highestquality in the world.

The Ingstrom Escape Chute can evacuate people at a rateof 30 persons per minute. The evacuee can controls hisor her speed of descent and the average descent timefrom a 50 storey building will be as low as 90 - 100seconds. THIS SYSTEM REALLY DOES SAVESLIVES.

Some of the advantages of the Ingstrom Chute are asgiven below.

o Access to chute available from every floor

o Rapid Evacuation Rate: 30 persons perminute. This means a building having as many as 100flats can be evacuated in as little time as 15-20

minutes. No other system is so fast and efficient.

o Fast descent possible: 50 Storeys inapprox. 100 sec. Thus evacuees are taken away fromdanger very rapidly.

D No power source required

D Protects evacuees from fire effects

o Requires much less floor space than aconventional staircase

o Always available in emergencies andextremely easy to use

D Keeps staircasesfree for use by fire-fightingpersonnel

o Requires very little physicalexertion in using the device todescend

o Users have the

ability to control the speed oftheir own descent

o Suitable for peopleof all ages and physicalconditions, includingphysically impaired people,persons carrying babies & evenunconscious persons.

o There is practicallyno limit on the number of floors

for which the Multi Entry chutecan be installed. Thus veryHigh Rise buildings havingeven more than 100 floors can

also have this system installedin them.

o The single Entryversion of the Ingstrom Chutecan also be used in shorter,existing buildings where thechute can be mounted on the

terrace for use in emergencies.

METHODS OF USING THEINGSTROM CHUTE

It is extremely easy to use theIngstrom Chute and it requirespractically no training to learnhow to use one. As shown

below, the evacuee afterentering the chute, controls hisspeed of descent simply by

--- -......~An intermediate entry in

a multi entry chute.

With the buildings inrecent times becomingtaller and taller, FireSafety, DisasterManagement andBuilding Evacuation areissues which are more

important than everbefore. Most of the new

sky-scrapers coming uphave been designed withthe latest fire detection

and fire fighting systems.How ever, it is perhaps even moreimportant to have an efficient Evacuation System inplace to get all the occupants out of the building and outof harms way incase the situation escalates beyondcontrol. This is a matter which has to be addressed veryseriously and the occupants and Property Managers ofsuch tall buildings must also be made aware of the

evacuation systems and the procedures for evacuatingthe building and getting everyone away from the danger.

PROBLEMS FACED DURING EVACUATION

The problems of handling an emergency situation andevacuating a building get magnified many fold as thebuilding gets taller and taller.

Incase of a fire, the power supply is disconnectedimmediately, thus not allowing the elevators to be used.This therefore necessitates the use of the staircases.The problems associated with this are as follows

D Elderly and physically challenged occupantswould find it difficult to climb down 30-40 storeysand also take them a long time. Their pace would beslow, causing others behind them to push againstthem. This might cause them to lose balance and fall,further causing them possibly serious injuries.

D Incase of people with small children, the kidswould have to be carried and coming down fromsuch great heights would definitely be tiring anddangerous.

D The staircases could get blocked by fire orsmoke causing panic and stampedes on the staircasewhich could endanger the lives of the evacuees.

o The use of the staircases by the occupantswould block or delay the Fire Brigade personnelfrom reaching the fire, thus causing the fire toescalate.

D The fire engines might not be able to reachthe building incase the building does not have properaccess.

o Presently the ladders and platforms of thefire brigade can go up to a maximum height of 10­15 floors. So, in case of high rise buildings, there is agood chance that the ladder might not reach the floorfrom which the occupants have to be evacuated.

SO WHAT'S THE SOLUTION?An Emergency Evacuation System which solves all theabove problems and also provides additional usefulfeatures is the "Ingstrom Fire Escape Chute". This is apatented product manufactured by Mobiltex EvacuationSystems, a Swedish company who are leaders in thisfield for the past 25 years. There are more than 5000installations of the Ingstrom Chute around the world.

The Ingstrom EscapeChute is a means of

emergency exit that permitsrapid, mass evacuationfrom high-rise structuresduring life threateningemergencies. It is uniquelydesigned to provide arelatively safe and quickmethod of vertical escapeand it is always accessibleand ready for use. Itprovides a unique solution

A personenteringan intermediate to the problems of verticalEntry In a multi entry chute

FIRE & SAFETY OCTOBER