Whatever Happened to Fire Escapes

Everything related to fires got better: more and better smoke and CO detectors, interior sprinklers, regulations around flammable clothes, bedding and mattresses, reduced smoking rates, increased awareness, faster response times, closure of firetrap rooming houses (fwiw: closing rooming houses contributes to the homelessness problem), better apartment inspections ...

We don't really need multiple exits in case of fire because fires are occurring less often and people are getting plenty of warning.

We're facing the issue in Ontario where firefighters are bored out of their minds and are being used as first responders for anything and everything. They show up to random fender benders.

Interesting article.

I went to a Victorian era school in London and it had one of those cast iron fire escapes going from the ground up to the 2nd floor (3rd floor to the Americans) and it was a good deal of fun to play on!

In my last year of school, it was cut off completely and not replaced. Hmm, weird. Apparently it was unsafe and someone decided it wasn't needed because there were two other stairwells.

Fast-forwards to after my graduation and returning to work at the school as a teacher. The top floor is out of bounds to everyone. Why? The fire escape is missing :-)

PE did a separate video on how the US and European fire codes differ on how many fire escapes stairwells a building needs. The US says two, which substantially limits the designs for buildings and the square footage efficiency of adding another floor. He argued that maybe all of the other safety procedures mean we should review that decision and allow for higher density by eliminating the redundant stairwell.

But I saw a retrospective documentary on the WTC collapse, in which the star witness named people who only survived the second tower because they found a way to cross to the intact fire escape after the second plane hit right into one of them.

I’m not sure what the answer is, but I suspect perhaps if the building is too tall for a ladder truck to reach you, then the building should provide that redundancy instead.

What would burn in those manhattan buildings? Are the internal walls wood?

I don't know what would burn in the building I live in now. It's all cement construction. The internal walls are brick with gypsum over. The window coverings and furniture is flame resistant. I suppose I'd be screwed if my downstairs neighbor had a bunch of flammable stuff though. Also we have an underground parking lot full of cars... maybe I should invest in a ladder.

Making the main staircase more fire-resistant is great but I'm not fully convinced by the arguments for removing external ones instead of having both.

If the main stairs do turn out to be impassable for some reason despite the new measures, I'd much rather have the option to risk taking an external fire escape even if it might be rusty or blocked by clutter.

I liked this HN post from 2018 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35885982

In Japan, the main stairs of the building is designed like fire escapes. It is unenclosed and mostly on the side of the building. When I first saw them I thought it was silly to have the stairs open to the environment during rain and snow. I finally realized they have double purpose.

In S. Korea almost all apartment buildings have their own escape lapel rope attached to the window and all have a fire proof blanket in the cabinet near the exit door.

Wait till you see what they do in Korean high rise hotels

Requirements for multiple staircases and fire sprinklers.

*what ever happened

I hate that mistake with a passion.

> The story of their decline is a fascinating case study in how building codes actually work. I’m Grady and this is Practical Engineering.

... who else immediately heard the signature melody of his intro after reading these words?! I certainly did.

> When New York City updated their building codes in 1968, exterior exits were officially prohibited for new construction.

Fascinatingly in Germany it is just the other way around. If you have an old building that was built before fire codes mandated two independent exits for every residential room, and the window cannot be reached by a fire ladder, you are mandated to retrofit an escape ladder if you do a renovation of the building.

If one can have an entire 20min piece about how bad fire escapes are and how bad they were from the start it kind of begs the question as to why they were allowed on new construction to begin with. Surely somebody was in favor of them?

Perhaps a comparison to the current breaker requirements in the electrical code and other "industry excess" shall we say, in the IBC is in order.

But Grady isn't gonna make that comparison because when a man's salary depends on not understanding something he won't understand it.

Building code is a very, very, very dirty sausage factory and dirty factories produce a lot more "oops we were doing it in a way we knew was wrong for 50yr" outcomes than the clean ones. It's a disservice to everybody to just hand wave that all away at a dozen points like is done here.

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