to wonder what happens if you are in a wheelchair and in a shopping centre(or big building)

[Sevenfold]

and you have used the lift to go up and there is a fire, how do you get out.
(you can't walk or weight bear and are not a small child)

i think most large buildings or shopping centres have people who would help in htis situatio dont they? or i assume they would, or other peoples good nature would make them stop and help.

And some buildings have 'protected' areas which are extra insulated against fire - the firemen know where they are and check there first

Ds uses a wheelchair and at school they have something called an "evac-chair" which the disabled person sits in and then can be pushed downstairs in. I don't know if shops etc will have these but I should imagine schools and workplaces will do.

In my old office building they had a place where less mobile people would have to go and they'd be carried down the stairs on a special chair thing by the fire wardens.

They often have something called a refuge that is fireproof(not sure about smoke) for I think about an hour or so,thus giving the emergency services time to evacuate you.

We have evac chairs in our office for this, but not sure about shopping centres, although would assume they have something similar.

ilove, would people in wheelchairs necessarily know where these places were, if there were no firemarshals around?

There are regulations, if the building is over a certain size. There are safe spaces (usually near the stairs) where they must wait to be rescued. The evac-chairs can be used (they are a bit like stretchers, I think? Aren't they carried rather than pushed?) by trained staff members or fire crews I think.

I would imagine fire crews might be able to rescue them through large windows as well?

...what I mean is, is it always in a particular part of a building or complex?

In the school I used to work in those in wheelchairs had to assemble at specified points and if danger approached they would be carried out of the building.

Yes, evac chair, most places have them. I'd assume in a large public building like a shopping centre there would be people trained for this emergency, just as schools and other places have a plan of what to do in the event of a fire.

xpost! I see, near stairs :)

Evac chairs at work. We were always told not to try to get wheelchair users downstairs but to leave them and alert someone. Made me feel a bit but I guess the safety marshals know what they're doing and have it all planned out.

From the other thread:

" off topic, and pardon my ignorance, but if a person is wholly reliant on a lift to get up and down, what happens in the event of a fire or other sudden evacuation. or some sort of mass -stampede "

Several options are available to the building owner / managers

1. The lift will be designated an 'evacuation lift' with the fire precautions provisions and power supplies configured to achieve this.

1. 'Refuges' for disabled are constructed adjacent to each fire escape staircase to enable safe and orderly evacuation.

1. A 'management plan' is put in place to enable disabled people to be assisted to use the stairs.

In cases 2 and 3 the lift cannot be used for fire evactation purposes.

The choices for building owner / managers depend on many factors but must be based on a comprehensive Fire Risk Assessment.

Evac chair pic

Always wondered what they looked like inside the box they're in on the wall...

There are signs if you look, I imagine if you were a wheelchair user perhaps you would look out for them more?

they person in wheelchair would not be aware as they are often "behind the scenes"however staff will be aware and be part of fire plan

Where I was at university, there's a ten storey tower block, with three lifts (which never ever all worked at once) and every other landing on the stairwell had an alcovey place, clearly labelled as the "Fire Haven" for wheelchair users. It was only big enough for one though, and I don't know how they would get down the few stairs to the right landing if they happened to be on the in-between floors either...
The instructions were to leave them behind though, and alert the fire brigade that they were there, and not to attempt rescue ourselves.
That said, I also worked in an old people's home where the fire drill for staff was "if the alarm goes off, get out" That was it, the whole thing. We were not to attempt to bring any of the residents out, speak to them, reassure them, or do anything at all. Just get ourselves out. The front door also had a five lever mortice lock to which only the person in charge of that shift had a key...

sorry-the not they

OMG how odd, I just literally posted this question on the wheelchair vs lift thread. How bizarre?!

Those in wheelchairs were put by the stairwells behind the fire doors (doors that can protect from smoke and flames for up to 20-30 minutes when firmly shut) in the department store I worked in. Safest place for them as the stairswere metal and concrete so wouldn't burn like a wooden stairwell. The fire service would obviously come and those people (they'd be a headcount of them and whoever the manager in charge was that day wouldn't leave the building unless absolutely vital) and they'd be evacuated via the stairs on a chair like stretcher thing.

It sounds a bit mean but honestly that was the safest way apparently.

At work we're told not to attempt to help someone down the stairs, unless absolutely necessary, those unable to attempt the stairs are supposed to stay in the stairwell, with the firedoors shut.

We don't have a Evac Chair now we have a ski pad, which you basically slide down the stairs, like a cushioned stretcher.

x post

so you leave them behind on their own
obviously I would expect someone just to help me with dd(16 an very hard to lift) those evacu chairs wouldn't work very well for some one who had athetoid CP.

We have a safe room at work which must be left unlocked at all times for the wheelchair user in our office. In reality I'm pretty sure that rather than leave her there someone would carry her out (she's a small woman).