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An escape chute is a special kind of
Although some early escape tubes were made entirely of metal, most current designs are made of high-strength fabrics, such as
In 1948, the 136-bed Georgia Baptist Hospital in
An escape chute is a special kind of emergency exit
An emergency exit in a structure is a special exit for emergencies such as a fire: the combined use of regular and special exits allows for faster evacuation, while it also provides an alternative if the route to the regular exit is blocked.
...
, used where conventional fire escape
A fire escape is a special kind of emergency exit, usually mounted to the outside of a building or occasionally inside but separate from the main areas of the building. It provides a method of escape in the event of a fire or other emergency th ...
stairways are impractical. The chute is a fabric (or occasionally metal) tube installed near a special exit on an upper floor or roof of a building, or a tall structure. During use, the chute is deployed, and may be secured at the bottom by a fire fighting
Firefighting is the act of extinguishing or preventing the spread of unwanted fires from threatening human lives and destroying property and the environment. A person who engages in firefighting is known as a firefighter.
Firefighters typicall ...
crew some distance out from the building. Once the tube is ready, escapees enter the tube and slide down to a lower level or the ground level.
Description
Although some early escape tubes were made entirely of metal, most current designs are made of high-strength fabrics, such as Kevlar
Kevlar (para-aramid) is a strong, heat-resistant synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont in 1965, the high-strength material was first used commercially in the early 1970s a ...
. Their flexibility allows for compact storage, rapid deployment, and a gentler braking and controlled descent of users, as compared to traditional metal designs. Fabric tubes may also incorporate inflatable
An inflatable is an object that can be inflated with a gas, usually with air, but hydrogen, helium and nitrogen are also used. One of several advantages of an inflatable is that it can be stored in a small space when not inflated, since inflata ...
elements to lend some degree of structural rigidity
In discrete geometry and mechanics, structural rigidity is a combinatorial theory for predicting the flexibility of ensembles formed by rigid bodies connected by flexible linkages or hinges.
Definitions
Rigidity is the property of a structure ...
and stability to the escape chute. The fabrics chosen must have flame retardant
The term flame retardants subsumes a diverse group of chemicals that are added to manufactured materials, such as plastics and textiles, and surface finishes and coatings. Flame retardants are activated by the presence of an ignition source a ...
properties as well.
In addition to fixed escape chutes permanently installed onto buildings, mobile escape systems are produced which can be mounted on the basket of a movable fire truck ladder, or temporarily installed to a building in an emergency.
In response to images of trapped office workers in the September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
, personal escape devices for emergency use have been proposed, but only rope-based systems appear to be on the market for personal use.
There was also the issue of fire heating the metal tubes, causing the people inside the metal tubes to become severely burned while exiting the building.
Escape chutes are also installed in air traffic control
Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...
towers where space for redundant stairwells is limited. Escape chutes were tested at the control tower at Kadena Air Base
(IATA: DNA, ICAO: RODN) is a highly strategic United States Air Force base in the towns of Kadena and Chatan and the city of Okinawa, in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. It is often referred to as the "Keystone of the Pacific" because of its highl ...
.
History
In 1948, the 136-bed Georgia Baptist Hospital in Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
featured a large fabric escape chute that was claimed to be able to empty the hospital "in only a few minutes".
An escape chute system was installed at the Cape Canaveral
, image = cape canaveral.jpg
, image_size = 300
, caption = View of Cape Canaveral from space in 1991
, map = Florida#USA
, map_width = 300
, type =Cape
, map_caption = Location in Florida
, location ...
launchpads for the now-discontinued NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...
, to allow personnel to rapidly reach a safety refuge blast shelter
A blast shelter is a place where people can go to protect themselves from blasts and explosions, like those from bombs, or in hazardous worksites, such as on oil and gas refineries or petrochemical facilities. It differs from a fallout shelter, ...
in the event of an imminent fire or explosion. The system was tested, but never deployed in actual use.
See also
*Evacuation slide
An evacuation slide is an inflatable slide used to evacuate an aircraft quickly. An escape slide is required on all commercial (passenger carrying) aircraft where the door sill height is such that, in the event of an evacuation, passengers wou ...
References
External links
* — Product brochure, including detailed technical diagram of deployed chute *{{cite web, title=VERTI-SCAPE Vertical Escape Chute, url=http://www.escape-chute-systems.com/verti_scape_escape_chute.htm, work=Verti-Scape, publisher=Escape Chute Systems, accessdate=21 March 2013, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321064003/http://www.escape-chute-systems.com/verti_scape_escape_chute.htm, archive-date=21 March 2012, url-status=dead — review of basic concepts, no actual products shown Safety equipment Firefighting equipment Architectural elements