Rescue Reel Is A Revolutionary Personal Evacuation Tool Disabled Persons Everywhere Should Have Access To
On September 11th people around the world watched in horror as countless people leapt to their deaths from the burning World Trade Center towers. Many wondered why these people were not able to make their way to safety. I was especially concerned for disabled persons that may have been trapped and could not use the stairwell. My father had a stroke nearly 18 years ago now and has been in a wheelchair ever since, my family have often struggled with helping him get up and down one or two flights of stairs in our own homes, what would it be like to try to wrestle him down 8, 10, 20, or a 100 flights of stairs. Could we do it? Would we trap others above us? If we made it but others didn’t would we feel guilty?
Inventor Kevin Stone wondered the same things, but he did not stop with simple questioning. He developed a practical and affordable solution to the problem by creating the “Rescue Reel.” Rescue Reel is a small, 22 pound, universal emergency device that helps people lower themselves to the ground safely from an extreme height of up to 1,000 feet. Stone found flaws in current extreme-height emergency devices and developed Rescue Reel to help people take control of their own safety in case of a disaster at a building, bridge, oil rig, hotel room, cruise liner, or anything of the sort. “Knowing that I could reel in a 400 pound fish, I felt like I should be able to reel out a 400 pound person – and that that was a solvable problem,” explained Stone. “The criteria for the device that we set early on was that it had to be able to be used by someone of any weight, someone who was completely untrained, someone who could be lowered to the ground at a safe rate from any height that a building might be built to.”
The solution Stone developed is the Rescue Reel. It is a one-size-fits-all harness device that allows anybody from 30-400 pounds to rappel from an open window100 stories high to the ground in less than four minutes. The secrete is a centrifugal braking system that automatically controls the rate of descent. Plus, this easy to use device allows the user to slow their descent or come to a complete stop at any time in case of any obstacles along the way. The Rescue Reel has already been named one of the inventions of the year by Popular Science and earned high praise from the Vallejo Fire Department. It is our understanding that it will start being sold in the fall of 2009 for $1,500 per unit.
There is no doubt that this is an ingenious additional tool for rescue from any height building, but I have severe reservations about the use of this device by everyone in a high rise building. I see several problems:
- Should the captain go down with the ship? What sort of message would be sent by a highly paid individual exiting the building from a window leaving the troops to fend for themselves using conventional egress? Would the individual’s escape be sabotaged by those left behind? If others failed to escape, would the saved person be able to cope with the guilt of their successful solo escape?
- Can everyone use one? In a large building with hundreds of people per floor and everyone had a Rescue Reel, it is safe for everyone to exit this way? How would egress be coordinated? How would individuals be protected from falling glass broken by people intending to use Rescue Reel from floors above. Large panes of glass broken above could kill people on the ground and other people using Rescue Reel below them.
- Under what circumstances would it be used? If someone feels unsafe in a building now, they can always exit the building using the emergency stairwell both ensuring their own escape and alerting others to the emergency because all emergency stairwells are alarmed in a modern building. No one would be hurt and there would be no damage to the building, other property or people.
From my own experience wrestling with my father’s wheel chair in non-emergency situations, I believe the real practical application is for disabled people everywhere. I strongly suggest that every building in the United States be required to have no less then one pair of Rescue Reels for every floor above the first floor and that every floor has at least one window that can be opened (without breaking the glass). The units could be permanently anchored to the building frame at these points of egress as well reducing any potential risk of failing to anchor the unit properly. If adopted, then every building should have a designated floor warden for each floor to: (1) be sure that there are a sufficient number of units for the number of disabled occupants and guests and one care giver each to help the person into the unit and to guide them down, (2) to train the occupants in the purpose and use of the units in conjunction with regularly scheduled life safety drills, and (3) to direct disabled occupants to these units and to be sure that they get the assistance they need to don and use the units in the event of a building ordered evacuation.
The portability of these units is also terrific for other occupancies than high-rise life safety buildings. I have encouraged Rescue Reel to also contact manufactures or electric wheelchairs and scooters to install two rescue reel units to the back of every new wheelchair and scooter. It is impractical to assume that all buildings will be retrofitted with the units overnight. As with all good ideas, it will take some time before all buildings will have these units. On the other hand the units are small and lightweight enough that they would be of limited burden to the manufacturer and the people who need them most would have one ready wherever they go.
I encourage you to find out more about Rescue Reel at www.RescueReel.com and let me know your thoughts. This is an idea that we should all get behind.
Contact
Cary White, President
Presidio Point Insurance Services Inc
1-800-355-1204 x 901
cwhite@presidiopoint.com
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