Interstate Bank Building Fire;
ELEVATORS
No elevators were used by the Fire Department during this
incident. There is a standard policy in the Los Angeles
City Fire Department not to use elevators that have a shaft
opening within five floors of the fire floor. The use of
any elevators was ruled out based on the amount of fire
that was visible from the street.
The building contained 31 passenger elevators in four banks
above the main lobby, two banks for sublevels, and two service
(freight) elevators. Both service elevators served all levels
and were provided with a lobby at each floor. All of the
elevators were designed to be recalled to the ground floor
lobby on smoke detector activation. Some elevator cars were
returned to the ground floor, but those that had been in
use by cleaning and maintenance crews were on "Independent
Service" and could not be recalled. Other cars were
not accounted for because their doors did not open when
they returned to the ground floor. One elevator stopped
on the 22nd floor and one stopped on the 33rd floor. This
caused concern that individuals could be trapped in the
10 "missing" elevators and attempts were made
to locate these cars. Their locations were eventually determined
by the elevator maintenance personnel who were taken to
the rooftop machine room by helicopter.
The single fatality was found in a service elevator. The
building employee, who went to the 12th floor to investigate
the alarm, was trapped and died when the elevator opened
into a burning lobby. The lobby fire separation was compromised
by a cleaner's cart blocking the door open. The victim was
able to call for help on his portable radio, but other employees
had no means to rescue him. This elevator was put on independent
service through the use of a key by the building employee.
Lobby isolation doors had been installed on the passenger
elevator lobbies of several floors, including the 12th and
were successful in keeping fire and smoke out and providing
a potential area of refuge. The isolation doors were being
installed as the building was renovated.. The fire reached
the elevator shafts on floors where the doors had not been
installed, and they became additional vertical conduits
for heat and smoke. The machine room on the 22nd floor,
which served the "low rise" elevators, received
extensive heat and smoke damage. Smoke traveled throughout
the building above the 12th floor via the elevator shafts.
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