According to a news item from elnacional.cat , Barcelona firefighters rescued 1,414 people from elevators in 2017, which is equivalent to 4 people a day and 24% of the total rescues carried out by firefighters.
According to Xavier Torrent , head of the Sant Andreu Fire Station, he told us in an interview conducted by our blog that “ We practically do not go out for hydraulic elevators , many more rescues are carried out in electric elevators, especially now that we have elevators without a machine room that cause many problems ”
The safety system of hydraulic elevators
On the other hand, the safety systems of hydraulic elevators facilitate the release of the passenger without external help due to a power cut thanks to:
- It has an emergency system as standard, which allows, using gravity, to complete the journey to the nearest stop and open the doors.
- It also has an evacuation maneuver that can be carried out by trained but non-specialized personnel.
- Finally, any authorized person in the building will have easy access to the emergency valve from the ground floor.
As Xavier Torrent added in the interview, “ if we weren't doing so many elevator rescues, we would be doing another rescue or preparing for the moment when we would have to do them.”
