Chutes and ladders_that move water to fight flames
Outfit upper floor windows with escape chutes and ladders that ALSO pipe water or firefighting foam up from on-ground sources.
Description
One of the worst fires in recent history in the textile/clothing manufacturing sector was in Bangladesh (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Dhaka_fire ) and it highlighted the problem from fires that start on the ground floor or the lower levels of a building, and then move upwards, thus trapping people on the higher floors. When permanent external fire escape ladders/staircases are absent, or are deliberately removed by building owners afraid of thieves using such ladders to climb through the upper floors, how to help people escape from upper floors? My idea is a novel twist on compact drop-down escape ladders and escape chutes. I suggest incorporating flexible expandable hoses/piping into the length of the chutes and ladders, so that when the chutes or ladders are deployed in an emergency, these chutes and ladders can become a conduit for firefighting water and fire suppressing sprays/foam. That is, once the deployed chute or escape ladder is extended from the escape window and reaches the safe ground below, it becomes possible to hook up water or fire suppressing mixes to the pipes running through these chutes or ladders, and thus pump up the water or fire suppressor to the upper floor. A snap-on hose coupling, stationed indoors by the escape window, can then be attached to the incoming water or fire suppressant and used for indoor spraying. The water or fire suppressor mix coming up the pipe/hose and to the window, will enable the people still trapped inside near the window to fight off the flames longer, giving them more time to make their escape down the chutes or ladders. Also, by wetting down the textiles and premises in a fire scenario, the water or fire suppressor gives more time for the fire department professionals to deploy their own equipment on site.
References
https://www.indiamart.com/proddetail/fire-escape-chutes-7459951562.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Dhaka_fire