What Floor Are You On?

Firefighter Matt Scallan from Escambia County Engine 19 found this little gem while performing a pre-fire plan in his area. The floor numbers for the elevator and the floor numbers in the stairwell do not match.

We could only imagine asking an occupant what floor they saw smoke or fire on. We’re sure the fire alarm enunciator panel is labeled just as clear. At least a sign posted in the fire control room clears up the confusion a little bit, but this could still pose a serious problem.

It seems obvious, the only reason they did this was to make more money when selling the units!"Oh, you would like the penthouse unit? Well, that will only be $100,000 more!”

Here's what the first floor elevator landing shows:

Here's what the first floor (same as above) stairwell door shows:

Sign in the fire control room

Matt described this scenario:
“Its 3:00 am, you have been dispatched to a fire in this building on the 12th floor. You and your crew grab all of your equipment and proceed to the elevator and take it to the tenth floor (two below the fire). When the door opens, fire blows in to the elevator car because you are actually now on the 12th floor. It can be very dangerous and confusing, without past training and the recent pre fire plan we may have never discovered this.

What if you and your crew were sent to the 12th floor for an investigation? When you get in the elevator you select the 12th floor and when the door opens, if there actually was a fire, you now encounter heavy smoke. The reason is that you are now above the fire (which is on the 12th floor) because the elevator took you to the 14th floor. This is just one of many reasons to get out every shift and train or just walk through a different building.”