FIRE ESCAPE CHUTE
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Fire Escape Chute – Single Entry, Multi Entry, Portable Chutes
What Is a Fire Escape Chute?
A fire escape chute is an emergency evacuation system designed to help occupants safely exit upper floors of a building when staircases, corridors, or exits become unsafe due to fire, smoke, or other emergencies. It provides a controlled descent from higher levels to a safe landing area without relying on lifts or electrical systems.
In building fire safety and evacuation planning, terms such as escape chute systems, fire chutes, and escape chutes are commonly used to describe vertical evacuation solutions for emergency situations. The terms fire chute, escape chute, and fire escape chute generally refer to the same category of emergency evacuation systems designed for use in buildings. In some regions, these systems are also referred to as fire escape slides or evacuation slides for buildings, although their function remains the same. Regardless of terminology, these emergency escape systems are intended to support safe evacuation when staircases or lifts cannot be used.
Fire Escape Chutes in Emergency Evacuation Planning
Fire escape chutes are used as vertical evacuation systems in emergency planning when conventional escape routes such as staircases or lifts become unsafe due to fire, smoke, or structural risk. These systems are considered secondary means of escape and are applied in residential, commercial, and industrial buildings, particularly in high-rise structures where controlled and rapid evacuation from upper floors is required. Fire escape chutes function independently of electrical or mechanical power systems.
Fire Escape Chute Explained in One Minute
A fire escape chute is used during emergencies when conventional evacuation routes such as staircases or lifts become unsafe due to smoke, fire, or congestion.
It provides a simple, gravity-based evacuation method that allows occupants to move from upper floors to a safe landing area in a controlled manner, without depending on power or mechanical systems.
Fire escape chutes are installed as a secondary evacuation solution in residential, commercial, and industrial buildings to support existing fire exits and improve overall evacuation readiness.
Single Entry Escape Chute
The single-entry escape chute is a system for offices, apartments, high-rise and low-rise buildings or buildings without a shaft. It is possible to install the single-entry escape chute in any suitable window, gallery, or terrace.
New and existing buildings have these Escape Chutes installed on their exterior windows, balconies, roofs, etc. It best serves the occupants of the particular floor.
The chute consists of two layers, the outer layer protects the chute from flames and heat, and the middle layer provides a speed restraining effect as well as supporting the entire weight of the chute. This is 2-way protection, Protects the evacuees once inside the chute from fire, heat, and smoke during the evacuation. Available in a maximum length of 200 Meter.
Example of application areas: Home, Buildings, Hotels, Mall, Offices, Commercial Places, Industrial, Cranes, Ships, Dumpers and Wind Turbines.
This is also an ideal solution for providing an Evacuation System for Existing Buildings where a duct is not available and a Evacuation system is found to be necessary. The Chute could be installed quite easily on the existing Refuge Floors to provide an Evacuation Path in case of an escalation of the Emergency Situation or for the Evacuation of an Injured, Old Age, Physically challenged people or Unconscious person.
Initial Capacity for installation of Single-Entry Escape Chute
Floor | 2F | 3F | 4F | 5F | 6F | 7F | 8F | 9F | 10F | 11F | 12F | 13F | 14F | 15F | 16F | 17F | 18F | 19F | 20F |
Size (Meter) | 6M | 9M | 12M | 15M | 18M | 21M | 24M | 27M | 30M | 33M | 36M | 39M | 42M | 45M | 48M | 51M | 54M | 57M | 60M |
Sliding time | 2sec | 2sec | 3sec | 4sec | 5sec | 6sec | 6sec | 7sec | 7sec | 8sec | 8sec | 9sec | 9sec | 10sec | 10sec | 11sec | 11sec | 12sec | 12sec |
Multi Entry Escape Chute
Multi Entry Escape Chutes are designed specifically for Medium to High Rise Buildings for immediate and quick access to the Chute in case of any emergencies.
The Evacuees can Enter the Multi Entry Escape Chute from every floor of the building and reach the ground safely and quickly.
The Multi Entry Escape Chute is install inside a protected vertical shaft. The interior of chute is constructed of two layers, providing protection from fire effects for evacuees and allowing for safe egress. The outer layer of the chute serves as a speed restraining effect, while the inner layer supports the total weight of the chute. This allows the system to function safely and effectively, providing a reliable and secure emergency evacuation system.
The chute is installed in the segment at each floor level inside the fire-protected shaft, one segment of chute per floor, from the highest floor to the ground floor on the same vertical line. One chute serves many floors and occupants can gain access to the chute at each floor.
However, a separate Duct or Shaft is required for the Multi-Entry Chute. The Shaft Size for a building upto 10 Floors is 4ft x 4 ft. For taller buildings, however, the shaft size required is 4ft x 8ft. Hence it is usually necessary to plan the duct at the time of designing the building.
Feature
A Lots of Persons can be escaped in a short times, The Escape can be used alone, The Physically challenged people, older citizens & pregnant women can be escaped easily.
Mobile / Portable Escape Chutes
Mobile / Portable Chutes have been designed specifically for Private or Government operated Fire Rescue Departments. The Mobile Chute can be fitted on the Aerial Rescue Platforms which are used to evacuate people trapped inside burning buildings.
These platforms have a load bearing capacity of only about 3-4 persons. Hence if a large number of people need to be rescued then the Platform has to be raised and lowered a number of times before everyone can be evacuated. This is time consuming and could prove to be fatal to people who cannot be evacuated in time.
With the Mobile Chute however, this process can be speeded up to a phenomenal extent. By attaching the Chute on the side of the platform, all persons may be evacuated in a single trip. This is because the evacuees can then be lowered to the ground through the chute without requiring the platform to descend. The chute also allows the evacuation of the injured, old age and the unconscious.
This escape chutes can be fitted to fire department aerial ladders and snorkel platforms and this will increase the rate at which evacuees can be evacuated from a high rise building, thus reducing the risk exposure of the fireman. The movable/portable chute has become standard rescue equipment used by fire bridges worldwide for high rise rescue operations. With additional equipment the portable platform can also be mounted on the parapet of the balcony and window.
How Does a Fire Escape Chute Work?
Fire escape chutes operate as gravity-assisted evacuation systems designed to enable controlled descent from elevated floors during emergency conditions.
The fire escape chute is deployed from its designated storage point during an emergency.
Occupants enter the chute through a window, balcony, terrace, or evacuation opening.
The internal structure of the chute controls descent speed, allowing safe movement downward.
Occupants exit at ground level or a designated safe zone away from the building.
Emergency evacuation systems are widely recognized as a critical component of fire safety planning in multi-storey buildings.
Where Are Fire Escape Chutes Commonly Used?
Residential Buildings: Fire escape chutes are widely used in apartments, housing societies, villas, and builder floors where staircases may become unsafe during emergencies. In residential settings, including apartments and individual homes, fire escape slides for homes or fire escape slide for home use may be considered where upper-floor evacuation poses safety challenges.
Commercial Buildings: Hotels, hospitals, offices, schools, and institutional buildings use fire escape chutes as an additional evacuation option during high-occupancy situations.
In multi-storey and tower structures, high-rise fire escape chutes and high rise emergency chutes are used as secondary evacuation systems to support staircases during emergencies. At the building level, a fire escape chute for a building is often planned as part of overall evacuation design, and such installations are commonly classified as escape chute systems.
Industrial Facilities: Factories, warehouses, plants, and infrastructure sites use escape chutes where elevated work areas require rapid evacuation support.
Internal vs External Fire Escape Chute Systems
Internal fire escape chutes are installed within the building structure and remain protected from external weather conditions. They are suitable when internal evacuation routing is feasible.
External fire escape chutes are deployed outside the building through balconies, windows, or terraces and are often preferred for existing buildings where internal installation is not possible.
Depending on design and installation method, these systems may also be described as a building escape slide or emergency slide for buildings in evacuation planning discussions.
Fire, Earthquake & Terror Attack
Day-to-day buildings are becoming taller and taller, Fire Safety, Disaster Management and Building Evacuation are issues which are more important than ever before. Most of the new Skyscrapers coming up have been designed with the latest fire detection and fire fighting systems.
However, it is perhaps even more important to have an efficient Evacuation System in place to get all the occupants out of the building and out of harm’s way in case the situation escalates beyond control. This is a matter which has to be addressed very seriously and the occupants and Property Managers of such tall buildings must also be made aware of the Evacuation System and the procedures for evacuating the building and getting everyone away from the danger. Effective fire safety planning and emergency evacuation systems should align with national disaster management guidelines to ensure occupant safety during emergencies.
Problems Faced During Evacuation
The problems of handling an emergency situation and evacuating a building get magnified many fold as the building gets taller and taller.
In case of a fire, the power supply is disconnected immediately, thus not allowing the elevators to be used. This therefore necessitates the use of the staircases. The problems associated with this are as follows:
Older people and physically challenged occupants would find it difficult to climb down 10-15 storeys and also take them a long time. Their pace would be slow, causing others behind them to push against them. This might cause them to lose balance and fall, further causing them possibly serious injuries.
In case of people with small children, the kids would have to be carried and coming down from such great heights would definitely be tiring and dangerous.
The staircases could get blocked by fire or smoke causing panic and stampedes on the staircase which could endanger the lives of the evacuees.
The use of the staircases by the occupants would block or delay the Fire Brigade personnel from reaching the fire, thus causing the fire to escalate.
The fire engines might not be able to reach the building in case the building does not have proper access.
The seriousness of these evacuation challenges has led to the development of multiple emergency evacuation solutions aimed at addressing such risks in high-rise and complex buildings.
The Fire Escape Chute is an emergency evacuation system which provides a fast and safe method for evacuating multi- storey building in case of an emergency arising from fire, earthquake or terrorist attacks.
In the case of towering skyscrapers this system is often the only difference between life & death.
The Fire Escape Chute is a means of emergency exit that permits rapid, mass evacuation from high rise structures during life threatening emergencies. It is designed to provide a relatively safe and quick method of vertical escape and it is always accessible and ready for use.
Important Considerations for RWAs & Building Owners
Building height and number of occupants
Entry and landing zone planning
Ease of deployment during emergencies
Regular inspection and readiness checks
Manufacturer quality standards such as ISO-certified manufacturing
Fire safety measures and evacuation planning should also consider relevant building codes and safety standards applicable in India.
Fire Escape Chute Price and Availability in India
Searches for fire escape chute price or fire escape chute price in India typically depend on factors such as building height, evacuation capacity, installation type, and regulatory requirements.
Queries related to fire escape chute manufacturers in India are usually part of broader fire safety and evacuation planning rather than standard retail product selection.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. What is a fire escape chute?
A fire escape chute is an emergency evacuation system that allows safe descent from upper floors when staircases or exits become unsafe.
2. Is a fire escape chute suitable for residential buildings?
Yes, fire escape chutes are commonly used in apartments and housing societies as an additional evacuation option.
3. Can elderly people and children use a fire escape chute?
Yes. Fire escape chutes are designed for controlled descent and can be used by people of different age groups. Assistance or supervision may be recommended depending on the situation.
4. Does a fire escape chute require electricity?
No, fire escape chutes operate independently and do not rely on electrical systems.
5. Can fire escape chutes be installed in existing buildings?
Yes. Installation depends on building layout and evacuation planning.
6. Is a fire escape chute suitable for high-rise buildings?
Yes. Fire escape chutes are especially useful in high-rise residential and commercial buildings where staircases may become congested or unsafe during emergencies.
7. Is training required to use a fire escape chute?
Basic familiarization is recommended, but usage is simple and intuitive.
8. Is a fire escape chute a replacement for staircases?
No. A fire escape chute is an additional evacuation option and should be used alongside existing staircases and fire exits.
Some of the important characteristics features of the Fire Escape Chute are:
-No power source is required.
-Protects evacuees from fire effects.
-Requires little or no instruction for use.
-Can transport a continuous flow of evacuees.
-Always available for immediate use, quick and easy to deploy.
-Requires little physical exertion in using the device to descend.
-Users have the ability to control the speed of one’s own descent.
-Allows external means to control the speed of one’s descent to ground level.
-Suitable for all ages and physical conditions of evacuees, including physically impaired and unconscious people.
Fire escape chute solutions are increasingly adopted in high-density urban regions such as Delhi NCR, Gurugram, Mumbai, Bangalore, Punjab, and Haryana, where high-rise residential safety is a growing priority.