Strategic Fire Escape by Elevators for Super-High-Rise Buildings

The statement ‘In case of Fire, Don’t use the Lift’ appears at each landing in Hong Kong, in accordance with it, people are encouraged to use staircases during an outbreak of fire. This concept has been in the human mind for a century. As the buildings are getting higher and higher, we really need for someone to walk down 100 storeys in order to escape from a building on fire? The idea of using elevators for fire escape is not new. A review on works done by some pioneers is made in this paper. It is actually not easy to implement this idea to ensure the safety of occupants can be guaranteed by using elevators instead of staircases. Considerations in both technical and psychological aspects are highlighted in this paper. The aim of this paper is to activate more inputs and thinking from researchers around the world so as to come up with a perfect strategic fire escape plan by elevators for super-high-rise buildings.