First of all, counting on the function of an elevator during an emergency isn't a good idea. More important, for people without the right training, bringing a person with disabilities down the stairs, quickly and safely, can be impossible.
"There was no way to quickly evacuate someone who needed additional assistance," says the director of the Providence Emergency Management Agency, Kevin Kugel, who is aware of what happened during the drill even though he was not at the helm of the agency at the time.
Enter the "evacuation chair" - a special type of wheelchair designed for descending and ascending stairs.
The city has set out to equip some municipal buildings with the chairs, says Kugel.
The chairs fold up and stow tight to a wall. They have a cover with user friendly directions that explain how to set up the chair and put it to use.
Various manufacturers produce the chairs. The ones the city has looked at incorporate a system that helps a person planning to provide assistance to push the chair forward dropping it from one step to another in a controlled descent.
PEMA has acquired a $23,500 grant, through the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency, from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to buy the chairs, Kugel says.
After initially soliciting bids, the city was on track to get about 18 of the chairs with the grant money, says Kugel.
Those particular chairs, he says, are designed to descend chairs but they are not for pulling someone up a staircase from, for example, the basement restroom area in the Casino building at Roger Williams Park or City Hall or a below ground-level cafeteria in the school administration building.
After realizing that, the city solicited new bids. The city's contract and supply board is expected to open the bid submissions on Feb. 6, according to the board's agenda from its Jan. 23 meeting.
Kugel says he won't know for sure until the bids are opened but his best guess is the grant will pay for about 14 of the evacuation chairs designed to both descend and ascend chairs. The bid specification calls for the chairs to be supplied within 60 days of when the bid is issued, which means sometime in April, he says.
In addition to City Hall, the school administration building and the Casino, the plan is to put the chairs in the Joseph A Doorley Jr. Municipal Building and in the Public Safety Complex.
-mreynold@providencejournal.com
(401) 277-7490
On Twitter: @mrkrynlds
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