I’m told that fire appliance ladders can’t reach higher than the sixth floor of a burning building.
For people caught in a skyscraper or towerblock at higher altitudes than this, today’s invention could be a lifesaver.
The ladder is fitted, whilst at ground level, with a giant steel loop supporting a ‘stocking’ made of stretchable fabric.
People can jump into this, as they would a conventional ‘trampoline’ supported by firefighters. The difference is that they have less distance over which to build up speed and when hitting the stocking surface, the deceleration is much more gradual.
Many people can jump into this device at once without much danger of hitting each other. Each of them then slides down a narrow central tube of the same material, at an approximately constant speed, to emerge safely at ground level.
Good idea!
– make it multi tube – between two ladders
– make a trampoline ladder, jumping from one to the next
A sequence of trampolines would certainly add some fun to fire drills 🙂