Smoke Barriers in the Sky: Elevator Smoke Curtain Skyscraper Safety
Elevator smoke curtains play a vital role in ensuring the safety of occupants in high-rise buildings during fire emergencies.
These systems are designed to prevent smoke from spreading through elevator shafts, which can act as chimneys that rapidly draw smoke to upper floors.
By creating a barrier to block smoke from entering the elevator shaft, the smoke containment system helps maintain a smoke-free evacuation path for building occupants. This is critical for allowing people to safely exit the building via the stairs without being overcome by smoke inhalation.
The smoke containment system usually consists of a curtain of non-combustible material that deploys from the elevator shaft ceiling to seal off the opening when triggered by a smoke detector.
Some systems also pressurize the elevator shaft with clean air to further prevent smoke infiltration. In addition to enabling safe evacuation, elevator smoke containment helps firefighters utilize the elevators for staging and rescue operations by keeping the shafts clear of smoke.
Properly functioning smoke containment is an essential fire safety feature in tall buildings where many occupants would struggle to evacuate quickly enough by stairs alone. It works in tandem with other fire safety elements like alarms, sprinklers and pressurized stairwells to protect lives in the event of a high-rise fire emergency.
