Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Stuck!


Southwest Towers 2 of 5


With UMass Southwest high rise Towers now fifty years old, I guess it's not surprising they are having maintenance issues. And with the new Amherst Fire Department policy to respond to a stuck elevator whenever campus technicians are not on duty the runs to UMass are starting to add up.

Previously AFD would only respond if their were medical issues associated with folks trapped inside the elevator.

This past weekend over half the AFD Fire runs to UMass were for "stuck elevators" (4 out of 7 calls).  And half our ambulance EMS runs (7 of 14) were for ETOH cases (alcohol overdose).

But I'm more than certain that is better than a real fire w-a-y up there on the 22nd floor.


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4 comments:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 19, 2013 at 8:26 PM

    here is another example of where Amherst has no backbone. Why can't they charge UMass for every elevator rescue that is non-emergency? They may find it is more affordable to have one maintenance person on each shift that has this knowledge. Trust me UMass knows the cost advantage to having a free elevator rescue service.

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  2. AnonymousFebruary 19, 2013 at 9:05 PM

    Weird to see the Worthington hook and ladder parked and ready for action at north station tonight
    When will ours be fixed?

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  3. Larry KelleyFebruary 19, 2013 at 9:08 PM

    Any day now. Both Ladder 1 and the Quint.

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  4. AnonymousFebruary 19, 2013 at 11:51 PM

    No, you can blame the state bidding rules for this one. They hired an elevator service company that makes up on its low bid by shifting as much maintenance to overtime as they can. What UM then does is not have it done until something breaks.

    Having the AFD respond to people stuck in elevators (an emotional thing) is actually a little bit darker than people might realize -- it is the implicit (if not explicit) threat of being hauled off to the psych ward if you make a fuss about being stuck in there.

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