Evacuation Chairs Australia

DAILY NEWS POLICE BUREAU
Tuesday, May 28th 2002, 1:73AM

Since Sept. 11, evacuation chairs - designed to quickly get people down stairwells in an emergency - are fast becoming must-have items in high-rise buildings here and across the country.

In recent months, thousands have been ordered. Among the customers: the United Nations, the FBI and other government agencies and private companies.

The light, folding chairs ride on stairs using a triple-wheel system that allows them to roll smoothly from one step to the next, or using long belts that glide along the edge of stairs when the chair is tilted back.

Demand for the chairs has skyrocketed since the World Trade Center disaster, said Joe Bourgraf, president of Ferno-Washington of Wilmington, Ohio, the largest nationwide supplier of emergency evacuation equipment.

""Evacuation chairs" are kind of what fire extinguishers used to be 20 years ago. You didn't have them on every floor, but now you do," said Bourgraf. "Defibrillators are now common, and chairs are the next thing."

He said he has sold evacuation chairs to several local customers, including Bronx Community College, The Bank of New York, the federal office building at 26 Federal Plaza, Philip Morris and Catholic Charities.

Even the Fire Department appears convinced that evacuation chairs are an idea whose time has come.

"We are in the business of saving lives," spokesman David Billig said. "If there is a product out there that can assist the Fire Department in saving lives, it would be safe to say we are interested in it."