Trapped Children Freed—

Town Hall Elevator

Stalls Again

By Andrew Gorosko

For a fifth time since June, firefighters responded to Edmond Town Hall to free people who had become trapped in the building’s malfunctioning new elevator.

At 4:38 pm Saturday, January 6, about 20 Newtown Hook & Ladder firefighters responded to the elevator at the town hall, which is about 50 yards from their firehouse.

Tom Mahoney, the town hall administrator, said this week that the four children who were trapped in the elevator were freed by firefighters after about 15 minutes, without injury. The elevator held two girls and two boys, the oldest of whom was a 12 year-old girl, he said.

The unidentified children apparently were participants at a party that was being held in the Alexandria Room on the building’s top level.

Mr Mahoney said January 10 that elevator technicians from Kone Corp had been to town hall twice since the January 6 entrapment incident in seeking to resolve the problems that have now resulted in five cases of passenger entrapment since June.

Previous entrapments occurred on October 13, September 1, August 29, and June 3. In all of the incidents, there were no injuries.

Mr Mahoney said the elevator will remain out of service until elevator technicians can determine what is causing the device to malfunction.

“It just doesn’t make any sense,” he said of the repeated elevator problems.

Kone technicians have been to town hall numerous times over the past several months in seeking to solve the problem.

The elevator has computerized controls, Mr Mahoney noted, suggesting that the malfunctions may be computer-based.

The new hydraulic elevator, which went into service last spring, was constructed at a cost of more than $1.5 million. It was constructed to improve the building’s accessibility for handicapped people. The new elevator replaces a tiny, antiquated mechanical elevator in the building.

Mr Mahoney noted that the new elevator had been working well during the past several months.

Kone technicians are researching possible causes for the device’s January 6 malfunction, he stressed.

Newtown Hook & Ladder Fire Chief Ray Corbo said of the elevator entrapment, “It’s getting pretty routine for us.”

The trapped children were initially somewhat anxious, but they calmed down after they realized they would be freed from the elevator, which had stopped with its doors closed, he said. The children’s parents stood by as firefighters worked to open the elevator doors, the fire chief said.

There was no apparent reason why the elevator failed, he said. After freeing the children, firefighters put the elevator out of service, he said.

“Obviously, there’s some sort of problem with the system and they need to look into it…Hopefully, they will take care of it,” he said.