Third Elevator Rescue Prompts Equipment Changes  

By Andrew Gorosko

Following a third case of passenger entrapment in Edmond Town Hall’s new elevator, which occurred on the night of Friday, September 1, the Edmond Town Hall Board of Managers has had the firm that installed and services the elevator thoroughly check the device and replace parts believed to have caused the elevator to malfunction.

Tom Mahoney, Edmond Town Hall’s administrator, said September 6 that technicians from KONE Corp have installed a new weight sensor in the elevator, and also installed two new gate switches, which regulate the opening and closing of the elevator doors.

The hydraulic valve that functions as a weight sensor had been too small a valve, and thus had shut down the elevator when it was carrying less than its rated maximum load of 2,500 pounds, Mr Mahoney said. KONE technicians installed a larger hydraulic valve that should accurately regulate the elevator in terms of its 2,500-pound load limit, Mr Mahoney said.

A state elevator inspector checked and approved the changes that the KONE technicians made on September 6, Mr Mahoney said.

At 11:18 pm on September 1, Newtown Hook & Ladder firefighters were called to Edmond Town Hall after it was learned that three people were stuck in the elevator and needed to be rescued.

Mike McCarthy, who served as incident commander, said the elevator car had become stuck about one foot below the ground level lobby at the four-level building. Firefighters used an elevator key to open the door, allowing the three adults to step up to the ground level lobby, he said. There were no injuries.

The people were trapped in the elevator for about 25 minutes before being freed by the about 12 firefighters who responded. The trapped people had been attending a party in the building’s Alexandria Room.

The elevator contains an emergency telephone that allows trapped passengers to call for help. Cellular telephones tend not to work inside elevators.

Mr McCarthy said he hopes the equipment changes made by KONE resolve the elevator problems.

After the September 1 incident, firefighters declared the elevator to be out-of-service. Service resumed at 3 pm on September 6 after the equipment changes were made.

On August 29, nine people were trapped in the elevator when the device stopped moving while traveling between the basement level and the ground level. Six of the nine people who were trapped were handicapped adult clients of the organization known as Ability Beyond Disability, formerly known as DATAHR. There were no injuries in the incident.

Firefighters removed four of the nine people from the stuck elevator by having them climb up a ladder and through a hatchway in the roof of the elevator car. The remaining five people exited the elevator after it was raised to ground level by a KONE elevator technician.

The group of nine people was at Edmond Town Hall to see a matinee of the animated feature film Cars.

On June 3, a group of 11 people were trapped in the elevator when it stopped moving between two levels of the building. There were no injuries in that incident. The building was crowded at that time with people who had come to see the Stardust Revue staged by the Lathrop School of Dance.

The compact elevator, which has a 2,500-pound load limit, is posted with signs on all four building levels restricting its occupancy to a maximum of six people. The elevator compartment is about 4.5 feet deep and about 6.5 feet wide.

Mr Mahoney said of the September 6 elevator equipment changes, “We’re very hopeful this is going to solve the problem.”

James Juliano, a member of the Edmond Town Hall Board of Managers, said that the equipment changes that were made by the KONE technicians should resolve the elevator problems.  

The new elevator, which went into service last spring, was constructed at a cost of more than $1.5 million. The new elevator replaces a tiny antiquated elevator in the building.