Fire escape ladder for third floor casement window

May 7, 2024 11:26 AM

My bedroom is on the third floor of a house. It's a half attic situation, so there's only one other room on that floor and a staircase downstairs. So only one exit.

I'm wondering how important it is to have a fire escape ladder, and how I can even install one in a casement window. Most that I've seen (like my second storey one) hook into the window in a way that's impossible here. The only other type I've seen has carabiners, and there's no railing or anything nearby to clip them... the closest thing would be to tie it around the pipe of the radiator below the window, and I'm not sure if that would hold. What do other people do here? How common are house fires? Am I being safe or paranoid right now?

posted by wheatlets to Home & Garden (11 answers total)

If this is a rental, the landlord should allow any reasonable installation. I think fire safety is extremely important. My only other advice as someone whose bedroom is in an attic is to have and use smoke and CO alarms, they have radically improved safety.
posted by theora55 at 11:36 AM on May 7

If you're sleeping on the third floor there should be an egress window (read: large window that open wide) on the third floor, and the landlord should install one if there isn't. Getting to that point may be fraught, though, because if they don't want to do it they may say you can't sleep on the third floor, and if you call the fire marshal for an inspection of the house for being up to fire code, you may wind up with an adversarial relationship with your landlord.

But yes, there should be a window that opens wide enough for one of those hook-on ladders on every sleeping floor, along with a working, annually tested smoke detector.
posted by seanmpuckett at 12:50 PM on May 7 [2 favorites]

House fire Stats.
tl;dr: Each US citizen has a 1/700 risk of being involved a housefire each year. Given that happens, each citizen has a 1/200 risk of dying and a 1/30 chance of being injured. You can minimize your chances by forward planning. To the first a) check your wiring is up to code b) heed theora55 above. To the second, you can trust the pipes of your radiator for a one time descent if they are gunmetal or copper. If you don't trust that, a length of timber or metal pipe, longer than your window is wide, will support your weight. Forewarned you will have secured a carabiner to the timber. Buy a suitable length of rope and learn how to make a munter hitch to slow your descent and a bowline to secure a non constricting loop under your arm-pits. Practice when it's not burning. You might ask a pal with an extension ladder to be there.
Quals: have survived three housefires (all at street level); have rescued horses from a burning barn.
posted by BobTheScientist at 12:52 PM on May 7 [4 favorites]

I would hope that your casement window is large enough that you can climb through it when it is fully open. if so, then can you describe why the usual fire ladder won't work? The ones that I am familiar with have a hook that rests inside the window, putting pressure on the wall below the window sill to anchor it in place like this one. Maybe if we know why the usual one won't work you will get better answers.
posted by metahawk at 1:01 PM on May 7 [1 favorite]

A ladder like this could work. Hook the carabiners to bolt eyes in a 4" x 4" timber. Place the 4 x 4 across the window. It will hold you.
posted by H21 at 1:10 PM on May 7 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I'd rather not involve the LL if at all possible - it's already hard enough getting him to do the things we desperately need him to do, and I worry that if we become too much of a hassle we'll get renovicted like everyone else on the block. The apartment is definitely not up to fire code (which is why I have the second floor ladder, in lieu of the second exist that is supposed to exist)

Here is a picture of the window, you can see how it opens out to block the ladder. I could definitely fit through it, though.
posted by wheatlets at 1:27 PM on May 7 [1 favorite]

I think you could get the ladder through the window. Yes, it would probably damage the window hardware, but that is secondary to your life.

If you had the ladder preattached to the lumber, all you would need to do is remove or break out the screen, throw out the ladder, and climb out.
posted by H21 at 1:49 PM on May 7 [1 favorite]

I had one of these in an apartment once. The hooks would go on the window sill, seems like it would work with most windows. We kept it a closet and never had to use it.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/First-Alert-FA-3-STORY-ESCAPE-LADDER/5014516225
posted by john m at 2:39 PM on May 7

Also: with a casement window you should be able to release the arm mechanism from the guide - line it up with the notch and push down- then the window swings wide open. Here's one video, see about 1:20. (Unfortunately the guy blocks the view with his arm right at the critical moment LOL.)
posted by evilmomlady at 4:08 PM on May 7

Oops here's the link for releasing the arm from the guide on a casement window
posted by evilmomlady at 4:48 PM on May 7

Response by poster: I can’t get the ladder through the window, I’ve tried. I have the Kidde one and it doesn’t open fully in that window. It hooks on, but the middle stays a little bit bent, it won't expand fully and straighten. Is that safe?
posted by wheatlets at 2:49 AM on May 8