Officials Hope Chute Will Take the Fear Out of Rescues

If jumping into a firefighter’s net or climbing down a ladder frightens you, the local fire station now has a less-menacing alternative--scooting down an elasticized, body-hugging chute.

Spurred by a desire to help the earthquake-ravaged area, an anonymous benefactor from Kansas City, Kan., has donated a $25,000 chute to the Los Angeles County Fire Department’s Fire Station 73, on San Fernando Road at 15th Street.

“We think this could save lives,” Santa Clarita Mayor George Pederson said. “If I’m up there and I have to jump onto a little net, I’m not sure I’d do it. But this is something that takes the fear away. It’s so easy to go down, you feel safe.”

The gift makes the county the only fire department in the state to have such a device, according to Rep. Howard P. (Buck) McKeon (R-Santa Clarita), who helped make arrangements for the donation from the manufacturer of the chute, EVAC Systems, Inc. of Prairie Village, Kan.

“One of the things that rescuers have to think about is how a (disaster victim) is going to react to being on a ladder,” said Battalion Chief Larry Rohrer. “If they are afraid, it brings a risk not only to themselves, but also to the rescuer.”

While it takes three to four minutes for a person to descend a ladder, the chute can evacuate eight to 10 people per minute, Rohrer said.

At a demonstration Saturday afternoon, firefighters used a mechanized ladder to hoist the silver sock-like chute to the edge of a three-story office building at 25129 The Old Road.

Then, demonstrators scooted down the chute and emerged smiling at the bottom. In the end, almost no one could resist taking a turn. McKeon did it. Pederson’s 14-year-old grandson did it. A Times photographer did it.

Before the demonstrators took the plunge, an emergency worker and Ken Hubbell, chief executive officer of EVAC Systems, made sure the end of the tube was twisted, to break thrill-seekers’ fall in case they shot through too fast.

At a press conference, McKeon reminded journalists of the makeshift efforts to evacuate victims of the Northridge Meadows apartment collapse from second- and third-story units. People had thrown fire hoses to victims for them to shinny down.

“This would make it much easier, without the risk,” McKeon said.

The 100-foot-long chute is made of a space-age, reflective fabric called GENTEX-1015, which Hubbell said is fire- and heat-resistant up to temperatures of 1,800 degrees. The inner sleeve has an elasticized panel sewn in, which grips evacuees’ bodies while they are sliding through the tube.