When it comes to the elderly, fire rescues take planning

Fire rescues can be more complicated when the victims are older. Getting everyone out safe takes a lot of planning. <br/><br/>News on 6 anchor Terry Hood explains the Tulsa Fire Department says it had

Monday, January 9th 2006, 5:07 pm

By: News On 6

Fire rescues can be more complicated when the victims are older. Getting everyone out safe takes a lot of planning.

News on 6 anchor Terry Hood explains the Tulsa Fire Department says it had to evacuate 20 to 30 residents from a structure fire Monday morning, all of them from their second-story balconies.

Residents were choking on smoke and ran outside to get what fresh air they could. There, they yelled for help. Many of the residents were disabled. Their only way out - the elevator - which is not a safe exit during a fire.

The residents at University Village have a fire drill every month to make sure they can find safe exit routes. It also gives them a chance to test their smoke alarms, heat alarms, and automatic locking fire doors. Mike Shawn with University Village: "The fire alarm goes off; these come together like that and create the barrier."

The Pythian Manor did have smoke alarms, but didn't have a sprinkler system. Firefighters say the smoke alarms worked exactly as they should, but it wasn't enough to get everyone out unharmed.