While it’s a good idea for people with upstairs bedrooms to have a collapsible fire escape ladder handy, quickly finding and deploying the thing could be difficult in a smoke-filled home. That’s where the permanently attached Rescue Ready Retrofit is designed to come in.
Developed by Virginia-based firefighters/paramedics Brett Russell and Eric Hartsfield, the setup incorporates a ladder that is user-installed directly below a bedroom window, in place of the pre-existing wooden trim. Its anchoring cleats must be bolted to the load-bearing studs located underneath the plaster or drywall, on either side of the window.
Although there are other permanently attached fire ladders, most of them are contained within a recessed compartment that has to be professionally cut into the wall.
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