this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2025
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Mildly Interesting

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (6 children)

Buildings with just one emergency exit stairway are capped at three stories in San Francisco. Anything taller requires two stairwells.

That text makes little sense, because if there is only one stairway, that's the friggin stairway, and not an "emergency" stairway.
I know most American buildings have elevators even if they only have 2 floors, but it's weird to call a stairway that is often faster to use, when it's just a few floors, an "emergency" stairway, just because it's the only option when the elevator doesn't work.

Especially if the elevator and stairway are in connected shafts, it's quite obviously not enough to only have 1 stairway, there needs to be a 2nd stairway with it's own separate shaft in case of fire, because you can't jump out the windows at 4 stories height.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago (5 children)

its called an emergency stairway because it's usable in an emergency, not all stairway shaped things are.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

I worked in a building that sealed one staircase shut if a fire alarm was pulled because it accessed sensitive areas. It was meant to get to them and if you were in it you could escape but it was useless for the rest of the building so you’re right. Just because it’s a stairwell doesn’t mean it counts in an emergency

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