Rescue Call—

Nine Trapped In Elevator

At Edmond Town Hall

By Andrew Gorosko

Nine people were trapped in the new elevator at Edmond Town Hall on Tuesday afternoon when the device stopped moving while traveling between the basement level and the ground level of the four-level building.

Six of the nine people who were trapped were handicapped adult clients of the organization known as Ability Beyond Disability, formerly known as DATAHR. The three others were adult counselors for those handicapped people.

There were no injuries in the incident, which drew about 20 firefighters from the Newtown Hook & Ladder and Sandy Hook volunteer fire companies to the scene, said Hook & Ladder Fire Chief Ray Corbo.

Firefighters received a call for help at 2:53 pm. They then removed four of the people from the stuck elevator by having them climb up a ladder and through a hatchway in the roof of the elevator car.

The remaining five people exited the elevator at about 3:45 pm, after it was raised to ground level by a KONE elevator technician who was called to the scene. One of those five people uses a motorized wheelchair.

Chief Corbo said firefighters used fans to ventilate the elevator shaft, which held the stuck elevator.

The compact elevator, which has a 2,500-pound load limit, is posted with signs on all four building levels restricting its occupancy to a maximum of six people. The elevator compartment is about 4.5 feet deep and about 6.5 feet wide.

A KONE elevator technician, who was working on the elevator after the incident, declined to comment on the cause of the problem.

The group of nine people was at Edmond Town Hall to see a matinee of the animated feature film Cars.

Tom Mahoney, who is Edmond Town Hall’s administrator, said Tuesday the elevator would be thoroughly checked to determine what caused the malfunction. The elevator was again in service on Wednesday.

On June 3, 11 people were trapped in the elevator when it stopped moving between two levels of the building. There were no injuries in that incident. The building was crowded at that time with people who had come to see the Stardust Revue staged by the Lathrop School of Dance.

The new elevator, which went into service last spring, was constructed at a cost of more than $1.5 million. The new elevator replaces a tiny antiquated elevator in the building.