An Austrian invention to save lives in skyscraper fires is being marketed all over the world, said the mass circulation Kronen Zeitung on Wednesday.
The method is simple but effective, said the report. It consists of special parachutes that could be used from the 15th storey of a skyscraper upwards. The ripcord is attached to a table or heating under a window.
Markus Villinger of Innsbruck, who developed the parachute in cooperation with a fire-brigade expert, said he has called it ”Rogallo Schirm” or ”E-Vest”.
He pointed out that on September 11 2001, about 350 desperate people had jumped from the blazing World Trade Centre to certain death.
”These people could have been saved — with our parachutes,” he said.
The paper carried pictures of a test jump from the 41st floor of a Cologne skyscaper in Germany. The chute opened ”after a few seconds” and carried the parachutist safety to the street 123m below.
Villinger said Austria has 114 skyscrapers tall enough for the parachutes to be used in an emergency.
The head of firefighting services in Tyrol, Hans Zimmermann, said: ”If stairways and lifts are no longer possible as means of escape, a jump from a window with the E-Vest can save one’s life.” — Sapa-DPA