Aharon Mezei is the owner of Passaic's Safer Escape, which resells the Modum Fire Escape Ladder
It’s a retractable aluminum ladder that you mount outside your house next to a window. One rail is attached to the house, and the rungs and the other rail fold up into it. In its closed position, it looks like a downspout, extremely unobtrusive, so it doesn’t compromise the aesthetic beauty of your exterior. In the event of a fire, chas v’shalom, you pull a release pin from the top, and the rungs fold out to horizontal position, making a stable escape route from an upper-floor window. This style ladder is the fastest way to get out of the house from an upper level in an emergency. It’s permanent, virtually maintenance-free, and can be opened from multiple floors. Plus, several people can climb down at once, allowing an entire family to escape in about 30 seconds.
One Pesach morning two years ago, I watched as a neighbor’s three-story home burned to the ground. They’d had an electrical fire near the front door, and with no back door to escape from, they came down their fire escape. I shudder to think of the consequences had they not had one! I’m a yeshivah bochur. I’m still living at home, and their narrow call got us thinking: What would we do, chas v’shalom, in such a situation? How would people on the third floor get out safely? My married siblings and their children sleep on our third floor when they come for Shabbos — it’s a real concern.
My mother insisted she wanted one for our house, but when my father looked into it, he saw it costs $11,000. Anyway, most firemen will tell you they don’t like fire escapes for residential homes — they need regular painting, they’re rarely maintained properly, and they’re often cluttered in a manner that prevents a quick escape. Homeowners don’t love them because they’re extremely expensive and unsightly. The next option is a throw-out ladder, the ones that come folded like an accordion and can be stored in a closet or under a bed — but that’s not particularly exciting either, because they’re unstable, difficult to climb, and can hold only one person at a time. We tested ours, but quickly realized there was no way my young nephews would be able to get down it in an emergency, and practically speaking, these aren’t the easiest to set up. Plus, throw-out ladders are usually stored out of the way — in a closet, under a bed — so they’re hard to access or may not be where you thought you left them, and they can’t be practiced on because they’re single-use. My father scoured the Internet until he came across Modum, a Danish company that manufactures a retractable ladder.
My father liked the ladder so much, he got three more so we’d have one on each side of the house. In his conversations with Modum, they told my father they’re looking to expand, and they asked him to be the US distributor. I was thinking about a career path, and this seemed right up my alley, so we flew out to the factory in Denmark to learn all about the ladders and the manufacturing process. I even got to make my own sample ladder. Denmark has a reputation for quality products, and we were very impressed.
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