Last night on TCM they showed "Earthquake" (1974). what I found very interesting was the evacuation improvisation that the Lorne Greene character came up with. SCENE: Panicky employees are going down the stairs after the quake. They come to a section where about two floors worth of stairs are missing. SOLUTION: The in-building fire hose and an office chair were fashioned into a sling to lower the folks who were injured - and the ladies, of course. Looked pretty cool. Feasible? Opinions?

Just looking at the pictures, I'd call it "feasible" but not advisable. The hose is probably strong enough, as were the welded steel office chairs of resteryear. The rigging looks solid (bowline and clove hitches).

https://garethrhodes.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/20940_3.jpg

But, it would be suicide to try it with todays plastic and mesh chairs.

If I had to recreate the the attempt, I would forgo the office chair and tie the hose into any number of field expedient rescue or climbing harnesses.

Just don't rely on the hose fittings/couplings/connections. I'm not very confident that they'd hold together under a heavy longitudinal load, especially the kind of lighter duty hose meant for occupant use in large or high-rise structures. I'd also guess that the hose itself is sufficiently strong. So, I'd imagine you could tie the hose something like you would flat/tubular webbing, right? What kinds of knots would be best to connect lengths of hose together or to a fixed strong point, then?

P.S. You can buy all kinds of stuff like wallets, belts and pouches made from retired fire hoses, online, if you like that kind of stuff.

If I worked in a high rise, I would strongly consider a stash of proper technical gear for elf extrication.

Once you extricate the elf or elves, would you be able to use the same gear to get yourself out?

typos re he bane of my existence. Once I take care of the elves, I would be next in line.

Made me think of The Santa Clause movies with the commando elves, lol.

I've seen water knots (overhand follow through) used with webbing, and Flemish bends and loops (figure 8 follow through) used in technical climbing and rescue.

http://www.animatedknots.com/indexrescue...imatedknots.com

More then a while back, I went rock climbing with a climbing harness consisting of two overhand knot loops and several turns around my waist secured with a reef knot. While not particular comfortable, it was simple enough for a bunch of untrained teenagers to reliably tie. You can find it about half way down the page under "Improvised seat harness"
http://www.wilderness-survival.net/mountain-climbing/roped-climbing/

I have also climbed with that rig, and my memories are not too fond. Our practice was to finish with a water knot, however. It probably doesn't make too much difference if you have enough turns around your waist. Today's commercial harnesses are money well spent.