[sonic45132]

It does mention buildings can be a single stair with an elevator. 2 stairwells vs 1 stairwell doesn't need affect ADA compliance.

[ghaff]

It does mean disabled residents are sort of screwed if there's a fire alarm and the elevators are shutoff--as a friend told me recently--unless the neighbors can help. But that's sort of ignored given lack of realistic options.

[estebank]

Isn't that the same situation whether there's a single staircase, staircase + fire escape or two staircases?

[ghaff]

Yes. Multi-stories are generally an issue with people with people in the case of fire.

[estebank]

That's a factor of how many units are serviced by a set of stairs. On the same surface area you can have one large building with two staircases and one long corridor that splits the building down the middle, or you can have two separate buildings with a single set of stairs each and a better layout for apartments with more than one bedroom. The peak egress traffic will the the same for each case.

But all of this is unrelated to

> It does mean disabled residents are sort of screwed if there's a fire alarm and the elevators are shutoff--as a friend told me recently--unless the neighbors can help.

[anon291]

If you can't walk down one staircase, and require an elevator no matter what, how are two staircases going to help?

[ghaff]

The context was perhaps lost in the thread. Yes, I was talking about having to go up or down a staircase in general. As you say, one or two doesn't really matter.