The higher the fire retardancy, the more time you have to evacuate. That's obvious. However, in the zone of the fire you will not survive the rapidly rising temperatures for long. The second factor that is therefore important is the functionality and ease of use, which reduces the time in the danger zone.

On some social media people talk about complete inadequacy of existing resources due to insufficient fire safety. The fire-retardant effect of the current systems would be insufficient. The polyamide lines of centrifugal systems (Cresto Redpro, Skylotec Milan hub) are fire retardant to only 280 degrees. An individual solution such as the Smartline-X from Cresto already has a fire-retardant effect up to at least 480 degrees Celsius. A solution with steel cable (Evacuator) would solve the problem of a limited temperature range, because the fire retardant effect would thus increase to above 1000 degrees Celsius. The steel cable system trumps the other solutions in this. But does this mean that a steel cable system is the holy grail of evacuation in the wind industry?

Time to evacuate
The higher the fire retardancy, the more time you have to evacuate. That's obvious. However, you cannot survive the rapidly rising temperatures in the fire zone for long. The second factor that is therefore important is the functionality and ease of use, which reduces the time in the danger zone.

As stated earlier, the steel cable system has the great advantage of a fire-retardant effect of more than 1000 degrees Celsius. In addition, the system is available ready to start in the nacelle near the evacuation hatch and up to 4 people can evacuate at the same time. However, systems such as the Evacuator are hardly installed anywhere in the current generation of windmills. The system is in a fixed location and if it is inaccessible to the technician, then the system is useless. Unfortunately, there is also the limitation that when 3 people have to descend and the first 2 descend individually, there is no longer any possibility for the last to descend. In addition, it is not possible to carry out rescues, so that a rescue system must still be in place.

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These systems are not only intended for evacuation during fire, but are also designed in such a way that rescues can be carried out. The system has a shuttle function, as soon as the first evacuation has been carried out, the next one can join the system.

The disadvantage of the system, as mentioned, is that the line has a fire-retardant effect up to 280 degrees. In addition, it usually comes with a strap loop of the same material. The system is packed in a box in the nacelle, from which it must first be removed before it can be used. Only 2 people can evacuate at the same time. The possible 3rd man will have to wait until the first 2 are down. In our view, therefore, these systems are the most vulnerable option of the 3 in the event of an evacuation and mainly suitable for carrying out rescues.

We offer several courses for work in and around wind turbines. Evacuation is an important topic within these courses. 

GWO Courses:

• GWO Basic Safety Training - onshore
• GWO Fire awareness
• GWO First aid
• GWO Sea survival
• GWO Manual handling
• GWO Working at height

Want to know more about these courses? Go to the GWO course overview.

Individual systems such as the Smartline-X from Cresto are worn on the man, so that every technician, regardless of his location in the turbine, can choose an anchor point for his evacuation. In addition, with the right training, this person can also safely lower a Smartline X evacuation system of a second person at the same time. Lowering a 2nd person requires that the techs are still within reach of each other. If this is not the case, but the 2nd person hangs unconscious above the 1st, then he is stuck and cannot be reached. Although it does not match the steel cable systems, this system has a fire retardant effect up to 480 degrees Celsius. This makes it better than a centrifugal system and a rescue can also be carried out with this system.

At any location in the turbine one can escape from a strong enough anchor point. The Smartline-X is very light compared to other devices. The 200m version is 3.8kg and the length can of course be adjusted to the height of the turbine. The Smartline X comes in an optional vacuumed bag that can be worn on the harness.

Despite the great advantage of the fire-retardant effect, the steel cable systems are rarely used. The disadvantages apparently outweigh the advantages. We see that in more and more cases an individual descender is chosen in addition to the standard centrifugal system. As mentioned, the presence of this system remains necessary due to the large number of rescue applications. Whatever solution is chosen, it is of the utmost importance that you are warned in time when the fire starts and that you can take the correct actions. For all 3 systems, you have to hang in the system in time to be able to use them safely. The technicians themselves must therefore check whether everything is covered by means of a good Task Risk Analysis. For example, a good solution could be to deploy a 3rd man as a fire watch/manhole watch during work in the hub.

Do you want to know more about the available solutions in the market, their maintenance, procedures and necessary training for evacuation and rescue in the wind industry? Please contact us. To get an impression of the individual evacuation system, Smartline X from Cresto, look at Cresto Smartline X evacuation system.