Anti-Terror Expert in Wake of Mumbai: Use of Escape Rescue System by Swat Teams Can Provide Tactical Advantage, Surprise

Dec. 11, 2008

HOD HASHARON, Israel , December 11 /PRNewswire/ --

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081211/331727 )

Former Israel Mossad Deputy Chief and anti-terrorism expert General (Res.) Amiram Levin said, "There is little doubt that in many scenarios, such as the recent events in Mumbai , use of the Escape Rescue System by SWAT teams can provide tactical advantage and surprise, while making feasible an otherwise impossible assault on a building held by terrorists." The statement was made in response to a multitude of enquiries about the system, following the terror attacks in several high-rise buildings in Mumbai, India in late November.

Designated by the US Department of Homeland Security as a Qualified Anti-Terrorism Technology, Escape Rescue Systems' multi-story platform is the "quintessential external evacuation system," according to Yoni Shimshoni, CEO of Escape Rescue Systems.

Stored unobtrusively on a skyscraper's roof, the system is independently powered and operated to ensure its availability in a mass emergency in a high-rise building. In their folded form, the cabins are lowered to ground level, where first responders unfold and enter from two to five cabins, which promptly deliver up to 5 SWAT team members or fire fighters per cabin to multiple stories simultaneously. The evacuation system can rescue 30 people per cabin, or 150 people in a full, 5-cabin configuration every 8 minutes.

Following the terror attacks of 9/11 and Mumbai , as well as fires in office towers and residential skyscrapers, external evacuation systems are increasingly regarded as an essential precautionary measure for saving lives and getting first responders to their desired location in buildings under attack or at risk.

In its June 2005 report on the World Trade Center collapse, the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recommended the consideration of exterior escape devices and modification of safety codes to improve the safety of tall buildings, their occupants and first responders. Since then, an increasing number of standards and codes have been revised.

Escape Rescue Systems announced its revolutionary external evacuation system complies with a number of evacuation standards and emergency safety codes:

- The National Fire Protection Association's Building Construction and Safety Code NFPA 5000 and the Life Safety Code NFPA 101 which define the conditions for installation of Platform Rescue Systems and Controlled Descent Devices. - American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Standard E 2513 for Multi-Story Building External Evacuation Platform Rescue Systems -The Escape Rescue System is unique in complying with this standard. - Approved for safety by the German Laboratory TUV, the Standards Institution of Israel and Israel's Ministry of Labor and Welfare.

For more information:

View the two video clips on the Company homepage: http://www.escaperescue.com, or contact:

Erez Michaeli , Vice President Marketing, +972-54-796-9713, [email protected]

SOURCE Escape Rescue Systems

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