Students trapped in overloaded elevator

By ERIC LINDBERG

A group of UC Santa Barbara students spent a few hours trapped in a dormitory elevator Monday night until firefighters managed to pry the doors open, fire officials said.

Emergency crews initially received the call at 8:04 p.m. that students were stuck in the south tower elevator of the Santa Catalina dormitory in Isla Vista, County Fire Capt. Eli Iskow said.

“The elevator was overloaded,” he said. “There were actually 23 students on board.”

Upon arrival, firefighters managed to crack open the doors slightly to allow fresh air to reach the group of trapped students. After attempting several other methods, fire crews were forced to use hydraulic rescue equipment to break open the outer doors, Iskow said.

After using a release mechanism to open the inner doors, firefighters managed to extricate all 23 students after they spent more than an hour and a half trapped inside. Iskow said no injuries or complaints were reported.

The weight of the overloaded compartment apparently overrode the elevator’s braking mechanisms, allowing it to sink a foot lower than where it would normally stop at the basement floor.

“We’re not sure what floor exactly they got in on,” Iskow said, adding that it’s also unclear whether they intended to go to the basement or not.

He said UC police officers took reports on each student. It’s unclear if any of them will be cited, Iskow said, but they all received a stern lecture from authorities.

A similar incident occurred approximately 20 years ago and ended tragically, he added. A large group of students had piled into an elevator. When one attempted to leave while the doors were open, the elevator dropped and killed the student.

“We were also on that call and extricated the survivors and, unfortunately, the one fatality,” Iskow said. “So we were anxious to get these kids out of there.”

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