As reported by the Kaunas Fire and Rescue Department, at about 20:20 a report was received that five people were stuck in an elevator, and a smell of smoke was detected.
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People were freed by firefighters using a crowbar and spreaders. One conscious minor girl was handed over to paramedics; she was taken to a medical facility for examination due to a headache.
Smoke was pouring from the elevator shaft; about 300 liters of water were used for extinguishing. A strong smell of burning was felt on the ninth floor of the building, and the stairwell was ventilated by opening the roof door.
The emergency elevator service determined that the elevator motor had burned out. The elevator was closed and cordoned off with “Stop” tape.
Jonas Guzavičius, CEO of the company “Kauno liftai,” told BNS that this elevator was installed together with the apartment building more than 40 years ago, and its load capacity is 320 kilograms.
“And if there were five people riding, then one person was definitely over (the load capacity – BNS). (…) The elevator was too heavy to carry, so the automatic system activated, causing the elevator to shut down and stop moving. Due to the overload, a smell was indeed felt in the elevator machine room, (…) but only on the ninth floor, definitely not on the first,” emphasized J. Guzavičius.
According to him, the elevator cabin stopped on the first or second floor, so there could be no significant danger from the motor burning on the ninth floor.
According to J. Guzavičius, the elevator’s electrical equipment was soaked with water, so “a lot of work” will be needed to restore its operation, but the company director had no complaints from the passengers.
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“We will not charge and definitely there will be no damage (implied – BNS) to the passengers, (…) we will do all this for free. (…) I think that next week, around Monday–Tuesday, we should fix everything,” said the head of “Kauno liftai.”
According to him, the first goal will be to repair the elevator motor. If it is found impossible, the motor will be replaced with another one.
“It is not a problem to replace it with another motor because we dismantle many such elevators and have spare motors. When replacing, we select the best one, which operates quietly. We will definitely replace it; residents will not feel any material damage,” stated J. Guzavičius.
“And to the girl who was there, we apologize; perhaps there were inconveniences, but there could not have been a strong smell (…) because the smell does not spread downward. There was no danger to the girl,” noted the head of “Kauno liftai.”
He urged elevator users always to assess their total weight and not to exceed the load capacity of the equipment.
“Kauno liftai” announces that it is one of the largest organizations of such equipment in Lithuania. The company services over 3,000 elevators.
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