Freed from a Burning Lift with a Knife
A mind-boggling story from Oregon, with the Victorinox pocket-knife playing the «leading role». A man became stuck in a lift fire and it was only thanks to a Swiss Army Knife that he was able to free himself from the smoke and confined space. This resulted in a boom in Victorinox knife sales in the city. The person involved recounted the events in detail in a letter to Victorinox. By remarkable coincidence his name was MacIver.
«I am a 31-year-old engineer, living in Portland, Oregon, USA, and what I have to offer is more than just an exciting story. The main actors are myself and a Victorinox Swiss Champ. I am writing this letter not to seek fame or honour but to pacify my friends and my family who have been pestering me to send this account of events to you..
Wine, Beer, Money and Art
I’ve carried a Victorinox Champ around with me for many years. It has proven its worth in no end of situations but never more so than on the evening of 3 December 1992. On that evening my wife Morgan attended a Christmas Art-bizarre party (bizarre was the right word). The party was hosted by the tenants of the Mattox Building (1231 NW Hoyt St.). This building houses various studios for photographers, designers, architects etc. I went to the fourth floor of the building, the top floor, where the party was being held and stayed for about an hour. Needless to say, after an hour I became bored and went looking for something more interesting. There are three ways to travel up an down the Mattox Building: a stairwell, a goods lift and a passenger lift. This passenger lift is as old as the building itself which, I imagine, is mentioned somewhere in the last chapter of the Bible. The lift is about one square metre in size and about 2.5 metres high. The inner door consists of a metal sliding grille, the outer one is a very normal door. There is no telephone or escape hatch..
As I was travelling in the lift it began to slow down and fill with smoke. A few seconds later it came to an abrupt halt. I was alone and trapped. The lift continued to fill with smoke. Because there wasn’t much fresh air I had to breathe in the black, acrid smoke whilst the built-in loudspeaker went on playing a violin sonata in the background. The lift had stopped on the mezzanine, just above the first floor. I was able to see approximately ten centimetres of the lift doors on the second floor and almost the whole of the doors on the mezzanine. People gathered on the second floor. They started to talk to me through the lift doors. But we couldn’t see each other. Once they learned that the lift had jammed and I was in danger of slowly but surely choking to death, they called the emergency control centre.
No Escape Route
Meanwhile my friends on the fourth floor noticed the smoke. They quickly realised that someone was stuck in the lift and that a fire had broken out in the lift shaft. They attempted to force open the doors on the second floor to release me. A whole contingent of the Portland Fire Department then arrived. The problem for my rescuers was that at some point over the years the mezzanine had been sealed up. There was no way of reaching the lift doors on the mezzanine – my only escape route. Since no-one could reach me I did what I could to reach them. The mechanism responsible for opening the mezzanine doors had also been put out of action because the floor was no longer in use. Someone had removed the lift door button which had once been there for opening the doors. Otherwise I could have simply pressed it to get out.
Knife Came to the Rescue
Then I remembered my trusty Swiss Army Knife with its pair of tweezers. Three minutes later I had removed the nuts on the door and was at last able to get out of the lift. But now I was trapped in the dead space of the mezzanine. Meanwhile, the battalion of Fire Department people (four large fire appliances, two ambulances and two control vehicles) had put out the fire in the lift shaft and was still trying to reach me. They had battered down doors to reach the floor of the shaft and climbed to the roof of the building to reach me from above.
The police had cordoned off the entire block which had since filled with curious onlookers. I could hear alarm bells ringing and sirens wailing. But there was a window on the mezzanine and that’s where I was finally rescued from and where my martyrdom came to an end. Before then, of course, I had used my Champ once more to remove the hinges from the window. However, in the heat of the moment I left my highly-prized knife on the mezzanine. As the fireman accompanied me down the ladder, the crowd below applauded and I waved. Friends and reporters were waiting for me below. Luckily, a fireman found my knife and returned it to me.
Epilogue
The next morning a radio station telephoned me and interviewed me live. They had read about me in the newspaper and found it amusing that not only had I broken out of a jammed lift and escaped the fire but that my name is MacIver (MacGiver is the name of an American TV hero who repeatedly escapes from hopeless situations, usually with the help of a Swiss Army Knife). So they forced me, still half asleep, to recount my experience on the radio. In the weeks that followed the Swiss Army Knife was one of the most popular Christmas gifts in Portland: “the type of knife used by the guy to free himself from the lift”. I bought the last Swiss Champ in a shop for a friend and noticed that it was on display in the window. The shop owner told me that he had had a run on Swiss Champs following the incident. My parents-in-law were in another shop and told the owner they knew me. He then showed them the newspaper cutting on the incident which he kept in his wallet. He explained to them that every child who had come into his shop wanted to buy a knife just like the “lift escape knife”. Life really is exciting. Yours, Douglas MacIver.»
Jeep Engine Repaired in the Desert
The Norwegian Tore Lund Bache has carried his Victorinox knife on travels around the world for more than 25 years. It was given to him as a gift in 1968 by his company, OSO. In July 1992 he wrote to Victorinox in Ibach and told them the story of a trip which, thanks to the knife, passed without serious consequences.:
«The knife has been my companion for 25 years and has travelled with me all round the world. I have always kept it in my left trouser pocket, even in my smoking jacket, ready for use at all times. The OSO company logo has almost completely disappeared. There are numerous stories involving this knife. It has become a legend among my friends, who are always asking me the same question: “have you got your OSO knife with you?” So I’d like to tell you one of these stories.
In 1969 I bought an old Willys Jeep, a Second World War model. It was a beautiful old vehicle and you could repair any of the parts (unlike today’s vehicles, on which broken parts have to be replaced). I took it for a spin into the desert at once, to try out the four-wheel drive. This test drive took me several kilometres into a marshy wooded area where no vehicle had obviously ever been before. And then my engine died.
The problem was that the fuel supply was no longer getting to the engine. Something was wrong with the fuel pump. There were no tools in my newly-acquired vehicle, and all I had in my pocket was a little loose change, a ballpoint pen and my Victorinox knife. With the help of the knife, however, I was able to scrape out and open the fuel pump. There were no screws on the pump, but I was able to use the knife’s bottle opener, which fitted the lid exactly.» «The suction valve in the fuel pump had broken into several pieces.
I used the knife to fashion a replacement part with the spring from the ballpoint pen. On reassembling the pump I was able to drive home. Although the knife hadn’t actually saved my life on that occasion it nevertheless enabled me to repair my vehicle. This saved me having to walk several kilometres and probably the trouble of finding a towtruck capable of towing the jeep back home.
Now, after 25 years of use, my knife is finally being retired. The spring locks on the blades are suffering from fatigue and the tool is worn out. That’s why last year I felt the time had come to buy a new pocket-knife. It simply had to be a Victorinox. Although it has the same shape, today’s models seem slightly longer and thicker and perhaps a bit stronger? I am happy with the quality of the new model. My only question: is the old model still available? It’s slightly thinner and shorter and so fits more easily into my pocket. In any case I will be sending you my old knife. As you can see, apart from the faults mentioned above and the signs of 25 years of use, it is still in very good condition. I would like to thank you for the excellent quality of your knives. They make ideal gifts and are a pleasure to use – whenever and wherever. Though, my wife doesn’t seem to appreciate it when I feel like doing my nails at the opera.»
Two Children Saved from Drowning – with a Pocket Knife
Chris Jamieson from Urenui, New Zealand, owns a Swiss Army Officer’s Knife with which he saved the lives of two children in April 1997 .
Jamieson saw a van leave the road and fall into the Awakino river. Thinking on his feet, he threw himself into the river and rescued the family of five. Two children in the back seat were trapped by their seat belts. They had to be cut free using the Swiss Officer’s Knife. Jamieson, a student, was hailed as a hero by the New Zealand police. The real «star» of the rescue, however, was the Swiss knife made by Victorinox.
Symbol of Switzerland
Armbrust Schweizer Woche, the organisation that promotes Swiss products and services, carried out a survey through the media to determine what symbol the Swiss considered most synonymous with quality. The choice was between the logos of the PTT and Swissair, the Swiss passport and the Swiss Army Officer’s Knife.
The Knife emerged as the clear winner. Top-class advertising for the Swiss Army Knife has also been given through one of the world’s foremost and best-known technology enterprises: NASA. In 1978 the American space organisation ordered 50 Victorinox Master Craftsman Swiss Army Officer’s Knives (model 5044). NASA stipulates that their order may not be commercially linked with the name of NASA without permission. The organisation is however happy to allow reference to be made in Victorinox publicity material that the knife from Ibach is part of their astronauts’ standard equipment.
Knife Used to Assist at a Birth
During an extensive cycling tour around Lake Constance, a German optician bought a very special Victorinox knife: the so-called survival knife. This model is equipped with numerous tools and functions and can be carried on the belt in a leather bag. At first his friends and relatives laughed at him. By the end of the tour, however, following an experience which left a deep impression on everyone, he literally held all the aces. His brother-in-law wrote to Ibach with the following story:
«This special story of the Swiss knife began on a long cycle tour with my family. Right at the beginning of the tour my brother-in-law bought himself a particularly well-equipped Victorinox model – the survival knife, equipped with numerous tools and functions, which can be carried in a leather bag on your belt or in your trouser pocket. But after gently teasing my brother-in law about the knife, we soon forgot about it. When we stopped on the island of Mainau, however, that all changed.» A piece of nylon cord and a knife «On one of our longer walks we came to a summer meadow, where to our amazement a foal was being born – a far from everyday occurrence for us city folk. After the birth we noticed that the mother was ignoring her new-born, and that the foal didn’t get up on its feet. The umbilical cord was still connected..
None of the considerable number of people watching had any idea what to do. The animal warden who had hurried to the scene did not know what to do either, as he didn’t have the right equipment with him. That was my brother-in-law’s big moment. He took centre stage, carrying his survival knife. He quickly took out a piece of nylon rope and the knife, assisted the warden in tying the nylon rope around the umbilical cord, and with a deft cut finally released it.
The onlookers were overjoyed. The foal sprang up and trotted over to its mother, although less than stable on its feet. We should add that as my brother-in-law cleaned and put away his knife, nobody in our cycling party teased him for acting like a boy scout.»
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