︎stairs-chair
n.— «The sheriff’s office has a list of handicapped individuals who work in the courthouse and deputies made sure all of those folks were safety evacuated. Firefighters used what’s called a “stairs-chair,” similar to a wheelchair to carry handicapped people down the six flights of stairs.» —“Courthouse evacuated after lightning starts fire” by Mitch Hotts Macomb Daily (Mount Clemens, Michigan) May 2, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Mike in Glasgow, Kentucky, wonders about a catchphrase used in British comedies: I go to the foot of the stairs. The Oxford Dictionary of Catchphrases (Amazon) compiled by Anna Farkas and several books by catchphrase collector Nigel Rees both point...
As we’ve previously discussed, firefighters don and doff their equipment, terms deriving from do on and do off. They are also said to dout a fire, meaning they “extinguish” it, dout being a similar shortening of do out. This is...