Collapsible emergency exit staircase - GIF

[Hoosiersmoker]

I see in my mind a pile of people on the ground after falling the last 10-15 feet from that wimpy ladder at the bottom

Seriously, they go to all that trouble making that fancy thing and finish it off with a treacherous thing like that. They must have run out of time or money or something.

Agreed. The escape should be over a solid wall, not an opening. Then you could mount a permanent ladder directly under the escape opening.