# Area of refuge

> An area of refuge is a fire-protected space — commonly at exit stairs or elevator lobbies — where occupants who cannot evacuate unassisted, such as wheelchair users, can wait safely for rescue. Building codes require these areas to include a two-way communication system so occupants can reach help.

- Also known as: area of rescue assistance, refuge area
- Last reviewed: July 30, 2026

## How it works

The International Building Code and accessibility rules require designated areas of refuge in certain buildings, sized and located along accessible egress routes. Each is equipped with a two-way communication system connecting to a central control point or another attended location, with signage and instructions. The call stations are commonly analog devices on supervised lines — the same class of endpoint elevator emergency phones belong to.

## Why it matters

Area-of-refuge call boxes are life-safety endpoints that historically rode on copper lines. When those lines retire, the replacement must preserve the auto-connect, supervision, and audibility behaviors the code and the authority having jurisdiction expect — a dial-tone-only replacement is not automatically sufficient.

## Common use cases

- Stairwell call stations connecting to a building's fire command center
- Elevator-lobby refuge areas in high-rise buildings
- Accessible egress communication in campuses and public buildings

Refuge-area call stations rarely appear on telecom inventories under their own name — they
hide inside "misc analog lines," which is exactly where migrations lose them.

## Finding refuge stations during a line inventory

Refuge-area stations are among the most frequently missed circuits in a migration, and the
reason is administrative rather than technical: they were often installed by the
general contractor during construction and never assigned a recognizable label on a telecom
invoice.

Three places to look. **The fire alarm drawings** usually show every call station by location,
even when the phone bill does not. **The stairwell and elevator lobbies themselves** — a
physical walk of the egress path finds stations that exist nowhere in the records. And **the
elevator inspection file**, which frequently references adjacent refuge equipment.

Once located, treat each station as a life-safety circuit rather than a miscellaneous analog
line. Confirm where it terminates — refuge stations may report to a constantly attended
on-site location rather than an off-site station, which changes what a replacement path has to
deliver. Confirm the required backup runtime with the AHJ, and test the station end-to-end
after cutover with someone stationed at the answering point.

## Common misconceptions

**Claim:** An area of refuge is just a marked waiting spot.

**Correction:** It is a code-defined protected space with specific fire-resistance, size, signage, and communication requirements — the two-way communication system is a required component, not an amenity.

## Frequently asked questions

**Can area-of-refuge communication lines move to cellular?**

The endpoints are analog call stations, so a POTS replacement can carry them in supported configurations — but acceptance depends on the code edition, the system's supervision requirements, and the authority having jurisdiction. Treat them like elevator phones in the migration inventory.

## Sources

- [2024 International Building Code](https://codes.iccsafe.org/content/IBC2024P1) — International Code Council
- [ADA Standards and Guides](https://www.access-board.gov/ada/) — U.S. Access Board


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Canonical page: https://dataremote.com/newsroom/definitions/area-of-refuge
Organization: DataRemote, Inc. — POTS line replacement, cellular failover, and fixed wireless access solutions. https://dataremote.com