There are ways to leave the courthouse during a fire. Just don't flee by the fire escape — it isn't safe. The metal stairs outside several Wapello County Courthouse windows may be starting to pull away from that outer wall. Testing should be done every five years, a fire escape salesman and inspector from Ohio said. That was news to the county supervisors. "I asked the fire department, and they'd never heard of it either," said the current Wapello County Board of Supervisor's chairman, Jerry Parker. "But it is a law. And we also want our courthouse to be safe." The test went poorly. These stairs are required to support 800 pounds. The fire escapes failed. "I wouldn't trust them to support me," said Parker.