Escalators and staircases cause a breach to be formed between floors i.e. compartments.
It is often a part of any fire engineered solution that these breaches are protected to prevent the flow of smoke from one floor to another. One practical and inobtrusive way to do this is to surround the escalator or staircase with BLE Smoke & Fire Curtains.
This will allow unimpeded access through the stairs or escalator in normal use and when the alarm goes off either the area can be sealed or the smoke reservoir depth can be increased to reduce seepage of smoke to the upper level. Controls are often put in to allow the escalators to continue another cycle prior to the last curtain coming down to allow full evacuation. 