Abstract: A fire suppression system for a dumb waiter for carrying hazardous materi in a multiple story building includes an exhaust at the top of the shaft, a storage compartment for carbon dioxide gas above the topmost floor served by the dumb waiter, a first nozzle in the shaft near the top thereof, a second nozzle in the shaft near the bottom thereof, and conduits interconnecting the storage compartment and the nozzles. The system further includes vapor detectors in the shaft, each of which is adapted, upon detection of unsafe vapors in the shaft, to open the conduits to flow the carbon dioxide gas from the storage compartment to the nozzles and thence into the shaft above and below the dumb waiter, and to shut down operation of the exhaust.