Factors Which Endanger High-Rise Occupants & Firefighters
Consider This�
High-rise buildings have garnered significant attention in the fire safety world over the years. The multiple floors of a hig... View MoreFactors Which Endanger High-Rise Occupants & Firefighters
Consider This�
High-rise buildings have garnered significant attention in the fire safety world over the years. The multiple floors of a high-rise building create the cumulative effect of requiring great numbers of persons to travel great vertical distances on stairs in order to evacuate the building. The public, code bodies, local, regional and federal governments, as well as the design, build, and ownership communities are all affected by high-rise building safety.
Advice For Fire Departments
1. When a fire of any significance occurs in a high-rise building, assume that it reached that extent because it does not have sprinkler protection and probably has limited water supply for stand pipes and hydrants near the building.
2. Understand the potential for a fire in a non-sprinklered high-rise building to grow beyond the suppression capability of 1�-inch hoselines.
3. Understand the potential for a fire in a non-sprinklered high-rise building to auto extend to floors above. Command and division supervisors must proactively assign companies to check for vertical extension, starting with the occupancy directly above the fire.
4. Understand that the standpipe system may not have sufficient pressure, 105 PSI, to supply a 1�-inch hoseline flowing 185 GPM. For example, consider a 1,000-sq. ft. condominium unit. Using the National Fire Academy�s fire flow formula of square foot of fire area divided by three would equal a required flow of over 330 GPM to safely and rapidly suppress this fire.
5. Consider if the condominium unit was fully involved and exceeds the National Fire Academy�s fire flow formula, realize the potential that fire that could overwhelm and seriously burn firefighters who have initiated a direct hoseline attack on the fire from the public hallway. Accordingly, the use of 2�-inch hose may be necessary for that volume of fire due to its increase in flow and low friction loss as compared to 1�-inch hose. Additionally, 2�-inch hose may, depending on the standpipe outlet residual pressure, be capable of supplying a portable master stream device.
6. In warm climates and in the summer months, recognize the potential for a reverse stack effect to contaminate stairwells at levels below the fire floor. When the temperature outside a building is higher than the temperature inside a building, the warm air has a tendency to flow into the building on upper floors, lose buoyancy as it cools and sink to lower floors.
7. Smoke on lower floors will force firefighters to climb stairs �on air� and exhaust their SCBA air supply before they can attack the fire. Smoke in the stairwells below the fire may be the first indication to request a second or greater alarm. Chocking open lobby and ground floor exterior stairwell doors creates a flow path for the downward spread of smoke. Consider keeping doors that will lock upon closing ajar but essentially closed to stop the passage of smoke.
8. Understand that as smoke cools and loses its buoyancy carbon monoxide (CO) can contaminate lower floors. No secondary search is complete without monitoring all floors for CO.
9. Static pressure at a standpipe hose outlet is meaningless to firefighters. It is CRITICAL for crews to fully flow their hose line to read the RESIDUAL pressure on their in-line gauge and judge the quality of their stream on the floor below the fire before ascending to the fire floor.
10. Consider a transitional attack. Direct a straight or solid steam from ground or elevated master streams at a steep angle through the bottom of a window or sliding glass doorway that deflects off the ceiling of the fire apartment.
11. Consider attacking the fire indirectly by keeping the door to the fire occupancy closed and directing a stream from the balcony of an adjacent unit or through a hole opened in the wall of an adjoining unit.
12. Ascertain the residual (intake) pump pressure of the fire apparatus connected to a fire hydrant supplying the fire department connection. A significant drop from static pressure to residual pressure is a strong indication that the water main supplying the the fire suppression system and hydrants in the area are supplied by small diameter water mains that may be fed from only one direction (dead end).
13. When an inadequate water supply is confirmed or suspected, consider pairing engine companies to establish supply lines from distant hydrants on larger water mains.
14. When an inadequate water supply is confirmed, or suspected fire companies should consult with their Fire Prevention Bureau Water Supply Engineering to determine main sizes and request flow tests.
15. Fire companies must pre-fire plan all mid- and high-rise buildings in their response district to determine their level of sprinkler protection.
Bill Gustin
