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By Brian Butler
Fires in high-rise buildings present serious challenges for first due companies who are often met with dangerous conditions on the fire floor and the floors above as reflex time allows the fire and smoke to grow and spread. There are approximately 50 high-rise fires in the U.S. every day, resulting in 50 fatalities annually (as of 2015) Most high-rises are fire-resistive structures, and almost half of all existing occupied highrise apartments, hotels, and commercial buildings do NOT have a sprinkler system.
What do we consider a high-rise?
INTERNATIONAL BUILDING CODE: A high-rise building is defined by the IBC as a “building with an occupied floor located more than 75 feet above the lowest level of fire department vehicle access.” What's considered a high-rise will also depend on the region, department, jurisdiction, or local building codes. Most departments recognize high-rises as any building over 75 feet and out of the reach of an aeriel ladder. Most MFD's and commercial buildings 4-6 stories high are referred to as mid-rises with the roof accessible by an aerial ladder.
SKYSCRAPERS: Are buildings over 50 stories.
ON APPROACH SIZE-UP: There's a long list of dangers to consider when fighting a high-rise fire. When companies are dispatched to an alarm activation in a high-rise, the company officers will usually focus on getting to the alarm annunciator panel to see what it's indicating, and then investigate what's most likely to be a careless cooking, waterflow, duct/heat detector, or a pull station nuisance alarm. Other incidents may involve natural gas odors, and CO alarms.
But when the call comes in for a confirmed working fire in a high-rise with numerous calls, or smoke visible from the street, a more intense and thorough thought process takes over. In addition to size-up and apparatus placement, initial duties for first due companies will include retrieving knox box keys, locating the FDC, hydrant, checking wind direction (fire showing out window or balcony) and what the the alarm panel is indicating, If the alarm has numerous activated heads on 15, 16, 17, it usually helps with locating the fire. In addition, confirming the proper operating channel, and making sure the crew is armed with the proper equipment before committing to the building must be done the first shot as returning to the apparatus from the 23rd floor would be wasting time you won't have. I personally grab the know box key, an extra air cylinder and TIC whether on the engine or ladder.
Many other additional concerns will need to be addressed before you even reach the fire location. In many cases, firemen will already be familiar with the building from prior alarms, EMS calls, elevator removals, surveys, inspections, and preplans. This helps a great deal!
When arriving at a high-rise fire, some considerations for firemen/officers apply:
LOCATION OF THE FIRE: Looking up at the exterior from at least two sides and checking for visible fire, smoke, or flashing lights from alarm strobes will be an indicator. People out on balconies or open windows waving their arms. As you approach the building, are there any escaping occupants or security giving you information as to the fire floor location? Head to the alarm panel and verify the location of any alarm activations, and relay that information to the IC. When arriving at the standpipe, If tenable, recon the fire floor to estimate the stretch, check fire conditions, and select the best attack stairwell, Take the extra few seconds to get it right.
REMEMBER: Not all reported high-rise fires will be inside the building on an upper floor. Fires can start in attached occupancies, laundry facilities, underground storage and parking areas, lobbies, subdivision apartments, penthouse mechanical rooms, roof top air handlers, electrical vaults, loading docks, elevator machine rooms, vertical shafts (trash chutes) and balconies.
OCCUPANCY AND TIME OF DAY: This information is important for any life hazard. An occupied residential high-rise at 2am or a commercial occupancy at 2pm on a weekday will most likely be occupied. The time of day and occupancy play a key role in rescue efforts. Searching and evacuating the fire floor and floors above are still the priority.
WEATHER:This will determine any stack/reverse stack effect and the potential for wind-driven fires. If strong winds are present from the ground, they could be much stronger on the 40th floor. If fire is showing on the windward side of the building, the hose team may have fire blowing out into the public hallway when they open the door to the fire apartment.
FIRE PROTECTION SYSTEMS: Does the building have sprinklers/standpipes? Does the FDC connection supply both? Be familiar with the stairwells where the risers are located. If the building is not protected by sprinklers/standpipes or they are out of service, notify the IC immediately. Does the building have a fire pump? Are there pressure restricting/reducing devices (PRD's) present? Does the public address system work? Are the stairwells enclosed with a 2 hour fire rating, smoke towers, scissors stairs, or open wells? Are there Class 1,2,3 standpipes? These can be determined by preplans or building familiarization from prior calls. Be proactive and take note of these important details.
High-rise smoke control systems are usually located at the command center. Determine which type of smoke removal or ventilation system the building has before using it, as it could be counterproductive to achieving the desired goal.
CONSIDER THE BUILDINGS STACK EFFECT AND LOCATION OF FIRE!
STAIRWELL TYPES AND LOCATIONS: Knowledge of the stairwell types and their locations are critical. Stairwells may be located at only one end of the building leaving a dead end hallway on the other. Some stairwells are only located in the center of the building while others only service certain floors and may not even have a standpipe riser. Determine the type of stairwell (scissor, straight, open, center well, return, access, enclosed). Take the extra seconds to choose the best stairwell for fire attack. Scissor stairs can be very confusing for new firefighters making a connection below the fire floor. Check and identify stairwells (A, B or 1, 2) when assigning an attack/evacuation/vent stairwell. Determine which stairwell leads to the roof bulkhead door. We try not to evacuate occupants down a stairwell that is being used for attack/ventilation, especially smoke towers that can draw the products towards the stairs. Unfortunately, there are times when we can't stop the panicking herd coming down every stairwell!
REFLEX TIME: From the time companies are dispatched until the time water is applied to the fire in a high-rise can average anywhere from 10-30 minutes. With fire doubling in size approximately every minute, consider the time the fire actually started until reaching the fire with a charged hoseline. That 's your reflex time. Watch VIDEO on fire growth during reflex time.
PROPER TOOLS, EQUIPMENT AND MANPOWER: Before heading up to the fire floor, request spare bottles to be shuttled up to the staging area below the fire AHEAD of time. This is suggested only because of the possibility of excessive incident command garble clogging the radios during the first several minutes of these incidents. Prepare for high traffic and use radio discipline. Radio priority in the first several minutes should be reserved for the company officers who are making their way to the fire floor to observe and report conditions and needed resources.
Ensure you have several door chocks, rope/webbing as they can be your most important tool in a high-rise fire (door control, stairwell tie off). Ladder company tools should be hydraulic ram/force entry tools/irons, rope, flashlight, TIC, water can, bolt cutters. Engine company brings a properly equipped high-rise pack with a smooth bore or 'breakaway' nozzle, TIC, chocks, flashlight, and wire cutters (plenum-wires). Good additions to the highrise pack are door straps and cherry bombs.
With at least 138 lbs of pressure on the handle, the Hydra-Ram is capable of putting more than 10,000 lbs of force at or on an object. You’ll typically get 7-8 pumps before reaching its full extension. (Hydra-Ram is not the same as a Rabbit Tool)
For zero visibility in high-rise apartment building fires, use a TIC in the hallway to locate the fire. The fire compartment will have high heat registering around (top) the door frame.
The breakaway nozzle allows an easy switch from solid to fog. Knock down a fire with a 200 GPM solid tip, and screw on the fog to hydraulically ventilate, clearing out smoke/steam. It also allows the line to be extended with line charged.
Usually, the Truck company members will respond to the fire floor with a water extinguisher. A water can in a small apartment fire (couch, mattress) can be very effective. In a residential high-rise, truck members will force the door to the fire apartment and refuge apartment, then control the door.
Do NOT get in the elevator if the fire helmet is flashing. The shunt trip breaker has tripped and will stop the elevator. A heat detector, sprinkler or smoke condition in the hoistway or machine room will shut down the mainline power prior to a sprinkler activation trapping firemen inside with no control. Firemen will have to force their way out, or rescued by other firemen. Some elevators may continue to the next landing, open doors and go OOS.
Before supplying the FDC, check for damaged threads, missing gaskets, and clappers. Remove any trash/debris stuffed inside. Some FDC's have signage that may be confusing to new pump operators. Some sprinkler/standpipe combination connections may not actually supply sprinklers. Others may only supply the basement, or certain floors in a mid-rise, high-rise or skyscraper.
NOZZLE TIPS: For high-rise fires use a smooth bore nozzle (or a break-away). In addition to a better stream and less friction loss, it allows the debris and sediment from inside standpipe risers to get flushed out through to tip. This should also be done at the outlet. Make sure before entering the fire area, flake excess hose on the hinge side of inward swinging apartment doors to keep it from catching, or closing behind you.
When advancing a handline down a long hallway with low or zero visibility, try and keep the line taut and stay in contact with that line. If a hostile event occurs or the low air alarm is sounding, following that hoseline will lead right back to the stairwell for safety. If too much line is flaked into the hallway, it will make following that line out much more difficult.
TIP: If you see excess or tangled hose off the standpipe, unfuck the line! Make sure the first line is flowing water at proper pressure and ready to go before focusing on the second line!
When arriving at the fire apartment, don't just crack the nozzle to bleed the air out. FLOW the line (away from the elevator shaft) for several seconds. This will ensure that you flush out any sediment, ensuring an adequate stream before entering the apartment. Opening the line up only to discover the stream is "pissing" on the fire as it rolls out into the hallway over your head will have you retreating. There could be a problem with water pressure caused by kinks, pinched hose, PRD's, FDC's, fire pumps, or the standpipe.
DANGERS: Firemen face many of the dangers fighting a highrise fire as they would a mid-rise fire or finished basement fire. These dangers include flashover, localized ceiling collapse (drop) heat exhaustion, steam burns, difficult stretches, disorientation (closets, dead end hallways).
We must also consider the following:
FALLEN GLASS: Windows in high-rises are thick and heavy. Large shards of glass falling down 20-30 stories can kill civilians on the ground AND the pump operator at the FDC. Venting windows in MOST high-rise fires is dangerous and not recommended. Firemen have no control over a window failing on its own from the fire, which is why the IC should immediately assign a safety officer to keep the street/sidewalk area under the fire side of the building clear of onlookers.
There are some situations and conditions where you can vent the windows in a high-rise fire such as the presence of outside balconies, setbacks, or if the sidewalk/street area has been closed off preventing anyone from walking into the hazard area. If the glass is going to land on a nearby buildings roof, it's safe to break a window. Most modern high-rise buildings have impact-resistant glass which is extremely difficult to break. A key or wrench is needed to open them.
TIP: I always make it a habit to look up and check for balconies as I exit the apparatus and approach the building. In addition, I also note wind conditions, and the setback to estimate the maximum floor height that our 100' ladder can reach. I do this at every high-rise building I respond to no matter what the call is.
ELEVATORS: Check the status of the elevators and assign a fireman to the elevator control position. If the elevators are not automatically recalled to the lobby (or designated area for that building) do so with the FF service key (Phase 1) The elevator keys are usually in the knox box. REMEMBER to use 'Firemen Service' elevators only. A general rule of thumb is if the fire is reported below the 8th floor, take the stairs and if it's above the 8th floor, take the elevators two floors below the CONFIRMED fire location. This isn't a hard fast rule and there will be exceptions so we have to be flexible depending on other factors.
Always check the shaft for smoke/water (sprinkler activation) and the "blinking white helmet" on the display panel before using an elevator. Do NOT get in the elevator if the fire helmet is flashing. The shunt trip breaker has tripped and will stop the elevator. A heat detector, sprinkler or smoke condition in the hoistway or machine room will shut down the mainline power prior to a sprinkler activation trapping firemen inside with no control. Firemen will have to force their way out, or rescued by other firemen. Some elevators may continue to the next landing, open doors and go OOS.
Identify elevators servicing a blind shaft and elevators that service only the floors ABOVE the fire. Never take elevators directly to the reported fire/alarm floor or a subdivision. If you're not sure of the fire floor, prioritize locating it!
Coney Island Brooklyn NYPD LODD Taking Elevator To Fire Floor
WARNING Be aware of open shafts! Many urban areas have vacant highrises and midrises. Scrap thieves and vandals remove hoistway doors leaving open shafts. In addition, be careful with outward opening doors in hallways as these can be "swing" doors leading to an open elevator shaft when crawling down hallways in poor visibility conditions.
A firefighter in Chicago was killed searching for the fire on the second floor of a vacant warehouse and fell down the open shaft to the basement in low visibility.
Chicago Firefighter killed falling down elevator shaft
A firefighter in Cincinnati was killed in 2015 doing just that AFTER it had been marked "do not enter" by a prior crew. The fireman was looking for his crew and opened the door falling 24' to his death landing between the elevator and wall.
Cincinnati Firefighter killed in unsecure elevator shaft
Elevator Use During Fire: An 8 year study of 179 major fires in buildings where elevators were present revealed that elevators failed at 59 fires. That's one-third of the major fires. Fire, heat and water caused electrical malfunctions in those elevators.
Click here for our elevator page.
ENTRAPMENT: In residential high-rise fires, firemen have become lost/disoriented in dead end hallways, ceiling collapses, bathrooms, trash chutes, elevator shafts and janitor closets. While crawling around in commercial buildings, especially core construction, it's easy to get tangled up in wires from the plenum space above suspended ceilings, in addition to the many partitions, computer equipment, power strips-cords, desks, and chairs in an office building.
Asheville NC Highrise Fire LODD Mayday "Alarm Activation"
WIND DRIVEN FIRES: The biggest danger of fighting an upper floor high-rise fire is a wind-driven fire pushing the inferno down the public hallway like a blowtorch. Described as "blowtorch" fires by the firemen who have survived these incidents, they are caused by strong winds entering the fire compartment through open (broken) balcony sliders or windows, and driving the intensified fire through the open door leading to the public hallway. The hose team will be overwhelmed as the fire blows towards them. See videos below on wind driven fires. (Flow paths)
When it comes to high-rise buildings, the wind will most likely be stronger on the upper floors and along coastlines. Companies arriving on scene at a reported high-rise fire could have slight wind conditions at the ground level, but upon arriving to the 28th floor they are met with strong wind conditions blowing fire out of the open apartment door into the public hallway.
Firemen must be prepared for "blowtorch" fire conditions in high-rise fires on the windward side of the building, especially if the windows in the fire apartment fail due to fire, are left open by fleeing occupants, or prematurely vented by firemen.
Door control is also very important, but if the occupants left the door open, the fire has the potential to enter the hallway continuing a dangerous path that can reach temperatures of 2,500° F. Taking a fire with that intensity HEAD ON with a 150-180 GPM line will be difficult, if not impossible. Several factors must to be present to create the blowtorch effect, but firemen still need to recognize the warning signs. Reduce the path by controlling the doors and coordinating with the vent team. These wind-driven fires can occur with gusts as low as 10-15 MPH.
Many firemen have been killed, or seriously injured during wind driven highrise fires, disorientation in dead-end hallways, and taking elevators directly to the fire floor.
This video highlights the size-up considerations for fighting wind-driven high-rise fires.
This video explains how to identify a wind-driven high-rise fire
NIST: Excellent video on wind-driven fires in Chicago.
Video on fire growth during reflex time.
Marco Polo High-rise fire in Honolulu Hawaii in July of 2017. Three residents were killed.
Pressure Restricting Device.
Take a look down the hallway and decide if you're only going to need a 50-75' section or the entire 150' to reach the furthest room inside the fire apartment. Don't always assume that there's going to be a long hallway leading to the fire apartment when estimating the stretch.
Imagine deploying the high-rise pack, and connecting to the standpipe only to discover the fire apartment is directly across the hall from the stairwell, or worse, will not reach the fire area. Recon and estimate.
For high-rise fires estimating the stretch isn't that difficult. There's room for excess hose because we are stretching from the stairwells most of the time which gives us a few landings and a few flights of stairs to flake excess hose.
PRESSURE REGULATING DEVICES (pictured above) are pressure-restricting devices, pressure-reducing valves, and pressure control devices that are designed for the purpose of regulating, controlling, or restricting water pressure in order to limit standpipe outlet pressure in flowing conditions. In 1991 after the tragic One Meridian Plaza fire in Philadelphia PA, these regulating devices became an essential part of high-rise operations, and many in the fire service starting recognizing these devices as a serious problem. For more on PRD's, PRC's, PRV's - CLICK BELOW
NATIONAL FIRE SPRINKLER ASSOCIATION
ENGINE COMPANY STANDPIPE OPERATIONS: PRESSURE-REGULATING DEVICES
CHANGES IN HIGH-RISE BUILDINGS: IS IT TIME TO CHANGE YOUR PROCEDURES?
RECON: It's not always necessary to recon the floor below the fire. If the building occupant is telling the fire department that the fire started in their apartment which is 17B, and the alarm panel has activations from the 17th floor on up, there's a good chance it's apartment 17B. If the hallway conditions are tenable and visibility is clear enough to locate the fire apartment, there's no need to recon the floor below; UNLESS there's a need to check wind direction. Opening the window of an apartment on the floor below, or adjacent to the fire to check wind conditions is beneficial when checking for potential wind-driven fires. But, it's also very time consuming, if you can even access an apartment. The reflex time for high-rise fires is already long enough, so try to obtain wind direction from the IC or when approaching the entrance to the building after arrival. Cracking a hallway or stairwell window on the fire floor (if present) is quick and effective. If there's poor visibility on the fire floor, the officer can take a minute to recon the floor below to determine the location of the apartment, distance, and layout. The rest of the crew should be preparing for the standpipe stretch and "masking up."
In many cities, the Truck Company will recon the fire floor, force the fire door and refuge apartment door if needed for the engine company while they're making their connection and preparing the stretch. When deteriorating conditions and poor visibility exist in the hallway, using a thermal imaging camera can assist finding the fire area. The fire compartment will have high heat registering around (top) the door frame.
TIP: If the stretch from the floor below to the fire apartment will not reach, but from the fire floor will reach, and the hallway is clear (fire apartment door is closed) if the strategy is to hook up on the fire floor standpipe to reach the apartment, it MUST be from an enclosed PROTECTED stairwell. This is unbelievably a controversial tactic and will depend on various factors the company officer must consider when making this decision (stretching from an enclosed stairwell, tenable conditions, sprinklered hallways, stage of fire, capability of his crew) Consider correctional facilities, nursing homes, hospitals, parking garages, arenas, stadiums, schools and other occupancies where this is the best or only option. Obviously, we don't consider this in open stairways tenements, etc.. Sadly, common sense, good judgement, and countering robotic tactics is also controversial in the fire service.
THE STAIRWELL STRETCH CLICK HERE
This fire in was intensified by a fire pump that was turned off in addition to a frozen FDC supplied by the pumper, leaving firemen inside the apartment with heavy fire and no pressure from the standpipe.
A preconnect line was stretched from the street. Always have a plan B... VIDEO
In parking garages, mid-rises and some high-rises, it's common to stretch 2" and 2 1/2 lines up the open stairwell or exterior (fire escapes) to the floor below (portable standpipe operation) with a gated wye to stretch handlines to the fire area. These can also be used when an FDC is out of service or there's a problem with the standpipe.
These inexpensive pieces of rope are great for securing stairwell doors to the riser (10') when you want the door open just enough for the line to get through without being pinched, and with very limited smoke intrusion. Several pieces can fit in the cargo pockets of bunker gear without taking up space or adding weight. Cherrybombs also work well
Routine? An Engine Captain was killed and another injured in a residential high-rise fire that was dispatched at 04:45 as analarm activation. The Captain became disoriented and was found near the elevator common area. Fire CaptainLODD in high-rise apartment fire. Click here for report.
In 2009, two firemen were killed in a wind-driven fire. Click here for LODD. Less than six minutes after arriving on-scene, the victims became disoriented as high winds pushed the rapidly growing fire through the den and living room areas where interior crews were operating.
A flashover in the hallway forced crews to abandon the hoseline and retreat. Unfortunately this is a dangerous risky tactic. Using the hallway cabinet on the fire floor can have deadly consequences.
NEW YORK: Three people jumped to their deaths and four others were killed when flames turned a 35-story Manhattan apartment tower's refuse chute into a giant chimney. Twenty-five others were injured in the blaze, which briefly trapped rescuers who had braved choking black smoke to rouse residents by blowing whistles and pounding on doors.
In addition to convection, conduction and radiation, major fire spread concerns in a high-rise will be void spaces and auto-exposure. Additional possibilities are reflex time, adjacent exposures, wind conditions, stack effect, vertical shafts
HVAC, failure of protective systems, plenum spaces, open areas, and exterior Insulation and finish systems.
Air handler malfunctions are rare incidents that have the potential to result in fire and smoke conditions triggering alarm activations. The air handler in an HVAC system has electrical and mechanical components in it that can experience problems from time to time such as clogged filters, faulty wiring, worn belts, fan motors and compressor issues.
HVAC systems in commercial buildings can be beneficial and assist the fire department, but also create problems for them as well. Firemen must have a basic understanding of HVAC systems.
Alarm activations with smoke conditions in numerous locations will send firemen to multiple floors trying to locate the source. Checking the trash chute hopper doors in the hallways on each floor, can determine if the smoke is coming from the compactor room or incinerator area below. If there's an odor of burning garbage, it's possible it's a stuck trash bag between floors. Most compactor rooms have sprinklers directly above them (activated sprinkler is an indicator when reading the alarm panel) but smoke and carbon monoxide can still fill the upper floors. Have a company check out the compactor room.
REMEMBER: Most alarm panels will identify an alarm activation in the compacter-chute room. Some trash chutes have are equipped with sprinklers, while others have been taken out of service, with the hopper doors permanently closed shut.
See how modern trash chutes work.
COMPACTORS: Small compactors and dumpsters with wheels can be rolled out onto a nearby loading dock and extinguished, but others are heavily secured commercial compactors that will need to be extinguished in place. Working around compactor machines can be very dangerous as they can lead to crush injuries. Secure the power AND movement of a compactor and be careful where you place pike poles/hooks arms and hands when attempting to remove a blockage in the compactor/chute.
INCINERATORS: Incinerators are supposed to burn. The problem with incinerators are obstructions in the chimney when improperly used as a trash chute, causing smoke to exit from open hopper doors BELOW the blockage point. To located a blockage, check the lower floors/chutes and work your way up until there's no smoke exiting from the hopper doors. The blockage will be below that location. Try to dislodged with a pole/hook/chain or by other means. Bring the water can.
7 DIE AS TRASH FIRE RACES UP TRASH CHUTE IN SKYSCRAPER
2 INJURED IN SOUTHSIDE INCINERATOR FIRE
PARKING GARAGES: Fires in parking garages adjacent to high-rises buildings.
PARKING GARAGES CLICK HERE
The MGM Grand fire occurred on November 21, 1980 at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino (now Bally's Las Vegas) in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fire killed 85 people, most through smoke inhalation. See video below.
One Meridian Plaza high-rise fire, February 23, 1991. Three firefighters were killed fighting the 12 alarm blaze just south from Philadelphia's City Hall.
Long Beach CA Galaxy Tower fire. One resident from the upper floors jumped to his death.
"During the late evening of May 4, 1988, and the early morning of May 5, 1988, members of the Los Angeles City Fire Department successfully battled what has proven to be the worst, most devastating high-rise fire in the history of Los Angeles. Extinguishing this blaze at the 62-story First Interstate Bank Building, 707 West Wilshire Boulevard, required the combined efforts of 64 fire companies, 10 City rescue ambulances, 17 private ambulances, 4 helicopters, 53 Command Officers and support personnel, a complement of 383 Firefighters and Paramedics, and considerable assistance from other City departments. 2nd Video Click Here
This devastating fire occurred in New Orleans, LA in November 29, 1972. It shows 5 women having to jump from the 15 floor as fire raced through the beauty salon they were in. Warning: Viewer Discretion Advised
When preplanning residential high-rises in district, make the priorities the following:
Locations of the FDC, knox box, annunciator panel, standpipes, stairwells, bulkheads, elevators, nearby hydrants, and utility areas. Is the building sprinklered? Check for the presence of balconies, storage areas, underground/ adjacent parking, laundry facilities, or trash chutes.
If the fire is within reach of the aerial/tower ladder, usually 7th floor or below depending on setback, priority placement must be given. Placement will depend on fire area, configuration, traffic etc... It isn't always possible to take the corners of the building and placement will obviously will be decided on the fly. Truck company officers and drivers must take notice on approach.
Many residential, commercial and retail occupancies attached to high-rises will have underground parking. These fires produce an incredible amount of smoke and heat, which can infiltrate the building setting off alarms. From the street, it may look like a fire inside the building. Preplans are so important for high-rise buildings with attached occupancies and underground parking.
Class I standpipes are for fire department use only and have 2 1/2 hose connections.
Class 2 standpipes were originally intended for the buildings occupants to use during fire. These outlets are only 1 1/2 connections and usually stored in hose cabinets.
Class 3 standpipes have both 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 connections.
Stairwells from the fire floor up to the roof must be searched during, and after the fire. Many people in skyscrapers actually believe that if they can get to the roof they will be rescued by a helicopter, which is highly unlikely. They may be overcome by smoke when they realize the bulkhead door is locked, or that the stairwell they climbed doesn't even lead to the roof. Make this area part of the primary search.
Although rare, fires on the roof of high-rise buildings have some advantages. They are already ventilated, no upper floors exposed, usually no life hazard, and all floors below are usually clear and protected from fire spread. The dangers are firefighters falling off the roof and concerns with elevator machine rooms affecting elevator cars within the building. Standpipes are available on the roof and even some test outlets can be used. Some roof fires may require water application from an adjacent higher building.
The advantages of balconies during high-rise fires can be beneficial to occupants and firefighters. Windows can be ventilated if glass remains on the balcony. Trapped occupants have a shelter area for ladder rescues on lower floors. Those trapped and preparing to jump to their deaths will have a chance of surviving by climbing over to adjacent balconies. Aerials can be used for portable standpipe operations through lower apartments, stretching to upper floors during FDC or standpipe failure.
Fire broke out on the roof of a downtown Denver parking garage causing a big black cloud of smoke to billow over downtown Denver. This fire started in the mechanical room with CHILLERS and chemicals on top of a parking garage in Denver. See VIDEO here.
Are residents better off staying in their heavyweight fire-resistive high-rise apartments, or walking down 20 stories in stairwells full of smoke while firemen are trying to shuttle up equipment and hook up their lines?
During preplans, observe lowrise buildings from the roof. Locate their roof access and skylights for ventilation. Look for holes, heavy equipment, solar panels, billboards, water buildup, HVAC units etc.. While you're up there check out the EMR and penthouse.
Wind-driven fire experiment conducted on Governors Island by NIST and FDNY to examine wind driven fires.
Winds coming off the ocean were actually beneficial to firefighters during this wind-driven fire. See the VIDEO click here.
Parking garages several decks high can have similarities to a highrise. They may be adjacent, or underneath high-rise buildings.
HIGHRISE PENTHOUSE
TRENTON NJ
Stack Effect
Beyond the Reach?
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