Fire in Jersy

[chilidog]

Ron,
What about elevator shafts and stair wells? I know they have concrete walls that could possibly insulate them from the main fire, but it seems like they could act as giant chimneys too. Would the draft pull the fire up and out any open doors above? They always say in a fire to take the stairs and not the elevator. Would it help if an elevator's power fed from a separate source so that the building fire wouldn't affect it? Thinking about drafts, I imagine that updrafts play havoc on helicopter rescue from tall buildings. Does the building height affect how far you have to watch away from the building? I remember the news showing a fire in Galveston when Rita was blowing in. The high winds were blowing sparks for several blocks.

Chilidog

[39mto39g]

Ok. One question at a time,
Elevators, When the fire alarm sounds in a highrise in Sugar Land the elevators automaticly go to the ground floor. You should not use an elevator because the elevator in buildings somewhere other than Sugar Land because the elevator has a good chance of stopping at the Floor that is on fire and then you die when the doors open.
Stairwells, In Sugar Land the stairwells are pressurised when the fire alarm goes off, Which means you can go into a stairwell and find fresh air because even if people leave the door open at the fire floor, the stairwell being pressueise will just put air into the floor not let smoke out of the floor. other cities may have different regulations, and even if the stairwell is not pressurise you know where you are going if you go down,
Helicopter rescue from a roof,
although it is a tool, Its not a very good one, High winds and updrafts cause major poblems with a helicopter, if you have no other way, use a helicopter but if there is another way , don't use a helicopter.
Sparks,
Sparks from a fire are a problem with fighting any kind of fire, Fire when it get big makes its own weather, The wind going towards a big fire can reach 50 or 60 mph, this inturn spreads the fire which makes it bigger which makes more wind which spreads the fire and so on.

When you stay in a highrise building its a good thing to get with building maintanance and ask them a few questions for you information,

Ron

[MarineAO]

Ron I'm a Chief Engineer for hotels and have worked in what you would consider a high-rise one 28 floor hotel and two 8 floor hotels. The hotel in California 8 floor we did not have pressurized stairwells but they were heavily exhausted with fans on the bottom blowing in and fans on the top blowing out. The doors fron the hallways were locked from inside the stairwell to the halls but freely accessable from the hall to the stairs to prevent re entry in to the halls (fire fighters were provided keys to pass through these doors). The hotels in Washington State the staires ONLY have fans on the bottom to blow fresh air into the stair well with vents only at the top and the doors are locked in a simular fashion to the ones in Cali. We have regular quarterly drill with the local FD and monthly on our own. In every building I have worked in I try and have a GREAT working relationship with the local FD cause these Guys and Gals can make a BIG DIFFERENCE if the need arises.

One other thing I have done while working on boats is go to Shipboard firefighting schools ( when one is on a boat underway there is no FD to come put a fire out it's on the crew) and I learned alot from them and try to put that knowledge to work in my hotels.

One other thing I would like to mention. If it wasn't for the Wasugale, WA fire dept I would not be here today. When I had the heart attack on Feb 2, 2005 these guys saved my ass (don't know why but they did) and I thank them every day.

Keep up the good work and THANKS AGAIN.

[39mto39g]

First, its always a good thing when your life is saved.
Then a pressurized starwell is a starwell that has fans blowing in from the bottom and exiting through the top. I don't know why one of your buildings had a fan at the top blowing out. Maybe because of the hight, Those are pressurised starwells. We carry a key to all the doors in our city, AXE.
Our city has what they call a Knox box system, Its a harden steel box 5 inch by 5 inch that has a pad lock on it, Inside are master keys for the building, each fire truck has a key to the padlock. Now we don't have to use the axe as much, Darn.

Buy the way locking starwell doors to prevent entry from a stairwell to a floor would fly in our city. Just think. The fire is on the 5th floor and its now burned through the stairwell door and you are on the 11th floor and exit into the stairwell, now you can't get back inside anywhere, not good. Thats almost as bad as locking exit doors from the inside during business hours.

Ron

[39mto39g]

That "would" in the last paragraph should be a wouldn't. I can't edit. Sorry.

Ron