Firefighters and Highrises: Bridging the Gap

By Matt Stuckey

There are two schools of thought. Some people insure their cars and wear seatbelts because they know they could have a wreck. No matter how well they drive, they know they need protection against other, less capable drivers. Others believe themselves too skilled and lucky to need such frivolous protection. Its the same with firefighters and highrise buildings. Many are surrounded by highrises yet sense no threat; after all, these are concrete and steel buildings, nothing more than sources of nuisance calls. In the extreme unlikelihood of a real highrise fire, they are confident in their ability to go up and knock it outjust like any other fire. If they have any problems, they are sure the building engineers will tell them what to do. Other firefighters who have experienced, heard of, or read about the life-altering effects of even moderate highrise fires see things differently. They know that although highrises are fire resistive buildings, the paper, wood and petroleum based contents can bloom into deadly, monumental fires. They are aware of how approaching highrise fires as ordinary structure fires has littered history with death and fire department embarrassment. They understand the fallacy of relying on building personnel for guidance, particularly under emergency conditions. These firefighters are seekers, always on the lookout for straws of information to better prepare for the big highrise fire. This book is for the seekers. They will find that many of the ideas they hold as standard truths are questionableeven dead wrong. They will find cause to reevaluate their thoughts on operating elevators, calculating pressure and pumping into standpipe systems, interacting with HVAC and smoke control systems, controlling utilities and more. They will be challenged to rethink their whole approach to highrise firefighting, from the arrival of the first company. Many will find reason to reevaluate their departmental highrise SOPs. There are two basic premises to this book. One is that although highrise fires cannot be treated as ordinary structure fires, the basic principles of firefighting still apply. That means prioritizing the protection of endangered building occupants. To that end, considerable space is committed to understanding smoke movement in highrises. That leads to the other guiding principle of this book: Understanding building emergency systems is fundamental to effective highrise emergency management. In addition to learning previously unavailable secrets of highrise systems, firefighters will learn to work with highrise engineers and managers to better prepare their buildings for emergencies. They will also learn to deal with the fact that highrise building personnel are much like firefighters; some are seat belt wearers and some are not.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1432797549
• ISBN13: 9781432797546
• Release Date: October 2012
• Publisher: Outskirts Press
• Length: 302 Pages
• Weight: 1.63 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.0" x 0.7" x 7.0"