Fires that occur in high-rise structures are a challenge to firefighters for a number of reasons. Firefighters may have strategy to tackle high-rise fire but no firefighter likes to contemplate the possibility of a high-rise fire emergency. When incidents involving high-rise fires, it can become a dangerous affair of protecting and saving the property and lives. For this reason, the provision of means of dealing with such incidents must assume at all times the possibility of, and need for, height rescue and extinguishing a fire at any time during rescue operations.
Introduction
Firefighters generally adopted the internal fire fighting strategy with the belief that the built-in systems in skyscrapers can contain and suppress fires. Firefighters connect hoses, which must be carried up the stairways, to pipes located in each stairwell. The fire apparatus in the street rely on the adequate water supply from fire hydrants to pump water up through the pipes for firefighters to fight the fire.
While buildings are constructed of fire-resistive materials, such as concrete and steel, the contents within each apartment or office unit will still fuel a fire. Flames and smoke can spread through corridors and open doorways into adjacent units or apartments due to a lack of ventilation. In addition, long hallways with no windows will contain the heat and fire gasses, making fire suppression more difficult. The high temperatures from the blaze can stop the firefighters from reaching above the fire floors where the fire is the strongest. If efforts to extinguish the blaze are hampered by the built-in systems not working properly, the high temperatures of the blaze can cause heavy damage inside the building and structural damage that block egress routes (e.g., debris on stairs or partially collapse interior walls).
When available, helicopters can be used to fly overhead and dropping water on the skyscraper to help extinguish the blaze. But a helicopter rescue above the fire is not feasible and would be too dangerous to handle because hot gas and smoke rises and the heat from the flame below would interfere with the rotor system. Notwithstanding, firefighters may be deployed to rooftops via helicopter, when such an action is found to be safe.
High-Rise Evacuation
High-rise fires pose significant life-safety challenges. A number of apartments or office units are located on each floor, making the occupant load greater in high-rise occupancy than a typical residential house. When incidents involving mass evacuation in a high-rise scenario beyond the reach of the aerial apparatus, it can offer a wide range of deadly problems for building management, evacuees and the firefighters. While most building management have a procedure for evacuation which is not dependent on the fire brigade, however, if the system fails then the firefighters will have to come to the search and rescue of saving lives at some point.
The safest thing for building occupants to do in a high-rise fire is to head for the nearest staircase on the floor to avoid being trapped and make their way out of a blazing high-rise. The super-high aerial ladders are not the sure way out of a burning high-rise as they have their limits
Evacuation will take quite long without using an elevator, especially for those in higher floors. In addition, there are people among the building population who may have difficulty or no ability to walk down stairs unassisted during emergency evacuation. If the smoke is too dense, occupants may not be able to get to the exit stairs located, the firefighters will have to come to the search and rescue them.
Height Rescue Equipment
Today’s firefighter is faced with not only a bewildering array of difficult and complicated high-rise rescue operations but also choosing the most efficient height rescue equipment for firefighter safety. The most important factors are the efficiency of the equipment and the speed with which personnel and equipment designated for rescue purposes can be efficiently put into use.
Traditionally, the rescuers from the Fire and Emergency Services Department are highly trained men to accomplish difficult and complicated height rescue operations in rope access techniques for high angle rescue. The department is also equipped with the super-high aerial ladders, and by raising the ladder apparatus to reach the target areas, it establish alternative access/egress paths. With a mobile/portable rescue chute mount to the Fire Department’s aerial devices, the apparatus facilitates a quick means egress for evacuees from height to reach the ground.
The mobile/portable rescue chute provides dual-purpose capability in one portable rescue unit package that provides the firefighters the ability to respond rapidly to high rise rescue operations under adverse conditions when space, speed and mobility for quick deployment are essential in a fire situation. The characteristic feature of the rescue chute is its flexibility of extending or shortening the chute length to the desired height that meet the specific and stringent requirements of most fire services worldwide.
The universal platform is uniquely designed for quick attachment to the bucket structures of standard platform of sky-lift or the aerial ladder fire truck when needed, provides a rapid, means of egress for victims direct from the bucket at the edge of window, roof-top, balcony to ground. It eliminates the time-consuming maneuvers involved in lowering and raising the platform, increases the evacuation capacity by almost ten times in comparison to using the conventional method. The longest length in used is 60m, on Bronto Skylifts.
In addition, the portability of this rescue unit provides the rescue personnel with maximum flexibility to carry the unit to the desired floor if the surrounding of the ground zero could not accommodate the fire truck. By the simple addition of accessories for setting up, the universal platform of the rescue unit can be positioned and braced to an exit point such as a balcony or a window for rescue applications to the outside of a building. The dual benefits and the versatility of the mobile version chute has become one of the most vital pieces of equipment used by many fire brigades globally for high rise rescue operations.
Search And Rescue
When incidents involving search and rescue operations in high-rise fires, it can become a dangerous affair once the building is deemed to be unsafe. Evidence have shown that firefighters performing search and rescue of saving lives were left incapable of saving themselves when the buildings became unsafe.
Searching a high-rise structure is manpower intensive and risky operation. Firefighters have the training, experience, and protective equipment needed to enter burning buildings. Thermal imagers are used to help locate victims as well as isolate the location of the fire to try and minimize the time firefighters is exposed to the intense heat. Firefighters may have a number of trapped or injured occupants to tend to. They would attempt to rescue those closest to the fire and then work outward in a methodical manner. In addition, fire and smoke spread into the corridor would have to be attacked by firefighters in order to access trapped occupants. This could quickly overwhelm initial available resources.
Each floor and apartment or office unit must be searched to ensure no victims are trapped within an apartment or unit. Standard procedure would be to search the floor immediately above the location of the fire first, and then work upward. Searching above a fire is a very dangerous operation. The heat and smoke of a fire are overpowering. The scenario may become even more complicated for the firefighters when some of the occupants are trapped above the fire floors and that the stairwells are impassable because of the intense heat and smoke. Floors below the fire would be searched last.
Conclusion
Fire and Emergency Services Department prepared for emergencies they hoped would never occur. High angle rescue techniques and super-high aerial ladders employed yesterday can soon become obsolete or irrelevant in today’s built-up environment as high rises progressively penetrating further into the skyline. In most cases, aerial apparatus have their limits in reaching the height of the high-rise - they can extend to 52 metre or 18 storeys; access is somewhat difficult and limited. Not all the building structures that are designed to support pedestrians and vehicles may support the weight of an aerial apparatus. Likewise, overhead structures may not allow sufficient clearance for the apparatus to operate safely and effectively. The building can be long enough that the aerial apparatus will not reach all of the structure from one location.
Fortunately, rare occurrence of major hazards in high-rise buildings means that more often than not, the real-life experience of high-rise rescue, mass evacuation and evacuating people with disabilities under urgent circumstances is not tasted. But when they do occur, a safe strategy would be to get as many people evacuated out of a blazing high-rise in a predetermined evacuation plan prior to the arrival of fire department. This approach is the only acceptable way in guaranteeing life safety prevention. The firefighters will still have to perform the floor to floor search to ensure that no one is left behind.
This article is contributed by Escape Consult Mobiltex (S) Pte Ltd, for more information on the escape chute – a height rescue method and an escape method for high rise evacuation, please visit our web-site at: www.escapeconsult.com
