Author: Matt Stuckey

Publisher:

Published: 2012-10-01

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 9781432797546

For generations, life-saving features have been engineered into buildings yet the good news has been slow to reach firefighters and building operators. As a result, building engineers are sometimes unfamiliar with their emergency systems and firefighters continue to be guided by outdated traditions. If they address the subject at all, related publications and fire department SOPs tend to misinform firefighters about smoke movement and ventilation systems, commonly telling them to arbitrarily shut HVAC systems down. This book explains why that is bad policy and tells firefighters how to get the most out the life saving features of modern ventilation systems. The same misunderstanding of smoke movement continues to send firefighters to the top of buildings to rescue "the most endangered occupants" when in fact, smoke often never reaches the top floors. This book explains how ambient weather, a building's shaft configuration, and the fire's location determine where smoke is most likely to go, enabling incident commanders to better utilize personnel. Failed elevators are a recurring problem at highrise emergencies. Yet while much is written about elevator rescue, reliable information about elevator fire service operation is hard to find. This book gives firefighters the tools they need get those "failed" elevators running and tells them how to better manage elevators in general. Firefighters may be surprised to learn that prevalent formulas and charts for calculating fire department pump pressure into standpipe systems are flawed. They are more compatible with the dry standpipe systems of yesteryear than with modern systems. Very often, the pressures derived from those sources will be insufficient to get water into the system, leaving fire department pumpers simply churning water. From this book, firefighters will gain a new insight into standpipe systems, learn how to properly calculate pressure, and come to appreciate the reason why. Perhaps the worst fallacy