- Author
-
Madrzykowski, D.
|
Kerber, S.
- Title
- Wind-Driven Fire Research: Hazards and Tactics.
- Coporate
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
Underwriters Laboratories, Inc., Northbrook, IL
- Journal
-
Fire Engineering,
Vol. 163,
No. 3,
79-82,84,86,88-90,92-94,
March 2010
- Keywords
-
fire research
|
fire hazards
|
high rise buildings
|
occupants
|
experiments
|
fire fighters
|
fire fighting
|
corridor tests
|
flashover
|
apartments
|
doors
|
corridors
|
escape means
|
time
|
temperature
|
heat flux
|
ventilation
|
fans
|
nozzles
|
evaluation
|
water
- Identifiers
- Standard Operating Guideline (SOG); Wind-Control Devices (WCDs); externally applied water; door control; Positive Pressure Ventilation (PVV); floor-below nozzles; size up the potential for wind-driven fire conditions
- Abstract
- Fires in high-rise buildings create unique safety challenges for building occupants and firefighters. Smoke and heat spreading through the corridors and the stairs of a building during a fire can limit building occupants' ability to escape and can also limit firefighters' ability to rescue them. In 2002, there were 7,300 reported fires in high-rise structures (buildings of seven stories or higher). Most of these high-rise fires occurred in residential occupancies such as apartment buildings. In fires that originated in apartments, 92 percent of the civilian fatalities occurred in incidents in which the fire spread beyond the room of origin. Changes in the building's ventilation resulting from opening doors or windows can increase the growth of the fire and allow it to spread beyond the room of origin and also increase the spread of fire gases throughout the building. In some cases, such as the October 2003 Cook County Administration Building fire, the fire flow into the corridors and the stairway prevented firefighters from suppressing the fire from inside the structure. This fire resulted in six building occupant fatalities and several firefighter injuries in the stairway. The failure of a window in the fire apartment in the presence of an external wind can create significant and rapid increases in the fire's heat production. Combined with open doors to corridors, stairs, or downwind apartments, wind-driven fire incidents have resulted in firefighter fatalities and injuries. The objective of the study discussed below was to improve firefighter and building occupant safety through a better understanding of wind-driven fire conditions and firefighting tactics that could be used to mitigate the fire hazard. The study included conducting two series of wind-driven fire experiments to demonstrate the hazard and examine the potential firefighting tactics. The first set of experiments was conducted in a laboratory; the second set was conducted in a seven-story acquired structure in New York City. Both sets of experiments were designed to expose a public corridor area to a wind-driven, post-flashover apartment fire. The door from the apartment to the corridor was open for each of the experiments. The conditions in the corridor were critically important because firefighters would use the building's corridor to approach the fire apartment, and occupants from an adjoining apartment would use it to exit the building.