High-rise building fire rescue scientific method

In contemporary society, residential buildings, office buildings, and other forms of high-rise buildings can be seen everywhere in large and medium-sized cities. Some conventional building fire-fighting routines do not seem to work well when the complex and densely populated high-rise buildings are used to extinguish fires. For firefighters, high-level fire fighting faces some special challenges.

High-level fire rescue is difficult

High-level fire fighting and rescue difficulties mainly manifest in three aspects:

First, the ground conditions of the fire site do not allow climbing ladder trucks to occupy space. However, for safety purposes, the elevators are restricted to use, and firefighters can only operate through the internal staircases of buildings.

The second is that exhaust ventilation is more complex and important. As a vertical exhaust ventilation staircase or elevator shaft may be used to evacuate the affected population; horizontal exhaust ventilation needs to break the window, and the resulting broken glass and other falling objects may hurt the ground population. At this time, due to the chimney effect, a large amount of smoke will rapidly rise vertically and accumulate in the upper floors of the building.

The third is communication, difficulty in commanding and scheduling. Walls made of reinforced concrete can seriously impede the normal use of radio communications equipment. Coupled with the large size and complexity of high-rise buildings themselves, adequate staffing, proper commanding, and tacit understanding are particularly important.

In order to reduce the pressure loss due to the increase in height and friction, firefighters had to take the heavy load and reach the fire floor. If a stairwell of a building is equipped with a fire riser or other type of interface device, the firefighters who normally carry loads shall each carry approximately 46m in length , 65mm in diameter and equipped with a water gun at one end, and the other end may be connected to an indoor fire hydrant interface. Fire Hose.

What is mentioned above is only part of the difficulties of fire extinguishing and rescue at the top, from which we can see the dangers and challenges of high-level rescue fire fighting for the affected people and rescue workers. Therefore, the U.S. government stipulates that all modern high-rise buildings within its national territory must strictly comply with the requirements of the relevant building and fire regulations. These regulations are usually written by the International Code Committee or the National Fire Protection Association of the United States and are used by local jurisdictions as mandatory laws and regulations.

Internal fire extinguishing device is essential

Nearly 30 years ago, all high-rise buildings in the United States have built-in firefighting systems, including equipment such as automatic sprinkler systems and indoor fire hydrants, to provide maximum protection for firefighters' life safety, fire control, and property safety. For the old high-rise buildings still in use, the government encourages the installation or modification of automatic sprinklers. Most new high-rise buildings use a combination of the two. Automatic sprinkler devices or indoor fire hydrant devices generally need to be connected to the fire pump to pressurize, and it is ensured that the water pressure in the fire layer is sufficiently large, and the fire pump is usually powered by electric or diesel engine. Some local fire safety regulations also require that there be a standby fire-fighting water supply system within the building to cope with the sudden interruption of public water supply system due to earthquakes and other factors.

Whether it is an indoor fire hydrant, an automatic sprinkler system or a combined system, it needs to be able to connect with the fire fighting mobile fire fighting equipment so that it can pressurize the fire fighting fire pump. Most new high-rise buildings are equipped with a separate set of devices that can deliver fire water to each building's fire system (azimuth). For firefighters, this makes it even more important to understand building profiles and fire emergency plans.

Some new regulations require that the built-in fire-fighting system must be able to deliver enough fire water to the highest point and edge of the building. In addition, the operation of the built-in fire-fighting system also requires some special equipment and components. Since the layout of the article is limited, we will not go into details.

Scientific command is a winning formula

In the process of high-level fire rescue, how safe evacuation of trapped people is crucial for fire fighters. If the trapped person can evacuate in a timely and orderly manner in accordance with the fire escape plan, the rescue pressure of the fire extinguisher will be relieved, thus focusing on fire fighting tasks or saving special personnel. However, in most cases, trapped persons are often unable to evacuate in accordance with the escape plan in time of a fire, and are prone to accidents such as stamping. Occasionally, it may be safer for a trapped person to stay in place or to evacuate to the next floor above the fire point than to escape the building. At this time, the firefighters are required to respond quickly, and the personnel evacuation plan (full withdrawal, partial withdrawal or no evacuation) is determined in time according to the site conditions, and the trapped persons are notified through various effective forms. According to past experience, it is advisable for the trapped persons to arrange special assistance during the evacuation to avoid accidents.

In summary, we can easily see that high-level fire rescue needs to dispatch and direct more manpower and material resources than ordinary firefighting and rescue. Therefore, the chief rescue commander is particularly important. In the United States, almost all fire accidents use ICS, the Incident Command System , and ICS can be flexibly adjusted according to the size of the accident. After the 9/11 attacks, U.S. rescue workers strongly demanded the establishment of a unified accident command system. In 2014 , NIMS, the National Incident Management System , emerged as the times require. ICS is an important part of NIMS . Regardless of natural disasters, high-level fires, chemical accidents and other emergencies, ICS has been recognized as the most effective standard in accident handling and resource allocation . In the process of high-level fire rescue, a large amount of manpower and material resources need to be systematically and systematically mobilized to complete various rescue objectives in the shortest time:

● Determine the fire layer

● Ensure that the fire fighting force is sufficient

● Provide life support for people in urgent danger

● Guarantee the supply of fire water

● Establish smoke exhaust ventilation equipment

In addition, there are some other tasks, including but not limited to the following:

Internal and external resource management, stairs, corridors, halls, elevators and other control, floor plans and access, door keys and so on. The fire department must have a clearly defined and easily implemented operational command plan. These programs must be simulated and trained in daily fire drills. The assignment of tasks must be based on the order of the fire equipment and personnel and the circumstances of the fire field, ensure that the division of labor is clear, and the rescue mission is completed successfully.

Fire battle methodical

To beautifully win a high-level fire rescue quake, it is also the status of the fire protection system in high-rise buildings. Therefore, the fire department must regularly inspect the fire protection system of high-rise buildings to ensure that they are in good condition. Building fire protection systems must be inspected periodically since installation. The inspection items include indoor fire hydrant outlet pressure and water flow, valves and interfaces, etc. to ensure that the first-level plan is effective and feasible, and standby plans can be started at any time. In addition, firefighters should be regularly trained to understand the performance of firefighting supplies, be familiar with firefighting and rescue plans, and be able to independently perform rescue when the plan is not feasible.

As a fire fighter, in the face of high-level fire fighting, there are several factors that must be considered. First, a fire hose with a diameter of 50-65mm and a length of 75m is prepared and transported manually to the fire floor. This requires many firefighters to cooperate with the operation. Second, some rescue equipment also needs to be arranged to prevent the fire from the fire floor increases (generally speaking, rescue personnel and equipment more concentrated in the layer 2 floors below the fire floor minimum) If the building has a fire control system, through the monitoring system Position the fire floor to race against the initial rescue to save time. When the firefighters use the stair well to carry out fire location and fire extinguishing operations, they should communicate with the commander and report on each floor. For example: “ XXXX report, there is a slight smog on the ninth floor. The tenth floor ... ” . Firefighters should be clear about the layout of the floor, such as a fire in Room 805 , and on the 4th floor, a clear identification of Room 405 close to the elevator, then you can speculate that the location of the fire is located on the 8th floor near the elevator room. After reaching the fire floor, rescue workers must confirm whether it is feasible to extinguish fire from the corridor. If it is feasible, immediately lay out the equipment for fire extinguishing, or you can use the stairwell to extinguish the fire (One thing to mention is to ensure that the personnel are adequate when entering a fire or fire room to extinguish the fire).

It should also be noted that if the hose is extended through a stairwell, the hose must be pushed in the direction of the outer wall and be controlled by a person to prevent pressure from moving. At the fire hydrant, personnel must also be provided to ensure that the water pressure is normal and the fire extinguishing needs are met. Control all room entrances and exits to ensure that the water guns are well-adjusted in advance. Arrange persons at the corners and doors to move the water supply lines at any time. Finally, ensure that the real-time rescue situation is reported to the command center in time and follow the command and dispatch.