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Give us a rundown of the buildings themselves. Fireproof? how many stories? stairwells? standpipes? Whats your Dept. operating procedures for a fire on the upper floors in these buildings? Elevators w/ firemen service?
As far as the manpower problem you might have to use the minimal manpower to perform a defensive attack. Closing door to fire apt. if you can and windows above.
Barry,
Building construction in Spain is for the most part fire resistant, steel structure generally cement-clad. Newer highrises, specially office use, are proteced steel structures with lightweight floors. The Benidorm situation is mostly small residential apartments, 1 to 3 bedrooms, kitchenette, bathroom and combined living/dining room, many some 30 to 40 years old. Only until very recently, some 15 to 20 years ago, stairwells were unprotected and open onto each floor. Fortunately, it was customary to have only 4 to 6 living units per floor. A highrise by Spanish building codes is a building whose evacuation height is maximum 28 meters = some 94 feet = 9 stories. Highrise office buildings, hotels and hospitals are required to have emergency response plans implemented, highrise family residential use buildings no. Newer buiildings have protected stairwells, often including pressurized vestibules. Only a few specific buildings have purpose-built FD elevators. As I stated in the introductory note last year, Benidorm FD cannot get adequate manpower on scene in less than 1/2 hour. Several years ago in Madrid, the 26 storey Windsor office building burned down (several floors collapsed). One hour into the incident the Madrid FD had some 200 FFs on site. On FD arrival, there were no potential victims inside. 3 hours into the incident, the chief ordered all out and swithched to a totally defensive mode. The major Spanish cities can get reasonable manpower on scene in a brief time. Others, with fewer highrises - even 1 highrise is an potential disaster, do not have the resources available within their own services or even through mutual aid.
Barry Harpur said:Give us a rundown of the buildings themselves. Fireproof? how many stories? stairwells? standpipes? Whats your Dept. operating procedures for a fire on the upper floors in these buildings? Elevators w/ firemen service?
As far as the manpower problem you might have to use the minimal manpower to perform a defensive attack. Closing door to fire apt. if you can and windows above.
George,
I'd say the minute a report of a fire is called mutual aid should be sent right away, if thats not the plan already. Unfortunatley it sounds like the politicians have the same attitude everywhere. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" They never realize that with fires, its all about being prepared for the worst and hoping for the best. But when something happens they always blame someone else.
I work for the FDNY. Population coverage is almost 10 million and the largest vertical city on the world. We have enough manpower for high-rise fires. There has to be a number of factors for a high-rise fire to get out of control. We get a couple of really good high-rise fires a year. Always learning something new from each one. I know you said that the weather is usually mild but the wind condition on the upper floors can be different than the ground floors.
On a 10-77 (fire in a hi-rise multiple dwelling) we get 4 engines; 4 ladders; a rescue company; a squad company; an Engine for EMS work, a FAST ladder (firefighter assist and search team); and 7 chiefs. Not all the fires turn out to be bad enough to need this many but when they are bad you need more than this to combat the fire. this turns out to be around 68 ff's. There are many things to take care of and be prepared for during these types of fires. Sufficient manpower is very important.
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