WIND DRIVEN FIRES IN STRUCTURES

Published

July 1, 2010

Author(s)

Daniel M. Madrzykowski, Stephen Kerber

Abstract

Fires in high-rise buildings create unique safety challenges for building occupants and fire fighters. 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 limit fire fighters ability to rescue them. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in conjunction with the Chicago Fire Department and the Fire Department of New York City (FDNY), Fire Protection Research Foundation (FPRF) and NYU Polytechnic Institute have completed a study on wind driven fires. The study consisted of full scale, live fire experiments, in both the NIST Large Fire Laboratory and high rise structures, in an effort to better understand this phenomenon and to develop strategies and tactics that will enable firefighters to survive and safely fight fires under wind driven conditions. This is particularly catastrophic in high rises and similar buildings where the fire must be fought from the interior of the structure. However many of the lessons learned from this study have application to all residential structure fires.

Proceedings Title

12th International Conference on Fire Science and Engineering

Conference Dates

July 5-7, 2010

Conference Location

Nottingham

Conference Title

Interflam 2010

Pub Type

Conferences

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Keywords

fire fighting tactics, fire suppression, full scale fire experiments, high rise buildings, hose streams, structure fire, wind driven fire, wind control

Citation

Madrzykowski, D. and Kerber, S. (2010), WIND DRIVEN FIRES IN STRUCTURES, 12th International Conference on Fire Science and Engineering, Nottingham, -1, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=905897 (Accessed April 16, 2024)