Fire Chief/Administrator Thomas K. Freeman,
Lisle-Woodridge Fire District, Lisle, Illinois
Response: Positive-pressure fans are carried on apparatus in the Lisle-Woodridge Fire District. However, their deployment is generally limited to smoke movement after fire control.
Our department`s standard operating guidelines stress the need for proper, timely ventilation in an effort to control the fire. We advocate ventilation techniques that control the spread of fire and make interior conditions tenable for attack. Therefore, we stress prompt laddering and rooftop operations, which are performed by the truck companies in addition to their standard duties. We believe that a coordinated attack requires bringing the structure under control as quickly and as safely as possible, using aggressive “opening up” to allow the engine company to locate and confine the fire. Prompt attention to horizontal and vertical ventilation, along with cooling the environment, reduces the potential for backdraft and flashover. We continue to address the potential of positive-pressure ventilation as a tool on the fireground … a tool that has its place under controlled situations but not necessarily when the forces of nature are out of control.
The issue of a PPV fan`s effectiveness in moving large volumes of air–and, consequently, smoke–is not one to be debated or ignored …. There is a proper place for this tool. However, in Lisle-Woodridge, the use of PPV on the fireground is limited and is not a primary consideration in determining proper ventilation for structural firefighting.
