FIREFIGHTING OPERATIONS IN HIGH-RISE HOTELS, PART 1

FIREFIGHTING OPERATIONS IN HIGH-RISE HOTELS, PART 1

BY JERRY TRACY

Hotels are high-risk occupancies. Contributing to the risks are the following factors:

Many occupants of the residences in hotels are transients, including dignitaries, government officials, and heads of state, who may cause political or religious dissidents to engage in radical behavior.

There are many diverse occupancies under one roof. They range from residences to areas of public assembly to commercial and industrial enterprises.

Large numbers are usually present. When hotels are experiencing good business, it`s not unusual to find the residential portions of the hotel full at the same time that the meeting rooms, ballrooms, restaurants, and cocktail lounges are full.

Combustible furnishings and interior finishes are prevalent.

BUILDING IS ANTAGONIST TO OPERATIONS

The added burden these factors place on the life safety features of a hotel make it more difficult for firefighters to locate, confine, and extinguish fires.

A hotel also presents all the hazards of a high-rise building. (In New York City, we define any building taller than 75 feet as a high-rise. Some municipalities consider 55 feet as the defining height for a high-rise.)

When confronted with a high-rise structure, we find the building itself is an antagonist to our operations. Much of the building is above the reach of ladders, which eliminates their use for rescue, ventilation, and outside water streams should a fire be of the magnitude to warrant their use.

Moreover, construction features in a high-rise limit our strategy and tactics. Personnel and equipment must be supplied to areas that are well above the reach of ground-level equipment. High-rise hotels for the most part are constructed of reinforced concrete and steel. These noncombustible structural components do not add to the fire loading but act as a heat sink by retaining most of the heat generated from fires within the walls, floor, and overhead portion of the structure. The physical design of the building dictates the strategy we will use in our operations: The access to a fire room, suite, or area and the direction of attack, for example, will be predicated on the building`s layout and the stairway locations.

On a positive note, many existing hotels have been retrofitted with automatic sprinklers as a result of the federal Hotel/Motel Fire Safety Act. New hotels are typically sprinklered under current building code regulations.

According to National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) statistics for the years 1989 through 1994, electrical problems involving some type of equipment, service panels, or motors were the primary causes of hotel fires. Fires in service areas and kitchens were the second most common type of fires, followed by fires in the residential portions and storage areas, which occurred less frequently.

FIGHTING A FIRE

Saving lives in high-rise hotel fires depends on locating the fire quickly, aggressively attacking it, and reaching any occupants who may be trapped through the interior of the building. Doing this requires a well-coordinated, aggressive operation. There may be hundreds, maybe even thousands, of people in any given hotel–all unfamiliar with their surroundings. Many could be on the verge of, or in a state of panic.

The fire service should seek to improve the communication between the hotel`s staff (responsible person, managers, and so on) and first responding fire department units. The aim is to better understand our purpose and clarify any misconception of our needs. All fire departments should have a plan or strategy of operations for high-rise hotels.

FIRE SAFETY PLAN

The hotel industry should be made aware of how its structure and organization would fit in in an emergency. Hotels should have a plan in place that will define their actions to protect life within the hotel–call it a Fire Safety Plan. It would focus on and specifically deal with life safety and the evacuation of guests and employees, when required. The plan would define the duties and responsibilities of each employee and what is expected of them during emergencies. Individuals responsible for providing information and resources should be made aware of the types of information the fire service needs and have it available for fire department units when they arrive. While that initial interaction is taking place, hotel guests are observing and critiquing the hotel`s reactions to the alarms. They can be beneficiaries or casualties of these actions. The reactions can set the tone for and ultimately affect the outcome of an operation.

The life hazard in hotels can be drastically reduced by appropriate fire protection measures but, unfortunately, they cannot be totally eliminated. Statistics have shown that in 50 percent of hotel fires in which the loss of life exceeded five individuals, the fire was incendiary in origin or labeled suspicious. Hotel management has a moral responsibility to protect guests and staff from fire hazards. In emergency situations, guests look to hotel employees for direction. They perceive hotel employees as authority figures and tend to follow their instructions, even when those instructions are contrary to the guests` planned actions. Consequently, panic is decreased, and the guests act rationally in a hostile environment.

One objective of the Fire Safety Plan should be to educate the staff through training and drills, which should be scheduled at least every three months. More frequent drills may be required, since personnel turnover is a common problem in the hotel industry.

Another Plan objective should be to educate guests. This is not easy. The first step is to include simplified instructions in “welcome” handouts in each room and posted notices. Posted direction and exit signs should be prominently placed in public areas and along escape routes. These signs should be looked on as a basic fire safety message for guests on entering the hotel. This positive reinforcement informs guests that their hotel cares about their safety.

Panic thrives on confusion. Ensuring that hotel employees and guests are well informed and acquainted with instructions for emergency situations will go a long way in avoiding panic. The administrative code in New York City requires that a fire safety director (FSD) be on duty 24 hours a day. This individual must have passed certain requirements and must have a certificate of fitness issued by the fire department.

Your city may not have this requirement, and your interactions may be with an on-duty manager or engineer. Develop a rapport with the hotels in your jurisdiction so that their personnel will understand your operational requirements and informational needs. The individual designated to interact with first responders and supply them with the necessary information can affect many lives.

EMERGENCY PROTOCOL

On the activation of an alarm, the fire department will respond within minutes. The designated (responsible) person or FSD at the hotel should do the following:

1. Ensure that the alarm has been transmitted to the fire department.

2. Ensure that the fire department is met with the information at a designated meeting point–the Fire Command Station (FCS)–known to the responding fire service units. The site of the alarm panel is an ideal location, because any additional alarms that might activate can be observed as they do so.

3. Confirm that a team has been dispatched to investigate the alarm. In hotels, this would be a fire brigade or members of Security. For safety reasons, one person should not be sent alone, if possible. It is important to determine whether there are any portions of the building in which communicating with the brigade with handheld radios will be a problem. If so, determine what can be done to overcome the problem.

4. Announcements to the affected area(s), such as “At this time an alarm is being investigated; we will keep you informed,” should be made routinely. The announcements may keep some guests from self-evacuating when it is not necessary.

POSITIONING APPARATUS

It is critical for civilian and firefighter safety that apparatus be correctly positioned when it arrives at the scene. Pumpers should be located at a positive water source in close proximity to the hotel`s fire department connection. The pumper may be at the fire department connection of the hotel`s main building or a complex of buildings, as per a preplan, while another unit may be responsible for connecting to a positive water source some distance away. It should be confirmed through communication that incoming units will supply a water relay or augmentation. Nothing can be taken for granted.

Ladder apparatus should be in a position to ladder the building when possible and when needed. When positioned close to the building, an aerial can be used to its maximum effectiveness. Portable ladders should be used for lower-floor fires. These ladders provide another means of access and, more importantly, sometimes a means of escape for a member who may become trapped or be in other trouble should conditions worsen for whatever reason.

When a fire or other emergency is confirmed, some specific information is generally available, but the first responding units will still need additional information. When a fire has not been confirmed, at times the only information available from the responsible person or FSD is that an alarm has been activated at a given location. It may be a smoke/heat detector, a water flow, or a manual alarm that a brigade or security team has been dispatched to investigate. The FSD or responsible person should provide the first responders with the characteristics of the reported location of the alarm–whether it is in a kitchen area, an elevator machinery room, an area with mechanical HVAC equipment, a ballroom, a service area, or a residential portion of the hotel, for example.

The results of the brigade or Security members` investigation is important. Whether you will accept their investigation report will depend on your rapport with the hotel personnel and the confidence you have in their abilities and training. If their investigation reveals no apparent cause for the alarm, you may request that the hotel reset the fire alarm panel at the FCS. If the alarm resets and holds, you may consider that the alarm was unwarranted and the device is defective.

An administrative rule for maintaining alarm systems and smoke detectors has been in effect in New York City since December 1991. Among its requirements are that the devices be serviced semiannually and that a sensitivity test be conducted annually. Records of these events must be kept. This rule not only ensures that the system will function properly but hopefully will reduce the incidence of defective and unwarranted alarms, which are debilitating to the fire service.

If there is a delay in finding the cause of the alarm or in receiving positive feedback from the brigade or any indication of smoke or heat, you must investigate the alarm. Having been briefed with information such as the location and characteristics of the area, you should adjust your strategy based on that information. Your next consideration is a safe means of reaching the area.

If you had been informed that an elevator machinery room is involved, do not use the same bank of elevators that the machinery room serves to reach that location. Use another bank that will bring you to that location safely. The incident commander may approve the use of a service elevator for the floors below the involved elevator machinery room. When there is the possibility of a duct fire in a kitchen exhaust hood, it is recommended that members be dispatched to the termination point of that exhaust duct for a report of conditions there. On arriving in the kitchen area, you may find that a flash fire that may have occurred may be out, but it may have already extended into the exhaust duct. The members dispatched to the termination point will be able to determine that based on the conditions they observe. You may have to make some very important decisions before ever leaving the FCS–the lobby or the alarm panel.

ACCESS

Belowgrade

Elevators are not an option. If the area is below the first-floor level or the FCS, use the stairs for safety reasons. The stairs used preferably should be those closest to the alarm site and that contain a water supply, a standpipe outlet. Consider how many access points will lead into the area.

Entering from a stairway allows for return to an area of retreat should you need that option. Using the stairs is much safer than using elevators. Elevators are electromechanical and subject to failure. They are located in tall open shafts, which act as flues or chimneys for the smoke produced at fires. Also, if you are directed to elevators initially, you would not know the location of the stairs or water supply for rescue and extinguishment purposes unless that information was gained through prior knowledge or at the initial exchange of information. The fire could be in or in close proximity to the elevator lobby in which you would be arriving. Using an elevator to go belowgrade may prove fatal.

All high-rise hotels should be equipped with fire-rated doors to all stairways. Walk ramps leading down to a cellar or subcellar or drive ramps leading to motor vehicle parking garages may be available. If a fire is to be fought using a standpipe as a water source, accessing from the stairways is the best choice, since most of the connections are within or in proximity to the stairways. If you enter ramps, you may not know the location of the stairways, and locating them in heavy smoke is difficult. You may find that fire is blocking your access to a stairway and standpipe. Should access from walk or drive ramps be more advantageous, consider stretching handlines directly from the pumper down these ramps, which will also protect your members.

For alarms that originate in the public areas of the building, seek a stairway that provides close access and a water supply and that keeps firefighters from moving among the guests so as not to alarm them unnecessarily.

In smaller hotels, generally only two stairways serve the upper floors. In the larger, more complex hotels, floor plans and stair-identification signs are important for life safety and operational effectiveness.

Abovegrade

Should the fire be on a lower floor, say within the first seven floors, consider using the stairs to ensure your safety and guaranteed arrival to the fire floor. Consider the following: How many stairways serve the building? Are they of the return type or scissors configuration? Do they serve every floor or every other floor, and do they all terminate at roof level?

If the fire is above the seventh floor, recall the elevators to the lobby and use the firemen service (FS) feature if it is available. Choose the bank of elevators that will provide the greatest safety, not speed.

Account for all elevators serving the fire floor. Check them for victims. Do not use an elevator in a bank that services the fire floor if a lower bank of elevators reaches within five floors of the fire floor.

When it is necessary to use an elevator in a bank that services the fire floor, do the following:

If an FS is available, use a car with that feature.

Select a floor (target floor) at least two floors below the fire floor or two floors below the lower level of an access stair in the fire area, whichever is lowest.

All members should don their masks before entering the elevator car. Maintain the face piece in the standby position. A radio and forcible entry tools must be in each car whenever the elevator is in use. To prevent overloading, no more than six firefighters should ride in an elevator car. If the elevator should malfunction or continue past the floor you selected (target floor), press or pull the emergency stop button. You must be careful during any emergency stop. Prepare yourself for the jolt of a fast-moving elevator car`s stopping abruptly. After an emergency stop, it must be determined whether the elevator can continue to a safe floor or occupants should attempt an emergency evacuation via a side or top escape hatch.

THE USE OF FORCIBLE ENTRY TOOLS

Forcible entry tools may be needed for the following operations:

Should the car not stop at the selected floor, activate the emergency stop button to stop the car in its direction of travel. If it stops between floors, tools may be needed to open the car hatches.

A tool may be used to pry the elevator car door open. Disengaging the car door interlock is another method for halting the car`s movement.

Should the car become disabled, a tool may be needed to extricate firefighters.

Tools may be needed if the elevator gives access into a secured area.

Stop the elevator at one or more stops on the way up as a precaution to confirm that it will respond to the selected floor. At each stop, select a new floor. Before leaving the lobby and at the precautionary stops, direct a flashlight up between the elevator car and the hoistway shaft to determine if any smoke or water has accumulated in the elevator shaft. Note the relationship of the elevator to the stairways. This can be accomplished by inspecting the “You are here” sign, which, if required, should be posted at each floor near the call button. Do this at the first and last precautionary stops. Floor configurations and the locations of the stairways may change. Determine as soon as possible if the fire`s location could affect the elevator`s operation, and notify the incident commander of your findings.

When elevators are not equipped with an FS feature, use them with extreme caution. Try to use a bank that does not serve the fire floor. If a lower bank of elevators can reach within five to seven floors, use these elevators for a safe assured arrival with minimal delay. When only one bank serves the height of the building, pick a precautionary stop to test the response of the elevator. When it is working properly, select a target floor and exit (all in the elevator) on that floor. Send the empty car back to the lobby. This should alleviate the possibility that firefighters will be brought above the fire.

Some elevators are programmed as full-cycle elevators. They must travel completely to the top terminal floor before returning to the lobby landing. This may place a firefighter in a hostile environment with no assistance. If the elevator malfunctions, notify the IC. Abandon the elevator and place it out of service. Continue to the fire floor using the stair shaft.

Maintain elevator discipline. Do not allow building service employees to operate the elevators. They will not have communication capabilities with the on-scene fire service, are not familiar with our operations, and do not have protective safety equipment. The fire service is faced with many dangers on the fireground; one of them is complacency.

With the IC`s approval, you may use the service elevators. Fires in freight (service) elevator lobbies are common. For this reason, they are considered a last resort in choice of access. Most hotels may have only one or two cars in the service bank equipped with FS. Stress to the hotel management that these cars must be free for use as much as possible. When moving equipment, furniture, and such, hotel employees should habitually use an elevator without an FS panel. Keeping these elevators free of obstructions that may have to be unloaded prior to use will prevent delaying operations in an emergency.

This type of knowledge and good habits can be instilled by training the entire staff–from the CEO down to the chief chef, chambermaid, and doorman. The doorman should be instructed to clear the front of the hotel for access by fire department apparatus. Cabs and large buses, which sometimes are two and three deep, obstruct access to the hotel, hose connections, and fire hydrants in front of the building.

CONFIRMED FIRE

When responding to a confirmed fire, the planned strategy and tactics are put to the test. The fire service will carry out its step-by-step procedures: gleaning information on arrival to determine the location of the reported alarm or confirmed fire, learning the characteristics of the area, and then choosing the correct and safe access route to that area. While responders are en route, the responsible person or FSD can ensure that the proper engineering personnel are summoned. They should be available to give information such as the locations of valves that must be shut or equipment that may have to be deenergized. In the case of high-voltage equipment, they may be able to deenergize the equipment to prevent injuries to firefighters and further extension of the fire. A responsible person or FSD sympathetic to your needs and who is always thinking ahead will help ensure a smoother, more efficient operation. n

(Bottom left) The old type of hotel, made of fire resistive construction and well compartmented. (Top right) Newer hotels, of fire resistive construction and well compartmented, are made of materials that have less mass. Smoke contamination is a greater problem. (Bottom right) This hotel has extensive commercial occupancies that include restaurants, banquet halls, offices, and meeting rooms. (Photos by author.)

Preplanning for hotel fires is important. Hotels have many features and characteristics that can present challenges to fire suppression. (Top left) Some hotels have many facilities that include meeting rooms, banquet halls, office areas, and gyms. (Top right) Obstructions in service hallways behind banquet halls. (Middle left) Fire loading in service hallways in the form of plastic trays used for food service. (Middle right) This service elevator lobby illustrates the obstructions and fire loading common to these areas. (Bottom left) This hotel room is used for storing furniture, mattresses, and other items. (Bottom right) Fires in the ducts of cooking exhaust systems increase the incidence of kitchen fires in hotels.

This Fire Command Station includes the alarm panel and provides information on the status of the HVAC and elevators and the ability to communicate throughout the hotel.

JERRY TRACY, a 20-year veteran of the fire service, is a captain of Tower Ladder 35 of the City of New York (NY) Fire Department. He is an instructor and developer of training courses at the FDNY Training Academy and lectures on firefighting operations, strategy, and tactics involving structures including high-rise, commercial, and residential buildings, as well as hotels.