STAIRWELL MARKING SYSTEM
The Overland Park (KS) engine and ladder company responded to an alarm in a high-rise office building. The captain reported that there was nothing visible from its six stories and they would investigate. Since it was a weekend, there were no maintenance personnel to guide them to the source of the automatic alarm. The truck captain, the engine lieutenant, and a firefighter retrieved the building master keys from the rapid entry key box system and proceeded to the alarm panel.
The outdated alarm system did not offer much information, so a recon team was sent into the stairwells to search for the cause of the alarm. As the team reached the stairs to the top floor, members picked up the odor of smoke and could see it pushing out from behind the fire door, accumulating at the top of the stairwell As the lieutenant quickly moved up to feel the dtxir, he could feel the radiant heat on his face.
Photos courtesy of Overland Park (KS) Fire Department.
“Engine 424 to Truck 454! Jim, we’ve got a fire on the top floor!”
As more units were called to the scene, the engine and truck drivers hooked up to the building’s suppression system. Then one of the drivers headed for the stairs with additional high-rise hose bundles, SCBA, and a portable radio. Precious minutes ticked by.
“Engine 424 to Truck 454, do you have another high-rise bundle coming up?”
“424, that’s affirmative. McCormick should be just about there.”
“McCormick to 424, what floor are you on?”
The engine officer responded, “424 to McCormick, bring the high-rise pack to the landing below the top floor.”
McCormick radioed back, “424, I’m all the way to the top of the stairw ell where the smoke’s puffing around the door, and 1 don’t see you.”
The officer shouted down the stairwell, then keyed his portable. “Mike, did you hear me?”
“I don’t hear anything here. What stairwell are you in anyway?” the firefighter responded.
“Do you see a floor number?” the officer asked.
“Yeah, five,” was the response.
“That’s right where we’re at, too. You must be in another stairwell. Go back down to four, and I’ll send one of my guys down to find you.”
The crew’ eventually got the extra hoseline and extinguished the fire, despite being hampered by the confusion in the stairwells.
THE PROBLEM
Overland Park, like many towns, is a rapidly expanding city. The majority of its high-rise buildings are less than 15 years old, and the fire department’s high-rise fire experience had been limited to a few minor incidents.
OVERLAND PARK FIRE DEPARMENT STAIRWELL MARKING SYSTEM
Note: Red equals primary stairwell (direct roof access); yellow equals secondary stairwell. Directions to nearest roof access are provided at standpipe connections in stairwells that terminate below roof level.
The fire building in the incident above is a center-core high-rise structure with two stairwells in the core. This in itself presents no problem, but the two stairwells are scissor-type stairs that criss-cross between floors. If you enter the stairwell at the north end of the ground floor, you exit on the south end of the second floor, north end of the third, south on four, and so on. The other stairwell is a mirror image; you enter on the south and alternate north, south, north, and so on. This can create much confusion in a firefighting scenario.
THE SOLUTION
Our department discussed how to mark the stairwells in every high-rise in our jurisdiction (whether scissortype or not) so that responding personnel easily could identify which stairwell they were in. The system we finally adopted involved color-coding with reflective tape to identify each stairwell in a building. Fire department companies had the task of marking building stairwells in their response districts, and they followed these procedures:
- Contacted the building owner or manager and explained the marking system and why the fire department
- wanted to use it in the building.
- Used the reflective tape on every floor within a stairw ell or anywhere there is an exit or entrance to a stairwell. Adhered the tape around the standpipe or center post of the hand railing (to keep it from being rubbed off by people using the rail) as close to 48 inches above the floor as possible. The colors used are red — primary stairwell w ith direct roof access or closest access to the roof, yellow—secondary stairwell, bluethird stairwell, and white—fourth stairwell.
- If the stairw ay had no roof access, hung laminated directions from the standpipe or railing on the top floor showing a floor plan and directions to the nearest roof access.
- Checked and maintained stairwell markings as part of an annual inservice inspection program. (New buildings are marked by on-duty shifts when they open.)
The stairwell marking program has not met with any negative response from building managements. The stairwell marking and our in-service inspection programs have proved invaluable in educating our personnel about the buildings and hazards in our city. When our crews are out on inspections, training, or prefire planning, they identify their positions using the stairwell marking system.
The stairwell marking program streamlines our high-rise operations and makes crew tracking, movement, and accountability easier for the incident commander. A recent drill in an unfinished high-rise structure showed how important this can be. The building’s stairwells had not been marked yet, which hampered crew movement and directions. Crews directed to staging who entered the w rong stairwell would find themselves on the wrong side of the staging floor. It was only through the control of the operations officer that both stairwells were not filled with hose. In an actual incident, the marking system helps the IC identify and reserve stairwells for use in attack, ventilation, evacuation, and movement of personnel and equipment.
