MORE ON STAIRS
RANDOM THOUGHTS
Let’s continue our discussion on stairs.
Multiple dwellings have a myriad of types and constructions of stair assemblies, which affect all firefighting efforts: line stretching, safety, collapse, rescue and removal, access and egress for firefighters and evacuation for victims, ventilation, and water supply. Stair construction can be wood, metal, a combination of metal and wood, or stone (usually marble). While wood is most common and presents the greatest hazard (you should have figured this out for yourself), there also are hazards with the others. The marble treads tend to crack and weaken with age—and most certainly with fire. The hazard is twofold: First, the firefighter may fall through the tread or landing, and second, the collapsing stone is a terrible falling object hazard to firefighters using the assembly directly below.
The types of stairs can directly affect firefighting operations —especially in terms of how fast the line is stretched and how many lengths and firefighters are needed to get to the fire floor.
Return-type stairs are those ascending halfway in one direction and back to the same starting point on the next floor. This is best for our purposes. because it allows a staging area for the nozzle team only ½ floor below the fire floor. If a standpipe is located at the landing this type of stair serves, it will be in the same location on all floors above.
Most return stairs have well holes (the space between banisters as the stair constantly changes direction 180 degrees for its entire run, actually forming a narrow, open “shaft”). Why is this so important? Well, if there is no well hole in the stair assembly, you figure that you will use close to one length of hose for each story you need to ascend; then add the amount for the fire floor and possibly the floor above—a long stretch and water delay. You will have to plan to hold onto at least 100 feet of hose until you get to the floor below the fire for operations. This means that the second and third firefighters on the stretch have an exhausting problem stretching the additional needed hose (more support for the theories on less and less staffing).
Conversely, if there is a well hole, you need only one length for each four or five stories. The nozzle team can drop the hundred feet at the base of the stairs (four floors or less below the fire floor) and calmly grasp the nozzle and walk the stairs until they get in place at the floor landing below the fire. How and what you do to get the hose for the firefight and where you put it are subjects for another column.
Scissor stairs. These are a confusing nuisance for the entire firefight! There usually are two stairs in the same shaft (remember your building code and the remote stair access demands?). The building trades solved this problem by having two straight-run staircases pass each other within the same enclosure. This means that you will enter the staircase from one side of the building and exit on the other side—one floor above. The only time you can exit the staircase at the same side of the building is on alternate floors. The greatest nightmare is that the standpipe located at a stair entrance “reappears” in that run of stairs only on every other floor. The nightmare is in the preplan and sizeup for and direction of fire attack.
Another problem with these scissor staircases arises in communities that have no fire prevention/preplan activities performed in the field by line companies. There are some instances in which people assigned to label staircases (especially in high-rise buildings) take the letter assigned and go by elevator to the same stair door location on every floor! Thus, stairway “A” on one floor is labeled as stairway “B” on the floor above—a real communications and accountability mess!
Wrap stairs. These stairs are located in older buildings. They are threetiered from floor to floor. They usually wrap around an elevator shaft or building service shaft. This means that you have to travel on stairs in three different directions for each floor. If you remember your hose stretch obstacles with corners and direction changes, you can see what a personnel problem this presents to get the first line in place. Every inch of hose must go around four corners for each floor. How many people do you think you will need for a fire on the fifth floor of such a building?
The second line stretched in buildings like this is usually by rope, dropped from an occupancy on the floor below the fire. You still must protect the interior stair with the first line.
Out of space again. If the subject of stairs hasn’t gotten too boring, I’ll be back again next month with more.
