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    Buena revista

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    11 views44 pages

    1991 01 WNYF Unlocked

    Uploaded by

    Juan Reynaga
    Buena revista

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 44
    EMPIRE STATE FIRE FOAM EDU ILLEGAL DRUG OPERATIONS [UNWARRANTED ALARMS Asove ‘Aer along sretehtooditant hydront during wich he bocteronk war expended, E210 atest coat down a ‘brnng ronlormer nthe Brookyn Nowy Yard second ‘lam Brough tis fre under rise firefighting, as well—such as elevator use, search priorities, and radio interference When the first-alarm units began arriv ing, Ladder 7 used fireman's service to Insureo in THe Hatt U1 Don Daly of Engine ecaver treat rom EMS personnel He nda freighter, caught in he hest condanote that expos tom the fre suet Bewtorch want the Comal ben Centar Photo by Monine Horenbaeh Newsdoy Fre aD 8, Siep 0% 18 howe 1075 RESPONSE Sea bon, a5 Arak kom fire tower rele ise firefighting still played their parts. manually recall the passenger elevators to the lobby. A check for unconscious nce pants found none, and the clevator panel showed there were no cars stuck atthe fire oor or in shafiways. The company used one of the fireman's service elevators to ascend, but soon got stuck: B.C. Robert Marsh, Battalion 7, went to the fire command station in the lobby. The fire safety director wasn't there fo meet required by Local Law 5 ‘and dide' arvive at the post until a short while later Chief Marsh learned that the fire was on the Sist floor by checking the alarm panel's monitor sereen, which showed that a smoke detec tor had activated there. Building person- nel confirmed this, and added that about 200 people were stranded on the observa~ tion deck, at the 86th floor. The display indicated that the air conditioning on the Bist floor had shut down. (The Empire State Building doesn’t have central ai con- ditioning, which ean spread smoke an many floors.) ‘Accompanied by a building empfoyee, Engine Pand Laddey 24 took the freight elevator to the 49th floas, two floors below the fire. & light haze of smoke in the elo- vator ear caused Lt. James Kennedy of Ladder 24 to roquest a high-rise Frefight- ing assignment. ‘At the 49th floor, the building employee took the two companies to the stairway nearest where the fie was reported to be, a so-called "smoke-proof’ fire tower called stair T. Engine I connected the roll-ups and fittings tothe standpipe at the 50th oor, then played out the hose for a quick advance to the fire oor Ladder 24's Lt. Kennedy ordered his chauffeur, Fr Mike Capasso, to take the elevator down and bring up reinforce- ments. The officer directed Fr. William Henry to the floor above. Then he took Firefighters Malachy Molligan, Terrance Nicosia, and Joseph Boneillo with him out into the smoke-Filed, concrete hallway to determine just where, in the 16,000- square-foot area of the Slst floor, the fire was burning. ‘To their left, 20 feet down the hall, they ford it. Double glass doors led to olfice suite 5105. The lower part of the left door ae (1st/91) wnyr 3 os dns ai had been broken by building employees trying to put out the fire, which was now raging behind the clear glass. Several empty extinguishers Tay on the hall floor nearby The fire was feeding upon furniture, desks, computers, combustible wall cover ings, and plastic-insulated wiring from ahove a suspended ceiling, now collapsed. Smoke and heat billowed out of the hole in the xlass. Near the offce ceiling, flames swirled through thick, black smoke. Sucldenly, both glass doors crumbled in the heat. Flames spread out into the hall- vway, over the firefighters’ heads Lie ane Poor presse $/¢: FILL OUT BOX E65 ele Get hack to the stairway!” Lt. Kennedy shouted through his facemask. The four crawled, stumbled, and dove backwards through’ the smoky hallway and into the fire tower As Lt. Kennedy and his firefighters eated, Lt. Dan Daly and Firefighters frover Cason (assigned to Ladder 24) and Tin Farley advanced Engine 1's 2/6-nch line in front of them, toward the oncoming ames. The stream hit the halls conercte ceiling and fell back More pressure!” Farley shouted “There's no pressure!” He could hear the crash of spalling concrete in front of him. Lee stanonrey 10-76 Divs £33 HiRise BoB E26 Fld Comm 89 121 MSU Bn 10 12 £2 13 Istano oF HiGH-RIStS Nidiour ond dowsiown Marhoron| fre pacted wth ighias—one of the most dongorous types of binge invaicn ogee Wh housed cf peop nade dving working hos, the dongerin army of ess | enormous Photo by Alton Poore Poe ed ‘This is the minimum ossignment for 0 10-76 signal. The dispatcher might use is or her ‘own diucretion fo exign addtional uni And the dues of individual units right chonge af the scene ASSIGNMENT LOCATION DUTIES 1stond 2nd engine camponies Fire floor Siratch 1 ottack hse fine 3rd ond 4th engine comparies Fre floor Sratch 2nd ottack hose line ‘stand 2nd ladder companies Fie floor Seorch ord evacuation? Srd ladder company Foor above Search ond evacuation ‘th ladder company Roof top 5 floors, sors Search ond evacuation” Rescue company Eni building ‘As directed by chien ‘conmond. Asignments inode reconnatance search and evocuoton. advonce of atock hose line, mayday search, medial auc High-Rise Unit Stoging floor or Bring spars mask botles up ‘operations floor stretch hard-wie ‘communications sys 1st botalion chit Lobby command post Determine fre floor, tack stoi ond buling sa! information 2nd betalion chek Floor below fire Command fire otack” 3rd bottalion chief 5 flocrs above fre Coordinate search and operation evecuation? ‘Ath botelion chet 3 floors below fire Coordinate staging operations! Deputy chief Lobby command post Command ond contral Field Communications Unit Lobby Command onistance Command Post Compory Lobby Command oxitonce Mask Service Unt Ouse fie building, Peavide fresh cylinders for rear command post masks ‘tanting i dane ony when ordered bythe che a command ‘Mey ey 89 ore 0 chil nein ‘SOURCES: FONY Fifighng Procedures, Fire Operations, “High-Rve Olice Buildings” andthe [Menhotton Communications Ofice Windows fl sk movewewt SIDEBAR: poste pose Wing Prose of ie (onside Ginoey Satin Pea Cason, pushing the hose from the stair enclosure. started down the stairs, check for kinks: More pressure!” he called to the fire- fighter stationed at the standpipe outlet That member tied to open the valve more, but it would go no farther: this was all the pressure Engine L was going to get With the glass doors gone, the fire had a new supply of oxygen. In moments, there was a second, bigger blast of heat and flame. This time, the suite’s windows broke—on the 33rd Street, or south, side of the building Flames, heat, and smoke instantly swept through the entire hallway, as the combination of “obseitre™ air-movement phenomena concentrated the fire's fury around the members there. The tangle of variables apparently ineloded the following: | The wind that hot summer evening was from the west-south-west, 7 miles per hour at 100 feet and no doubt stronger at the Sist floor When the windows bro the wind fanned the ames toward the building's core ® The volume of gases in the burning suite would already have expanded to sev- eral times their normal volume, inereasing, the pressure in the suite The expanded gases, driven by the wind, now had just one direction to go— down the hallway which was left unprotected when the glass doors shat- tered. But compared with the size of the suite, the doorway and hall were narrow openings. Passing into a constricted area, the fire speeded vp '= With no other escape at the end of the hallway, the snnoke and heat whipped into the fire tower and up the shaft, which in effect is a chimney ‘= But the shaft in the fire tower's inte mediate vestibule couldn't remove the smoke fast enough. Instead, much of the smoke flowed into the stairway. The cool 6 wwre us/91) eo hed Heydey 22 We hue Evotion by St Opens ie Sach one eration dil Wino in THe Winoows The lve of hee windows whe tory sages the otek coured ines to fw Beighen ond hocdiipte men. The wind, blowing racy ntaugh he windows, aed ‘he member to this Photo by concrete walls slowed the smoke's rise, and it gathered at the 62nd through 67th floors, rendering stairway T useless for evacuation, Ladder 24 and Engine L were caught in the middle by these interacting forces. The life-threatening gale of flame and heat drove the firefighters hack down the smoke-filled hallivay. During the hasty retreat, Fr. Farley crawled past the open door and became lost momentarily ina dead-end corridor. ‘The others had jumped through the door into the smoke tower. A quick head count in the confusion came up short. In addition to Farley, there was the possibil ity that Fr. Henry—sent earlier to the floor above—had become trapped. Lt Kennedy gave the mayday signal, along with a request for a second alarm. Tt was a request B.C. Marsh quickly fulfilled. Division 3anived moments later. When D.C. Vincent Dunn assumed command, he assigned B.C. Marsh to assist at the lobby command past. He also ordered the evacuation of the fire floor and the floor above, using the S stair, since the T stair was heing used for attack B.C, John McDermott, Battalion 9, rived at nearly the same time. Chief Duan ordered him to check out the may- day and take command of the fire floor operation B.C. Robert Kearns, Battalion 8, was given two companies and assigned to set Upa search and evacuation post five floors above the fire operation. The primary search was to cover the 53rd through 57th, Fz Don Pontecan 22 EM U3 E8 Sot) ES Solely Bn 9 Tue Unprepicrasie Air Aereceinn rise buildings is much discussed but tough tocalculate at or after a fire, becouse o multitude of interactions go on simulioneously. Stil, i's Usefulto be aware of what the seporate factors are; < the Empire Siote Build- ing fire demonstrated, their effect can be powerful. Wind. On the side of the building from which the wind is blowing, the exterior air pressure is naturally increased. On the oppasite side i's decreased; thare’s @ suc- tion effect, Because there ‘ore always openings ina building, even iit has unopencble windows, the wind influences interior cir movement os well. Wind speed ond direc: tion are different ot differ ent clitudes. Don't ‘ossume that whot’s hap ‘pening af ground level is what's hope ‘upper floor. © Pressure of he fire The expansion af goses ‘when they're heoted cre- cies pressure. This is part of the renson forthe force with which the fie blew ‘out of the SIst-floor suite. 1 Speed increase. When smoke flows into o ‘constricted ateo, itcan pick up speed. On the Sist floor of he Empire State Building, the smoke ond gases of the fire moved from the office suite into the constricted area of the hallway. Their addect speed gove the fire the force of « blow-torch reaching down the hall- ‘woy toward the fre tower. The some elfect might ‘also account for the smoke-free hellway which the search and evacuation RO ‘eam found when ‘epproaching from the $ sioir—since the added speed creates a suction that could have pulfed oir from hai hallwoy. © Chimney effect. Ther- mal eneray also carries the heated gases upward—ond any vertical spece they reach becomes, in effect, * chimney” for the smoke. Stratification. When rising smoke, cooling as it moves, reaches a level ‘where is no more buoy- ‘ant than the surrounding oir, it will stop rising. !twill flow er accumula there. 1 Stack effect, Differ- fences in temperature, and therefore pressure, al vari- ‘ous levels inside and out side ¢ high-rige building can cause cir to move ver- tically between the ground floor ond the roof. This in turn causes horizontal flows in various directions. The horizontal move- ment of air can make wine dow venting useless or even harmful. The vertical flow, in warm weather, can cttimes carry smoke to floors below the fire. What actually happens depends on many fac- Jors—temperatures inside ‘ond outside the building, the height of the building, the air fightness of exte- rior walls, and the oir leakage between floors. These cre engineering considerations that Fire Department members have no hope of analyzing carefully at the scene. The botiom line of stack effect is that smoke ina high- rise building might not do. ‘what you expect tio do. i Y g a ‘ Eras cen noe ore eee caer oe Sones Phone cls Stein it Haniel ely constaucrion SIDEBAR: oppo page oydoy canes Fire poms ‘sed line se Om Ra Bn.6 €.7(Cmd. Post Co.) te Rw U5 cabo fours. Special attention was given to the B5th. The "E” bank of clevators served the fire floor and terminated a the 35th Ror smoke mushroomed ont there Also, the dispatelser was receiving many phone calls reporting people trapped in olfces aboxe the fire. The office numbers were recorded atthe lobby command post and traismitted to the seaych and evacwae tion chiet B.C. Charles Blaich, Battalion 6, uow arrived at the scene; he was directed to establish a staging area three loots below the fire Battalion 6 also served a function inet dental to staging: as the central point in a communications relay between the lobby command post and the upper-floor operations Handie-Talkie communications between the lobby coinmand post and the fire Goor had been intermittent because of the Empire State Building's large steel members and thick concrete Hoors. But D.C. Dunu found that if he moved closer to the elevator shaftway in the lobby, he could communicate better with the staring, chief's aide, who was able to stay nea the levator bank on the 48th floor. The aide relayed all Handic-Talkie messages pass- ing between Chief Dunn and the staging, search, and operations chief. When the operations chief, B.C McDermott, reached the 50th floor, he canceled the mayday after discaxeving that Farley and Henry had quickly found their way back to safety inside the stairs Burned on the scalp, Fr. Farley was removed and admitted to the Cornell Burn Center: Engine | and Ladder 24 had regrouped and were trving a second time to advance the line out of the stair. Lt. Daly had radi: ed downstairs for increased pressure at the pumps, anxl eventually pressure on the finst attack line was at least adequate ‘The remaining members could crawl into the superheated vestibule, but they could advance no farther. Strong currents of fire, heat, and smoke were still blowing, directly into the fire tower. Engine 65 members were bringing a second hose line into position for the side- by-side attack standard at high-rise fires They used a standpipe on the 43th floor and had no pressure problems. But as they S owerr aston xe @3 Dass lade oot proses 39 TP hous 4 Shou (la blvay FRONTAL VS. Am rs a Pig ei, Thi ine ie and Sle, 81 O30, stretched, the stream from the first 2% inch hose struck the chocked-open door leading from the vestibule to the hallway The doors skanmed shut and locked. A forcible entry team hac to be brought up to forve the door. When the door opened, the two lines operited for nearly half an hove with ne nore success than one had had belore After Engines 1 and 65 became exhansted by the heat, Engine 26 and Rescue L were sent to continue the effort, later to be relieved by Engine 2l and Rescue 4 D.C. Dun transinitted the third alarm, and A.C. John Hodgens the fowth, to ring more companies for the difficult attack. Meanwhile, Rescue 1 (after assist= ing Laelder 7 out of the elevator), Ladder 21, and Engine 16 weve condweting search and evaevation from the S stairway. On the west side of the building, they opened the door to the fire floor and found an entirely dlifterent environment. Here there was no fire roaring outside the door Infact. there was very little smoke and no heat. Cautiously, the firefighters moved to theis left down the hall, turned left, and went past the elevators Approaching the door te suite 5105. they saw and heard the fire. They coute get up close to it. Like a blow-toreh, it roared down the other hallway at a right angle to them, with the noise ofa jet engine. At about the time of this discovery and coincidental to it, B.C, Marsh (previously working at the lobby command post) was sent to see i an alternative flanking fre attack could be initiated from stairway S There was stil na headway with the frontal attack from the T stat, ant that avenue of attack was seriously deplet- ing the fire companies at the seene. ‘When Chief Marsh arrived at the Sist floor. the search team members showed him their discovery. He immediately ordered them to start stretching line from astandpipe in the § stair, while he notified A.C. John Hoxlgens of his intentions. If the door to stairway T closed again now, the blast of flynes coming oat of the office could change divection and engulf the members on the third attack linc. If that happened, they might not make it back to the § stair ING: Saga) i Citywide Command [A.C John Hodgens) Br2 £23 £207 Bnd E18 MomiWater £34 £324 Sot. 4 £54 112. MMUT Tring Presta O: uly 28,1945, 0 25 military air- croft crashed into the Empire State Building ot the 79h floor, Some of the wreckage hit the 78th oor. Even though the plane corried 900 gallons cof gosoline, o fourth-

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