NIST Goes Back to School.
NIST Goes Back to School.
(155 K)
Kerber, S.
NFPA Journal, Vol. 102, No. 5, 78-83, September/October
2008.
Keywords:
ventilation; experiments; effectiveness; fire
departments; fire fighters; fire fighting; education;
schools; smoke spread; fire protection; fans;
stairwells; high rise buildings; masonry; pressure;
temperature measurment
Abstract:
During the past six years, the National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST) has conducted numerous
experiments examining the effectiveness of positive
pressure ventilation (PPV) for the fire service. As a
tactic, fire departments frequently rely on PPV to
ventilate a structure after extinguishing a fire,
allowing them to complete salvage and overhaul
operations in a less hazardous atmosphere. PPV has also
been used during fire suppression operations to increase
visibility and force heat away from the attack team as
they locate the blaze. While PPV has been implemented
with some success, however, using it also comes with
some difficulties. So how should PPV be used? What are
some of the best practices for this tactic? To answer
these questions, NIST developed a series of experimental
studies, with funding from the Fire Protection Research
Foundation, that ranged in scale from a single room to a
30-story office building and identified tactical
considerations for the most effective use of PPV fans.
The results of these studies provide insight into
questions such as where to place the fans, how much
larger the fire could grow with added oxygen from the
fans, and what size fans are needed to pressurize a
stairwell in a high-rise building effectively
