There
are only two, but difficult choices:
1. Follow your plan and immediately leave the
building.
OR
2. Follow your plan and stay where you are, or
descend to the designated level below the fire floor and be
prepared to take protective/defensive action. In this case,
anticipated action may include alerting the fire department of
your location, seal doors, windows and vents that lead into your
space. Do not break out the windows. Be prepared to wait for a
considerable time period (at least one hour) if you
contemplate rescue by the fire department.
The NFPA says this process should not only be
done at the first hint of a dangerous situation. It is a process
that the individual must manage and it needs to be repeated
until the danger has passed or, if total building evacuation is
in order, when that action is completed.
The fire and life safety systems installed in
high-rise buildings today, including automatic fire sprinkler
protection, are designed to control a fire and therefore lessen
the need to evacuate all occupants.
In a typical scenario, the National Fire
Protection Association says, the occupants of the fire floor and
the floors immediately above and below it should immediately use
the exit stairs to descend to a floor level that is at least
several floors below the fire floor, and await further
instruction from safety officials.
The key elements of emergency preparedness
include an early warning system (typically through an alarm or
voice communication), adequate means of egress (exit routes) and
occupant familiarity with the plan through knowledge and
practice.
Although not mandated for all buildings, NFPA
101, Life Safety Code, requires
that
workplaces, healthcare facilities, educational institutions and
other occupancies provide evacuation/relocation plan information
and routinely schedule and hold drills when practicable.
High-rise building fire alarm systems are
required to have emergency voice communication capability so
trained emergency personnel can assess the emergency and can
then broadcast a variety of specific messages to the occupants.
The occupants believed to be in the greatest
potential danger will be instructed to use the exit stairs to
begin their descent. Occupants of other floors might be
instructed to stay where they are and await further instruction.
In these cases, only occupants on the fire floor and the floors
immediately above and below typically receive the message.
Should the scale of the emergency increase, the
announcements can be expanded to include additional floors, or
if need be, the entire building.
If stair travel is potentially dangerous, are
there alternatives? The construction, fire protection and life
safety systems installed in high-rise buildings, including
automatic sprinkler protection, are designed to control a fireso
as to lessen the need to evacuate all occupants to the street
level. The occupants of the fire floor and floors immediately
above and below it should immediately use the exit stairs
to descend to a floor level that is at least a few floors below
the fire floor. The occupants can then reenter the occupied
space on those safe floors to await further instructions.
Occupants are advised to avoid using elevators
during a fire emergency. When a fire occurs, elevators are
designed to be recalled to a designated floor, normally the
lobby. In unusual circumstances, an elevator malfunction may
cause the elevator to travel to the fire floor itself, thus
exposing occupants to the fire.
Elevator shafts may also allow some smoke to
enter the shaft and migrate toward the roof of the building. Any
occupants of the elevator would be exposed to that smoke.
If you are trapped in a high-rise building, try
to locate yourself in an area where you can close the door and
seal the cracks to keep smoke out. Use a telephone to call the
fire department and report your exact location in the building.
Try to be patient. Emergency rescue of high-rise
building occupants can take a long time. You can signal your
position to rescue personnel from a window using a light-colored
cloth, but it is not advisable to break a window.
If you can open the window slightly, it is
generally safe to do so to allow fresh air in, but be prepared
to close it if smoke comes in. A broken window cannot be
adjusted to block smoke from pouring in. Finally, falling glass
from a broken window can sever fire hoses and severely injure
rescue and suppression personnel below. It is very dangerous to
use a window for escape from anything higher than the second
floor.
If a building has written evacuation procedures,
it’s often asked if they are adequate for any emergency that may
occur in a building? It is highly likely that the procedures are
adequate for all emergencies. In our society, we plan on events
that are likely to happen in a building or structure. In large
part, evacuation procedures are geared towards an accidental
fire occurring in a building.
As long as your procedures make clear to you the
actions you are to take, and when to take them, that is in
essence what you are looking for.
Although not mandated for all buildings,
encourage your employer to stage a mock drill once a year. If
you are on the upper floor of a high-rise building, this may be
a good opportunity to practice and experience your plan.
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