Flames were shooting out of the windows when firefighters arrived to battle an inferno on the top floor of a seven-story building.
But by employing three new devices – a flame-retardant blanket, a gasoline-powered fan and a curved “high-rise nozzle” that allows firefighters to pour water on a blaze from the floor below – the Bravest were able to quickly control the blaze.
The FDNY showed off the devices yesterday during a weeklong display of new techniques to battle fires in high rises. Members of fire departments in Los Angeles, Chicago and other cities are attending. Since 9/11, the FDNY has spent $94 million on gadgets and gizmos to make battling blazes and rescuing New Yorkers easier, faster and safer.
“As soon as I came to the FDNY, I knew we had to dramatically improve our training and technology,” said Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta. “To date, we’ve more than quadrupled training and invested more than $150 million in training and technology.”
And there’s more to come. The FDNY is looking for technology that can track firefighters in high-rise buildings and keep tabs on which members responded to an emergency. It’s also searching for an electronic, wireless command board that would keep track of companies and their positions at a scene.
“The goal is to get there faster and make it as safe as possible for the firefighters and the public,” Scoppetta said. “I would like to see the day when we never lose a firefighter to an emergency. It’s not an unrealistic goal.”
As part of the hunt for better techniques, the department is holding a week of exercises on Governors Island, setting fires daily in a seven-story apartment building that has been rigged with sensors and video cameras.
Yesterday’s blaze was on the top floor. To fight it, firefighters on the roof dropped a 10- by 12-foot flame-retardant blanket over the bedroom window in the path of simulated 25-mph winds that were fanning the blaze.
The temperature in the bedroom dropped from 2,000 degrees to 1,000 degrees. Next, the Bravest used gasoline-powered, 27-inch fans to clear the smoke from the stairwells. In five seconds, the stairwell temperature dropped from 700 degrees to 50 degrees.
Finally, firefighters on the sixth floor used the high-rise nozzle – a curved nozzle at the end of a 10-foot pipe – to pour water on the flames on the seventh floor.
The nozzles, which put distance between firefighters and flames that can shift rapidly, will go into service at eight firehouses as part of a pilot project.