High-rise residential fire: evacuation or defend-in-place
At 03:40 you arrive as the first station officer at a 28-storey residential block. Fire is reported on the 14th floor of a 26-storey tower. Smoke is issuing from a window and the lift lobby on 14 is smoke-logged. The building has one protected staircase, a dry riser, and a lobby smoke-control system that is not operating. About 180 residents are inside. The security guard reports two people trapped in a flat on 15/F. Several callers say they cannot leave because the staircase is smoky. You have two pumps, one aerial appliance and 12 BA wearers. A second alarm is 8 minutes away. The nearest hydrant is 60 m away and the dry riser inlet is clear. Wind is light. Your watch is trained but has not worked together at a live high-rise fire.
1. State your first three actions and justify the order.
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First: assume command, confirm the fire floor and immediate life risk. Establish a command point outside the collapse zone, take a roll call, and verify from the guard and callers whether the fire is in a flat, the lobby, or the riser. The 15/F trapped persons are the highest life risk, but I must know whether the single staircase is usable before committing crews into it.
Second: secure water and control the stair. Lay from the hydrant to the dry riser inlet and confirm the riser is charged before BA crews enter. A smoke-logged lobby with no lobby smoke control means the stair is the only escape route; if it is contaminated, both rescue and evacuation are compromised.
Third: brief and commit BA teams in a coordinated way, with a reserve. Do not commit all 12 BA wearers at once. The first entry must have a clear task, a guidance line, and a BA emergency team standing by. The order is justified by risk-benefit: life safety first, but not by rushing crews into an unsecured stair with no water. The second alarm is requested immediately rather than waited for, because relief and evacuation will be needed.
2. Decide whether to order full evacuation, defend-in-place, or a phased approach. Explain the factors and what you would broadcast to residents.
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The safer default in a protected residential building is phased evacuation and defend-in-place, not a blanket evacuation. Factors pointing that way are: a single protected staircase; a lobby smoke-control system that is not working; 180 residents; smoke already in the 14/F lobby; and a second alarm 8 minutes away. A full evacuation would put large numbers of people into the one stair that may be smoke-logged.
The phased plan should be:
- Evacuate the fire floor, the floor above and the floor below, plus any floor where smoke is entering flats.
- Move residents on other floors to stay inside with doors closed, unless their flat is affected or they are unable to remain.
- Use the aerial appliance for external rescue or access if the 15/F trapped persons cannot be reached by the stair.
The broadcast should be calm and specific: identify the affected floors, tell others to close doors, seal gaps, stay low, and not to use the lift; tell them to call 999 only if smoke enters their flat. The plan must be reviewed continuously. If the stair becomes untenable, switch to full evacuation with wardens and BA teams clearing floors. I would not order a full evacuation by default before the stair condition is confirmed.
3. Allocate your resources for the first 8 minutes, including the aerial and the second alarm.
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With 12 BA wearers, I have six teams of two at most, but not all should be committed at once.
- Fire floor team (2 BA): locate the fire, protect the stair, and report the layout and fire loading.
- Rescue team (2 BA): go to 15/F via the stair with a guidance line and force entry if needed; this is the priority life risk.
- Stair/lobby control team (2 BA): keep the stair clear, prevent smoke spread, and support evacuation of the affected floors.
- Water team (2 BA or non-BA): charge the dry riser and confirm pressure at the outlet; no entry until water is confirmed.
- BA emergency team (2 BA): stand by at the lobby with a spare set; this is not optional.
- Aerial crew: set up for external rescue or access to 15/F if the internal route fails; also provide external observation.
The second alarm should bring relief crews, additional BA sets, and an evacuation group. I would keep one team uncommitted as relief rather than sending all six into the building. Control should be told: fire on 14/F, stair smoke-logged, two trapped on 15/F, phased evacuation in progress, aerial committed, second alarm requested.