New Study Evaluates Effectiveness of Crew Sizes in High-Rise Fires

A new study from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) finds that that firefighting crews of five or six members are significantly faster in putting out fires and completing search-and-rescue operations when responding to fires in high-rise buildings than crews of three or four.

This research will greatly impact many local governments’ policies and operational staffing levels when responding to high-rise building fires. This report intends to "balance community expectations with limited resources, the fire service and community leaders require scientific data that quantifies the effects of changes in fire service deployment on the safety of the public and firefighters."

High-rise fire safety is not just for large metropolitan areas. “While concentrated in large cities, such as New York with 6,543 skyscrapers and buildings seven stories or taller, Chicago with more than 2,300, and Phoenix with about 175, high-rises are also common in smaller metropolitan areas, according to the building inventory maintained by Emporis. For example, Omaha has about 70 buildings seven stories or taller, Fargo, N.D., has 22, and Gulf Shores, Ala., has about 65.”

Report on High-Rise Fireground Field Experiments

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