Zhengzhou 34-storey high-rise building fire, why is it difficult to extinguish the fire in high-rise buildings? How do I escape if I encounter it?

The author of The Eastern Evil

In the past decade or so, the effect of urbanization on the mainland has been very obvious, and the most intuitive phenomenon is that high-rise buildings in many towns have risen from the ground. High-rise buildings can be used for commercial purposes or as residential purposes, but no matter how they are used, they cannot avoid a safety hazard, that is, fire safety. If a fire occurs in a high-rise building, it is often very difficult to extinguish the fire. According to domestic media reports, a fire recently broke out in a 34-story high-rise building in the Zhengzhou High-tech Zone in Henan Province.

According to the descriptions of nearby residents, the fire began at about 8:30 a.m. on Feb. 23, and when the fire was discovered, several surrounding households were already surrounded by dark smoke and spread over time, making it difficult to determine where the fire started first by the time the firefighters arrived. Fortunately, high-rise residents were out of work at the time of the fire, so no casualties were found for the time being. After the fire broke out, the local fire department rushed out and extinguished the fire at the first time.

In response to this incident, some fire experts believe that we should pay more attention to the fire safety of high-rise buildings, because the higher the floor, the more difficult it is to extinguish the fire. So why is it that the taller the building, the harder it is to extinguish the fire? If you happen to be in a high-rise building when the fire breaks out, how do you help yourself?

Why is it that the taller the building, the harder it is to extinguish the fire?

The fire extinguishing difficulties of high-rise buildings are mainly caused by many factors, and it is generally difficult to extinguish fires in residential buildings with a height of more than 15 floors. First of all, because the arm span of most fire trucks can only reach the position of 15 to 20 floors, if you encounter a fire further up, then the fire truck is basically useless. At this time, it is necessary to use the ladder, although the ladder can reach a height of more than 20 floors, but it has higher requirements for the basic environment of the ground, and generally needs a wider road surface as the premise of rescue activities, but some residential areas that were built earlier do not have such a foundation.

For example, in August 2021, a fire broke out in a landmark building in Liaoning Province, because the fire occurred in the upper floors, and the weather conditions on the day contributed to the spread of the fire, resulting in the local fire department having to send a large number of fire police. According to reports, at that time, 24 fire stations in Dalian, Liaoning Province, were dispatched, a total of 68 fire trucks arrived at the scene, and more than 360 firefighters participated in the firefighting, and the firefighting process lasted more than 6 hours.

Secondly, the higher the ladder, the greater the risk borne by the firefighters, because the higher the distance from the ground, the more obvious the air flow, resulting in the air flow causing shaking on the ladder, which in turn affects the work of the firefighters. In addition, the ladder can only face one floor at a time to save people or extinguish fires, which is difficult to extinguish the fire for multiple floors where a fire occurs at the same time. In addition, the water for extinguishing the fire is pumped up from the ground through the water pump, and the higher the place, the lower the water pressure.

How do you survive a fire in a high-rise building?

The fire protection problem of high-rise buildings has long been concerned, and the mainland housing department has also put forward corresponding regulations and requirements for fire protection in high-rise buildings. As the saying goes, don't be afraid of ten thousand, just in case, in case there is a fire in the high-rise building where you live, how to survive? First determine whether the fire is in your own home, and if so, evacuate immediately, and notify other residents at the same time. If the fire does not appear in your own home, first determine whether the fire is upstairs or downstairs.

If the fire is upstairs, evacuate quickly to the downstairs or low floor area, and do not take the elevator during the escape process. If the fire is downstairs, don't blindly run downstairs, because the fire in the upper floor spreads rapidly, and it will soon go up, blocking the downward escape route, and then escaping down is a waste of valuable time for escape. At this time, you should choose to evacuate to a higher floor area, cover your mouth and nose with a wet towel during the evacuation process, avoid smoke entering the body and causing suffocation, and do not forget to notify other residents.

So what kind of area should you run to to escape? It is best to have water in places, such as the water room on the roof of the building, the bathroom of the high-rise residents, because being close to the water source can not only reduce the temperature of the human body, obtain drinking water, but also reduce the speed of fire spread, and then wait for fire rescue. Although most of my friends do not live in high-rise buildings, it is still necessary to master some survival knowledge, and I hope that everyone will not use this knowledge.

summary

In view of the problem of fire extinguishing difficulties in high-rise buildings, the industry has proposed many solutions and measures, such as the development of fire extinguishing bombs and the release of fire extinguishing bombs at the fire place, so as to achieve high-rise fire extinguishing. But overall, the height of high-rise buildings is still hard. This requires the property management department to implement fire inspection in the weekday inspection, and the individual residents should do a good job in fire prevention in their daily lives and reserve relevant fire safety knowledge, after all, prevention is more effective than rescue.