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## Buildings The decision as to whether or not to fight a fire involving a large floor of a lightweight building has been made for us by the fire and the building. If a fire requires 4,000 gpm to extinguish, and the standpipe will only supply 1,250, we cannot hope to extinguish that size fire. We s...

## Buildings The decision as to whether or not to fight a fire involving a large floor of a lightweight building has been made for us by the fire and the building. If a fire requires 4,000 gpm to extinguish, and the standpipe will only supply 1,250, we cannot hope to extinguish that size fire. We should know that in advance, and prepare alternate tactics. A fire flow of 4,000 gpm is well beyond the scope of manual firefighting on an upper floor, even if the water is available. That would require at least sixteen 22-in. handlines, or eight 500-gpm monitors. According to Chief John T. O'Hagan's book, *High Rise Fire and Life Safety*, areas “in excess of 3,000 square ft of a moderately fuel loaded area diminish the possibility of success through a direct attack” (emphasis added). If a large floor that is out of reach of ground-based master streams is fully involved, the only available alternative may be to get above it and insert these nozzles on a length of pipe functioning as an exterior stream. ## Distributors Bresnan or other distributor, but at least one manufacturer makes a cellar pipe that will flow 700 gpm and will fit through a 4-in. hole. A series of three overlapping 4-in. holes, made in the form of a shamrock, can produce a sufficiently large opening through which to pass the Bresnan distributor. ## Models Both models require a pump tank of water to cool, the bits, as well as a means to fasten the drill in place. Normally, this is done by shooting studs into the floor with nuts to hold the drill. A 5-in. hole drilled through the floor is large enough for a distributor or a cellar pipe, assuming that the floor above is tenable. A 22-in. Bresnan distributor operating at 100 psi flows about 20-25 ft. An alternative would be to drill through the fire floor from below, and flood the entire floor above with hose stream, to cut off extension while waiting for the fire to consume the bulk of the combustibles, burning itself down to an intensity that can be handled manually.