Floor Mounted Standpipes: Fill & Download for Free

In the United States, all municipalities now have modern fire codes requiring sprinklers, standpipes, and a system independent of other building systems to get proper fire fighting water pressures to the top floor. Older buildings accomplisted this with roof tanks, new construction uses pumps, often on separate and independent electrical service or Diesel engine powered.Firefighters in areas with high rise buildings train regularly to get their gear where it needs to be and work effectively in those environments. Firefighters use a special hose pack called a “High Rise Pack” to carry a set up of hose, nozzles and related items to the floor below the fire, connect to the stand pipe system, and stretch a line up through the stairwell to the fire floor and fire area. Once there it is similar to other interior firefighting efforts in low rise multistory buildings.It soukd be noted that the vast majority of today's high rise fires occur inside the building, and are held in check or Extingusherd by the sprinkler system, and rarely present the fantastic tv news pictures. Most modern buildings are build with non-combustible materials and most fires are actually “Contents” fires. (Furniture, personal effects). Fires like the big exterior fire at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas a few years back were attributed to the foam material used as part of the exterior finish, and very little damage occurred inside the structure. Here in Las Vegas after devastating fires in the early 1980’s, retrofit laws were passed, properties were required to update and install good alarms and sprinklers. Properties that failed to comply were severely fined and eventually condemned and demolished.On the World Trade Center you had mentioned in your question, without steping into the many conspiracy theories, the fires caused by the aircraft flights into the building would be exceptional events because the fire systems were damaged and compromised during the actual crash of the planes. Additionally the fire sprinkler, if capable of working were designed for the normal fire load of furniture and personal items. The aircraft were almost full of jet fuel, and while a large amount was destroTed on impact it is reasonable to assume from the observable smoke following each strike that a sizable amount of jet fuel was deposited in the building, and significantly increased the available fuel to the fire, and increased its intensity. I'll leave the discussion of the stucture failure to building and structural engineers, as that's not my expertise. Suffice to say that had the structure stood, assuming the fire service had a truck mounted pump that could push water that high or the Buildings systems could be made operational, it would have been a very long and difficult Firefight. Their actions may have been limited to evacuation of the civilians and watching it burn until it burned out, trying to keep it from spreading. And I consider FDNY one of the leading authorities on high rise fires.I hope that answered your question and helped. If your considering occupying a space in a high rise, be sure to look for sprinklers, standpipes, and fire alarms. Don't be hesitant to ask about maintenance of those systems. If your office or residence is in the building, your life could depend on those systems working correctly.Best wishes.