High rise fires

[exphillycop]

One Merridian Plaza fire, Phila PA. February 23, 1991..........I was assigned crowd control that night....It was pretty scary.

 

[stansdds]

Towering inferno. Just another reason I prefer the suburban lifestyle.

 

[Bonanno]

Holly crap... that looks terrifying.

 

[NJMedic]

Penn star 1 landed in front of City hall and took crews up to the roof of the building

 

[Zapp Brannigan]

Wow, only saw a couple videos from a far distance, was one of the cases we studied in my Fire Science classes, I think Building Construction and Fire Protection Systems.

 

[Bonanno]

Penn star 1 landed in front of City hall and took crews up to the roof of the building

Thats just insane!!!! sounds risky tho, what would they do if they had to evacuate?

 

[ff168577]

Towering inferno. Just another reason I prefer the suburban lifestyle.

You can still have a high rise in a suburan area.

 

[Bonanno]

You can still have a high rise in a suburan area.

we have multiple high-rises in my town... which is suburban. Most of them are senior citizen apartments to. One is a hospital (multiple buildings that connect tho), and a few low-income housing buildings.

 

[Hoser]

Great picture, got anymore? Looks to be a Ward Lafrance engine. Used to run in one like that, If memory serves me Engine 51 on Emergency was also the same.

 

[rettoded]

1 Meridian Plaza brought to light many issues that can be associated with high rise fires. Perhaps one of the more highlighted findings from this fire was the effectiveness of automatic sprinklers. Ultimately, it was the sprinklers on the 30th floor which contained the fire, leading to it burning out. Some further reading on the fire and findings:


One Meridian Plaza - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


http://failures.wikispaces.com/One+Meridian+Plaza,+Philadelphia,+PA


ONE MERIDIAN PLAZA


I also was talking with one of our senior dispatchers who was supervising that night. Due to the high alarm level (12), and the large number of resources on scene (51 engines, 15 ladders, 11 specialized units and over 300 firefighters), Philadelphia Fire Board contacted Montgomery County to see if additional could be sent to cover stations. This was, and still is, highly unusual as Philly never calls for outside help, especially from volunteer departments. The senior dispatcher asked for them to call back in 15 minutes. He then proceeded to check with the chiefs of some of the volunteer departments that boardered the city. Philly Fire Board called back and the senior dispatcher gave them rundown of "30 engines, 11 ladders, 2 heavy rescues and 2 utilities available." Upon hearing this, the Philly dispatcher became concerned and stated "Whoa whoa whoa we don't want to strip your county also," to which the senior dispatcher replied "We haven't even begun to scratch the surface..." It ended up that the additional units weren't needed, but certainly showed the capabilities of the volunteer departments in those days.

 

[GTRider245]

That fire also brought to light the severe issues most fire departments (both then and now) had with their equipment and SOPs for fighting high rise fires. Three firefighters died that night.


You don't have to have a skyscraper to have the issues involved with fires in high/low rises.

 

[exphillycop]

Great picture, got anymore? Looks to be a Ward Lafrance engine. Used to run in one like that, If memory serves me Engine 51 on Emergency was also the same.

It's a Seagrave, possibly an 84.

 

[rettoded]

I am bringing this thread back up as today is the 25th anniversary of this fire.

http://6abc.com/news/video-images-sounds-from-one-meridian-fire-25-years-ago/1215087/