Highrise Fires

The suppression of fires in high-rise settings is difficult and dangerous.

Severe fires in an occupied office building during business hours is rare, due to the awareness of people. Modern technology has added to the fuel load in office occupancies. The large open-plan office areas not protected with automatic sprinklers, allow rapid fire spread throughout the floor of origin and to adjacent floors.

Fires of this nature not only destroy the contents of the floor, they are likely to cause structural failure as they burn for hours and spread horizontally and vertically. Why do severe high-rise building fires occur when effective fire protection design alternatives are available?

Could one reason be that we the PUBLIC are unaware of the potential fire hazard of these buildings. While occupants of high-rise buildings must place their safety in the hands of those who build, manage, and maintain these buildings, the NFPA believes the public can take some responsibility for their own safety.

This includes demanding the installation of adequate fire protection equipment and compliance with codes, and other fire safety provisions such as Emergency Planning including fire drills and evacuation training.