Abstract
Aim: The objective of this paper is to present the requirements of firefighting water supply systems with special focus on high residential buildings and firefighting equipment in such buildings, according to regulations in legal acts and standards. The requirements were compared with real water consumption for firefighting purposes in the buildings based on a Warsaw City case study. The problems associated with fulfilling the requirements contained in legal acts and standards have been indicated.
Methodology: The paper was developed based on the comparison of requirements for firefighting water supply systems in high residential buildings contained in legal acts and Polish standards. The comparison was made with regards to changes in regulations from the historical perspective. An analysis of actual water consumption for firefighting purposes in residential buildings for Warsaw City was made based on statistical data available from “Ewid” software, a standard resource for every rescue/firefighting brigade in Poland
Results: Based on the statistical data it can be concluded that the height of buildings significantly influences the amount of water consumed for firefighting purposes. It results from the statistical data that no large or medium-sized fires in high buildings were recorded in the analysed years, while in high buildings only one such fire occurred that required only approx. 0.5 m3 of water. Medium-sized and large fires in most cases occurred in small buildings, i.e. at a height below 12 m, more rarely in medium-high buildings i.e. at a height of up to 25 m. Furthermore, an interesting relationship was noted - the higher the building the less amount of water was required to distinguish the fire. It follows from this that a detailed analysis of the strict requirements for the water capacity of installations in high residential buildings is recommended.
Conclusions: The analysis of the statistical data showed that with increasing building height of the amount of water required for fire extinguishing decreased. A major reason for such a correlation was the increase in fire resistance class of buildings with increasing height. It reflects the exclusion of flammable materials and an increase in requirements in terms of fire resistance class. Summarising, the current requirements contained in the regulations for firefighting water supply provide the possibility of carrying out effective activities in residential buildings. However, they are not refined, and they should be adjusted to the reality. It is recommended that the regulation on the fire protection of buildings, and other buildings objects and sites be amended in the part related to water supplies in high residential buildings.
Keywords: requirements for water supplies, residential buildings, firefighting, firefighting systems, fire protection
Type of article: review article