On this day, December 18, 1998, 3 FDNY Firefighters were killed in the Line of Duty at a high rise fire. Lt. Joseph Cavalieri, FF Chris Bopp and FF Jimmy Bohan died on the 10th floor of a labeled ”fireproof” multiple dwelling whose sprinklers had been shut off.
The three firefighters from L170 arrived and had the assignment of searching the fire floor and ascended 10 flights of stairs to rescue the resident in apartment 10-D, who was reported trapped. She escaped previously, but that was not known at the time. When the occupant left she left the apartment door open allowing air to feed the fire. Although the building and hallways were equipped with sprinklers, they were functional and the fire spread rapidly. It is believed that a change in wind direction created a wind of approximately 29MPH into the fire apartment and blew a superheated fireball into the hallway, taking the lives of the three FDNY firefighters.
For those of you that have not seen the NIST video on wind driven fires, take some time to watch it. Here is a link to find out more information on the tests done with Chicago FD and FDNY on wind driven fires.
http://www.fire.gov/WDF/index.htm
Also on FirefightersEnemy …
- Apartment Fire Considerations – October 15, 2011
- Standpipe or Not? – August 10, 2010
- Type III Construction – January 27, 2011
- What’s Your Take? – May 12, 2011
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