Ch. 13 - Fighting Fires In Enclosed Malls Flashcards
What is the size of average retail store?
Less than 22 sq ft to more than 4000 sq ft.
What size are anchor stores?
Customarily they are at least two levels and may be 50,000 to 100’000 sq ft per floor.
What are standpipes systems like in enclosed malls?
They can be vertical or horizontal.
When do stores do most of there annual sakes volume and how much?
60% or more can be during the December holiday season.
When are the highest and lowest life hazards in enclosed malls?
Highest around the winter holidays, in the spring and when kids are returning to school. Lowest during the offseason months of June, July and October.
What can be said about fire sprinklers in enclosed malls?
They should be protected by automatic sprinklers if they are larger than 12,000 sq ft, but may be unsprinklered if there are fire separations that reduce individual areas to less than that size.
What kind of construction can be expected if the exterior load-bearing walls are wholly of concrete and the building is only one story?
Tilt-up concrete construction. These buildings are essentially held together by steel cable, which can fail at around 800 degrees F.
What does unprotected openings mean in these buildings?
Ease of access from store to store, which means easy routes for fire and smoke. Newer malls also suffer from this problem.
What does heavy smoke conditions mean to search?
We must feel for victims, rather than simply look for them, and we have thirty-minute SCBA, which last for about fifteen minutes under these conditions.
How much fire flows could a fire require that involves half a floor of an anchor store?
More than 16,000 gpm to control.
What aw the primary and secondary strategic considerations for the IC in enclosed mall fires?
Primary will probably be life safety.
Secondary will be extinguishment.
What is the priority following fire attack?
Ventilation. The two distinct concerns being first and foremost life safety and the second is the need to minimize fire loss. Controlling evacuees is another problem.
For fires in an anchor store, where should the initial line be taken?
In through an adjacent door.
In a fire in one of the smaller stores along the mall itself, where should the initial line be taken from?
Where are many of these fires started?
In from the central walkway.
Many are started by arsonists in the fitting rooms.
Fires in the back room of stores are usually started how?
Accidental, resulting from careless smoking or misuse of electrical equipment.
