[200William-EC] Fire Escape Level 7

[Diana Dennison]

Wow, Matt! I am so impressed - that really answers all questions (although
no doubt Craig will be able to dream one up just to keep the ball
bouncing..) but thank you so much. I instinctively knew there was no way I
was heading for the roof, but now I know why my instinct was good. Cheers,
Di

On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 2:32 PM, Matt Perkins <matt at spectrum.com.au> wrote:

>  Hi Craig,
>  I may be able to shed some light on this one for you.
>
> I think the Fire exit on level 7 does not exit outside onto the roof but
> exists into the lift lobby. So it does not fit the definition of "open
> space".  There is also much more going on in a fire exit than meets the eye
> at first glance.
>
> 1) Firstly the fire escape is pressurized by a fan system. This blows air
> from the top down through the fire escape and out the bottom door. It's
> desinged to keep a positive pressure throughout the fire escape so that
> when a door is open on any level smoke will not enter the fire escape.  As
> such the smoke rises argument is not appropriate. One thing that is
> approperate is that fire and heat goes up and the last place you want to be
> in a burning building is on the top with no means of rescue. Helicopter
> rescues from burning buildings are the stuff of Hollywood  remember there
> is 10,000 liters of unleaded petrol in a tank in the basement. You dont
> want to be sitting on top waiting for the fire to get to it.
>
>   Also in emergency planning evacuation speed is the key factor. Planners
> signpost fire escapes and do drills in one direction with one purpose. They
> dont want people making desisions on weather to go up or down or left or
> right. They want you to all go the same way. Out to the street to safety.
> The Building materials that make up the fire escape have been designed to
> be fireproof with enough time to let you escape. The fan pressurization
> system is to keep smoke out. All you have to do is not think and leave.
>
> 2) It's a common misconception that sprinklers are there to put out the
> fire. They are not. They are to prevent a situation called flash over.
> Where gasses in the  air becomes combustible and a large flash of flame
> fills an open space like an apartment when it's ventilated.  Sprinklers
> prevent this by cooling the air and making the gas mix less volatile again
> giving you time to escape.  Those sprinkler heads (red) only activate
> normally at ~68 degrees you want to be long gone from a room of that
> temperature and the ones positioned outside on the balcony's are i think
> yellow they are 75 degree heads. Again you want to be long gone before they
> go off.
>
> If you have further queries I suggest you contact the NSW Fire & Rescue
> (the old NSW Fire Brigade) on 0297427400 and ask to speak to the duty
> manager.
>
> Kind Regards
>
> Matt
>
>
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
>  *From:* "Craig Laforest" <cscl at optusnet.com.au>
> *Date:* 19 June 2012 9:38:26 AEST
> *To:* "'George Ziri'" <Georgeziri at bfms.com.au>, "'Dave Petschack'" <
> dave at oneforall.com.au>, "'Tony Araujo'" <tony at cityviewrealestate.com.au>,
> "'Rob Willett'" <rob at oneforall.com.au>, "'Shane Ellis'" <
> shane at ellisconstructions.com.au>, "'Diana Dennison'" <didee.cd at gmail.com>,
> "'Matt Perkins google'" <mattaperkins at gmail.com>, "'Matt Perkins google'"
> <mattaperkins at gmail.com>, "'Barney Kitay'" <barnet at kitays.com>, <
> rowanholloway at gmail.com>
> *Cc:* "'Maxine Wickey'" <mwickey at stratatitle.com.au>
> *Subject:* *RE: Message from Craig Laforest re Marquis Apartments*
>
>  Hello George,
>
>
>
> Thank you for the copy of the response from Newsound Fire Services.  As
> you would have noted, the email states:
> “egress from each storey served and discharge directly (or by way of its
> own fire-isolated passageway) to a road or open space”
>
>
>
> This clarifies that the door at the top of the fire exit, on level 7,
> should *not* have a lock on it.
> Two important things to note, that we are all aware of:
>
>
>
> 1)     Smoke rises and
>
> 2)     We do not have a sprinkler system in each apartment nor on each
> level.
>
>
>
> If there was a fire on the lower floors of Marquis and smoke gets into the
> fire escape stairs, occupants on the higher floors need to be able to make
> a decision as to which floor they believe it is safer to exit from (ground
> floor or level 7).  If occupants head upstairs to the deck area of level 7,
> they would be trapped behind the fire exit door, because it is permanently
> locked.
>
>  Thank you.
>
> Craig Laforest
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> EC mailing list
> EC at 200william.com
> http://200william.com/mailman/listinfo/ec
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://200william.com/mailman/private/ec/attachments/20120620/0b2a0ba4/attachment.html