Challenges of Fighting Fire in a High-Rise Structure - Essay Example

Challenges of Fighting Fire in a High-Rise Structure Lecturer Fire fighting in high-rise buildings is quite challenging due to the challenges posed to curb the fire and save the property. This is irrespective of the height of the building as long as the building falls in the classification of tall buildings. For instance, in most cases the fire specialists have to approach and fight the fire right from the interior of the building in situations where the aerial ladder cannot reach the fire point.

This is a dangerous undertaking since having access to interior of the building may pose a greater danger to the lives of the fire specialist. In addition, transporting or moving the fire fighting equipment to the building can be a problem as well (Schottke, 2012, p 34). High-rise fire requires huge resource requirement allocation. This is because a balance has to be achieved among a number of factors at play. For instance, achieving a balance between evacuating the occupants from within the building as well as allocating the necessary resources to curb the fire before it grows and destroys the property or causes loss of life.

It is important to acknowledge that high-rise building fire fighting requires a huge number of experienced fire fighting personnel’s as well as sophisticated fire fighting equipment that are very expensive. A lot of coordination between the fire fighting personnel’s is also required (Schottke, 2012, p 35). Time is an important factor in fire fighting. The shorter the time of fire evacuation, the better the result and the vice versa. High-rise buildings pose a challenge to get water on target.

This is simply due to the height involved, and in addition, a lot of time is lost when coordinating the various steps before the actual fire fighting commences. This increases the impacts of the fire. It is also important to note that the water is applied vertically in most cases and hence reducing its effectiveness (Schottke, 2012, p 35). Fire fighting in high-rise buildings is a dangerous undertaking. It should be carried out by skilled personnel’s and only after careful planning and consultation.

The necessary equipments should as well be at play and should be used by specialized individuals. References Schottke, D. (2012). Fundamentals of Fire Fighter Skills. New York, NY: Anchor.