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I have a hotel building that requires a standpipe in each of the two staircases. One of the stair shafts has a door to the outside at grade level, but there is no door to the first level inside. The lowest level with an interior door is the second floor, which has its own hose connection.
It doesn't make sense to provide a hose connection at the ground floor, but is there a code basis to support this? Thanks! Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe
10 Comments
11/6/2025 06:57:41 am
Depending on your adopted and amended IFC...
Jesse
11/6/2025 08:25:52 am
I've seen this a time or two. And you're right; it doesn't make a lot of sense for a hose valve there. In all but one of the cases I've experiewnced, the AHJ didn't want a hose valve there. But then, in that one case, another AHJ did for some inexplicable reason.
Anthony
11/6/2025 08:29:15 am
You have an intermediary landing. the stair access point (main landings) only exist where there is the option for entrance and egress. Thus, no I wouldn't think you'd need one where the code calls for a hose valve at the main landing as you don't have one.
Dwight H Havens
11/6/2025 08:43:07 am
I prefer to look at such a local requirement as providing resiliency for manual firefighting and maintenance . For example, it allows that standpipe to be shutdown and easily drained to the outside of the building while maintaining the rest of he standpipe system.
David
11/6/2025 10:33:06 am
Dwight, you are correct when stating they may use the 1st floor hose valve for a fire on the 2nd floor. Most (if not all) of the fire departments in the US train to connect to the hose valve on the floor below the fire. So, a fire on the second floor would use the 1st floor hose valve.
Andrew
11/15/2025 12:45:51 pm
I think the bottom hose connection as a redundant inlet is a good point to make and is well documented in FD training literature, however, for the other point, it should be understood that basically no fire department is going to be connecting to a standpipe for a second floor fire, or third floor. They will run their 200' preconnect whenever possible. They will add another 100' length to it before thinking about a standpipe.
Todd E Wyatt
11/6/2025 09:16:13 am
Yes, a standpipe is required in every Interior Exit Stairway (IES) at each story ... there is no exception for an IES that does not have direct access to the interior of the building at the level of Exit Discharge.
Glenn Berger
11/6/2025 09:31:52 am
I suspect that the first level has a dedicated exit to the exterior at this location. I would then locate the hose valve near this exit.
Matthew Mueller
11/7/2025 06:52:21 am
While I am not familiar with a code that may or may not require this, I do know that some fire department SOPs call for the attack line to be connected one story below the fire floor. If this is the case it would make sense.
Jack G
11/11/2025 01:58:23 pm
Years ago in the 90 s ,hose connections for the ground floor were optional as the fire trucks had access. When the hook ups changed to one floor below, they were again required. Leave a Reply. |
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