Purpose of a Standpipe System?

MeyerFire University | FX001.06

By Joe Meyer, PE

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TRANSCRIPT

What is the purpose of a standpipe system? 

Standpipe systems enable firefighters or building occupants too rapidly engage in fire suppression. 

Standpipe systems are used to transport water through a structure. 

They are essential when fighting fires in buildings where hazards are beyond the reach of attack hoses from a pumper trucks or are beyond the ability for a suppression from the truck itself, either by ladder or an aerial platform. 

From a big picture perspective, the thing that constantly works against us in a fire is time. 

It is so important to fight a fire earlier in its stages of growth. 

Early stages of fire result in less damage, they have less heat, and we need less water to suppress it. 

Of course from a fire department time is extremely critical, that's why we try to put fire stations so close to buildings that the response time is really as short as possible.  

Everything is about fighting a fire is to attack it earlier in the stages of fire growth. 

A standpipe system's purpose is to avoid costly delays in the fight against a fire. 

If for instance we have an underground parking structure that is six levels deep and there is a fire on the bottom level, that could be a really challenging fire to suppress. 

Without a standpipe system, the fire department would have to connect to a hydrant at ground level, to a pumper truck, then the pumper truck would supply hoses that would go into the building, down six flights of stairs, and then run horizontally to wherever the fire is. 

That’s a lot of hose and a lot of pressure loss by the time the water travels all the way to the hose nozzle. 

Also, perhaps more importantly, just setting this all up requires a ton of manpower and time. 

A standpipe system eliminates a lot of that need and reduces the setup time for a fire department to fight a fire.  

If in this example we have a manual dry standpipe, then while firefighters are descending the stairwell, other firefighters could hook up the hydrant to the truck and the truck to the fire department connection.  

They then can begin supplying water into the standpipe system.  

Around the time the first firefighters descend to the level of the fire and connect their hoses, they could have the flow and pressure they need to begin fighting the fire. 

Using standpipes requires just a whole lot less time. 

If this standpipe is an automatic wet standpipe, then firefighters don't even need to wait for a pumper truck to start fighting the fire.  

They would have pressurized water ready to go at the hose connection as soon as they connect to it and open the valve. 

The same situation applies when we have buildings that are too tall, or too wide, or too deep to provide hose lines from outside the building.  

The purpose of a standpipe system is to save critical time in manually fighting a fire. 

I'm Joe Meyer, this is MeyerFire University.