How does it work in sublevels? Are there any special precautions when using PPA in a basement fire?
A. We have tested PPA under live fire conditions and fought actual basement fires using PPA with excellent results. The key to sublevel or basement fires is being able to open an adequate exhaust opening. In Salt Lake City, most residential structures have a basement with smaller window openings than the upper levels. We instruct students to open the window nearest the fire and then augment that by opening additional windows at the basement level. Having an adequate exhaust is key to getting the heat and products of combustion out the sublevel. The other element to consider is blower positioning. An outside opening to the sublevel would be the first blower position, with an additional blower placed at the stairway leading down to the sublevel. Q. Is PPA still a viable tactic if a lot of windows are out of the building? A. In general, the answer is yes. Having adequate exhaust opening (s) is key to PPA. It depends on what you specifically mean by a lot of windows. When we instruct firef
