The False Common Sense of “Tawaman Fire”… “Evacuation to the Next Door” not easily broken by kicking & the harsh reality of descending the stairs from the 40th floor.

Firefighters go to the scene “empty-handed”… The “reality” of firefighting in a high-rise condominium

One month has passed since the Hong Kong high-rise apartment fire. The fire spread to seven of the eight buildings in the complex, killing 151 people.

This year has seen many fires in the news, including a large-scale fire in Oita Prefecture and one of the largest forest fires in Japan in Ofunato City. Condominium fires are no exception. According to the Tokyo Fire Department, the number of fires in Tokyo alone on the 11th floor or higher rose steadily from 141 in 2010, 155 in 2011, and 178 in 2012, due in part to the increasing number of high-rise condominiums. The number of fires on the 11th floor and above in Hong Kong alone has been on a steady rise, with 141 in 2010, 155 in 2011, and 178 in 2012.

In the Hong Kong fires, scaffolding was made of flammable bamboo, shatterproof sheets covering the apartments were flammable, windows were made of flammable Styrofoam, sprinklers were not installed, fire alarms did not work, and other fire prevention measures were not considered at all. The building was built and repaired without any fire prevention measures at all.

Such fires would not have occurred in high-rise condominiums in Japan because of the strict fire prevention and fireproofing standards and the installation of alarm systems and fire extinguishing systems.

Teruyuki Tsuchiya, an expert on disaster prevention for condominiums, is a certified firefighting equipment technician and condominium manager.

I hear that a ladder truck can reach up to the 10th floor. How would firefighting be carried out in the event of a fire on a high-rise building?

In high-rise condominiums, water pipes are connected from the third floor to the water outlet on the top floor. There are water supply outlets on the condominium premises that send water to the water pipes, and on the 11th floor and above, hoses, nozzles, and other water discharge equipment are stored on each floor. Thus, when a fire breaks out on the 11th floor or above, firefighters send water into the water pipes.

Firefighters can then take the emergency elevator up to the fire floor, connect the hoses and nozzles installed there to the connecting water pipes, and extinguish the fire without carrying anything. (Mr. Tsuchiya, same below)

In reality, however, according to Mr. Tsuchiya, firefighting activities are only rarely carried out using a connected water pipe. Even if a fire does occur, sprinklers are installed on the 11th floor and above, and most fires are extinguished by sprinklers and fire extinguishers.

The evacuation hatch is “too scary to climb down”…Verification reveals a “double wall” that prevents evacuation from high-rise floors.

In 2010, however, a fire broke out on the 18th floor of a 44-story tower apartment building in Shinagawa, Tokyo, and 400 people had to be evacuated.

When a fire breaks out, a fire alarm is sounded, but in high-rise condominiums, the fire alarm is only audible on the floor of the fire origin and the floor above it, in order to avoid confusion if the alarm is heard throughout the entire building. When you hear a fire alarm, you should evacuate immediately.

The Building Standard Law stipulates that in the event of a fire, evacuation should be possible from two directions: the entrance and the balcony. From the balcony, however, one can either open an escape hatch and use an escape ladder, or break through a barrier between adjacent units and evacuate to the next unit,

I once did a drill for a fire equipment inspection job where we had to lower a ladder from an evacuation hatch on the 15th floor and climb down, but I was too scared to do it.

What about tearing down the “barrier board” and evacuating to the next floor?

The boards are actually very strong. Otherwise, they would be torn when something flies over them, such as a typhoon. If it were an impotent woman, she might not be able to break it even if she was hit by a body blow.

The only thing that remains is the front door.

High-rise condominiums are equipped with special evacuation stairways. The special evacuation stairways are designed to prevent fire and smoke from entering them because they are fire zones. If your legs and back are strong, I don’t think you will lose your life in a high-rise apartment fire.”

If a fire breaks out, the elevators will stop, and residents on the 40th and 50th floors will have to go down to the first floor from there, which is a big problem.

Some condominiums have emergency elevators for the fire brigade that can be used by people who have difficulty walking. When you buy a condominium, I urge you to check how you would evacuate in the event of an emergency.

The large condominiums are more prone to this fatal “blind spot” in disaster prevention.

By the way, although fire alarms are used to warn of a fire, many residents are unaware of the sound that is made when a fire breaks out.

According to the Fire Service Law, condominiums are required to have a fire equipment inspection twice a year. If the alarm sounds during the inspection, we know what sound it will make in the event of a fire, but in a large condominium with about 500 units, it may take four to five days to inspect the alarm system.

During that time, if the alarm sounds all the time, it will interfere with daily life, so an increasing number of methods are being used to check for abnormalities by inserting a tester into the intercom handset located by the entrance of each unit. Because of this, more and more people don’t know what kind of sound they will hear in the event of a fire.”

That is scary. Also, though, condominiums with 50 or more residents are required to hold disaster drills about once a year,

The larger the condominium, the more likely it is to be neglected.

Some people may not even know where the special evacuation stairs are.

Some people are indifferent to fire prevention training,” he said. But you never know when a fire will break out, and in the event of a fire, you cannot afford not to escape.

There are various types of evacuation ladders, including those that automatically descend when the hatch is opened and those that descend by removing a safety pin. It is important to actually see what kind of evacuation ladders are used in your apartment building and how they are used.

When conducting an evacuation drill, consult with the management company or fire department and ask them to prepare a “separator board” for the drill to see how sturdy the ladder is. I have seen some evacuation drills that seem to be a kind of leisure activity, but if you don’t take them seriously, they won’t be useful in an emergency.

Teruyuki Tsuchiya is a condominium management consultant with Sakura Office. He has many years of experience in a wide range of areas, including real estate sales and management consulting and management consulting for condominium management associations. He is a specialist in real estate sales and condominium management, and holds numerous real estate and construction-related certifications.