Positive Pressure Attack for Ventilation & Firefighting

By Kriss Garcia, Reinhard Kauffmann, and Ray Schelble

In the past decades, lightweight building construction methods and the use of manmade materials in construction and furnishings have become more and more common. The time until structural failure can be expected in a fire has been reduced, and firefighters have seen hotter fires that generate high levels of deadly gasses. But the ventilation methods used by modern firefighters have not kept pace.

Positive pressure was first used in the fire service to ventilate a structure after the fire was knocked down. Authors Kriss Garcia, Reinhard Kauffmann, and Ray Schelble have taken positive pressure a step further to achieve effective ventilation in coordination with aggressive fire attack, called positive pressure attack (PPA). Properly used PPA allows firefighters great control over the interior environment of a fire building, and starts at the earliest stages of the operation when ventilation can provide the greatest benefit for victims, firefighters, and the structure. With a small investment in equipment and a commitment to training, any fire department can implement PPA at the company level.

Subjects covered in this book include:

• Basics of positive pressure and how to maximize its effectiveness for fireground ventilation
• PPA: how effective ventilation can be coordinated to support an aggressive fire attack
• Safety considerations and limitations of PPA and positive pressure
• Other ways positive pressure blowers can be used to help victims and firefighters in a variety of situations
• Implementing PPA on a department, and how to train each engine company to become its own firefighting force that can accomplish both ventilation and fire attack

Contents:

• Overview of Fireground Ventilation
• What is Effective Ventilation
• Conventional Ventilation Methods
• Limitations of Conventional Methods
• Positive Pressure Attack
• Understanding Positive Pressure Ventilation
• PPV + Initial Fire Attack = PPA = Coordinated Attack
• Precautions for Using PPV and PPA
• Beyond the Basics
• PPA and Beyond
• Introducting PPA to the Department
• Positive Pressure Evolutions
• A Deeper Understanding
• Final Thoughts