My attention was drawn to three jets of water shooting out high atop a building being constructed on Hudson Street in Jersey City. At first I thought the water had to be due to some kind of construction mishap. A burst pipe maybe. That might account for one jet. But three?
"They must be testing the standpipes," I said to my wife, referring to the vertical water pipes installed in all buildings taller than four stories, designed to be used by firefighters.
But I'm not a big fan of guesswork, not when an explanation can be found. We strolled in that direction, figuring enlightenment might be found there, and it was, in the form of a firefighter looking up at jetting water.
I addressed my question to him, and he said that firefighters do not often get the chance to train 50 floors up in a high rise. They were being permitted to use the raw space to practice their hose work. That made sense. Firefighters sometimes make use of high rises that are about to be torn down, or have special training towers to simulate the layout of skyscrapers. Such simulations are important -- high rise fires are particularly dangerous, with the usual hazards of fighting a fire magnified by additional mechanical and electrical systems, not to forget the difficulty of hauling gear up a few dozen flights of stairs.
We moved on down the street -- the water was shooting out so high up, maybe 500 feet above the pavement -- that by the time it reached street level, it was no more than a fine mist, quite pleasant on such a hot day.
I addressed my question to him, and he said that firefighters do not often get the chance to train 50 floors up in a high rise. They were being permitted to use the raw space to practice their hose work. That made sense. Firefighters sometimes make use of high rises that are about to be torn down, or have special training towers to simulate the layout of skyscrapers. Such simulations are important -- high rise fires are particularly dangerous, with the usual hazards of fighting a fire magnified by additional mechanical and electrical systems, not to forget the difficulty of hauling gear up a few dozen flights of stairs.
We moved on down the street -- the water was shooting out so high up, maybe 500 feet above the pavement -- that by the time it reached street level, it was no more than a fine mist, quite pleasant on such a hot day.
ReplyDeleteThe humidity has been awful but this is interesting.
I suppose the high-level training included the opportunity to practice hauling hoses up 50 flights of stairs. I have great admiration and respect for firefighters and the work they do.
ReplyDeleteI was outside the Fire Academy on Taylor Street one day earlier this year watching the recruits go up all the stairs & down them, over & over again & again. Training them for climbing high rises.
ReplyDeleteOur firefighters used to train by burning down condemned houses within our village. Sometime in the 1980s there must have been "an incident" because they stopped, moving such burns to surrounding rural townships.
ReplyDeleteThat was still done in Skokie as late as the mid-Sixties. Houses were condemned and set ablaze when Niles North HS was built, between the Edens and Old Orchard. Huge clouds of smoke. Skokie's bravest also burned piles of dried-out Christmas trees in a vacant lot next to a firehouse. Watched them burn every spring.
DeleteAnd the CTA's Skokie Shops, where the "L" fleet is still repaired and maintained, disposed of the earliest wooden "L" cars by torching them. Smoke from a not-very-distant fire. My junior high was two blocks away.
Nobody gave a damn about smoke or air pollution in the Fifties and Sixties. That changed in the Seventies. So all the burning stopped. As did the burning of autumn leaves. Loved that smell. Still miss it.
I admit that I also miss the evocative smell of burning autumn leaves. However, I don't miss it so much that I wish we'd roll back environmental regulations.
Delete"All the burning" may have stopped, but the proliferation of illegal fireworks continues to be unstoppable. Much to the chagrin of pets and the weird folks among us who like to breathe. A night like last night is remarkable. In large parts of the city, you notice the smell in the air right away. Uh, it's not pleasant, like leaves burning, either.
Visually, and if you like big bangs, aurally, the fireworks displays of the hoi polloi in the neighborhoods are impressive, indeed. But, as with the leaf smoke, I'd trade them in for a quiet night with clean air if I could.
https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/comments/1ls2hjg/looks_like_we_are_back_to_horrible_air_quality/
yes, the Air Quality Index rose to its worst possible level last night, due to the particulate matter from the fireworks. i don't understand the joy in setting off fireworks. Or why it remains fun at 4:30 AM. I know veterans who aren't keen on them, either. It is also terrifying to wildlife. Common nighthawks take to the skies at dusk to feed. I once saw a nighthawk drop so quickly out of the sky I thought it had been hit by a firework, but it leveled off at a much lower altitude and continued to fly. It was either frightened by the explosion, or was averting a direct hit. I'm glad it survived but it was sad to see.
DeleteTraining for high-rise fires. Hose work. Couldn't help thinking of 9/11.
ReplyDeleteAdmittedly odd question, but when you approach someone “when an explanation can be found,” do you just ask, “What’s up?” Or do you introduce yourself as a reporter for the Sun Times/EGDD?
ReplyDeleteIf I'm asking to take a picture, I'll mention the blog -- or the paper, if there's a chance of it running there. In this case, I presented myself as I was: as a curious citizen.
DeleteThoughts of Twin Towers and fire fighters carrying their hoses up endless stairs raced into mind when reading this. Them The Towering Inferno and Steve McQueen trapped at the top, a pressge of things to come. . How does the water pressure maintain at such heights? What hapened to those water tanks so prevalent on roofs in Chicago?
ReplyDelete