Fire engines can only reach up to 12 floors

With tall buildings rising ever higher, the Civil Protection Department has plans to buy six vehicles with turn table ladders and aerial platforms which can reach higher than the present fleet, which can only reach up to 12 floors.  

Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela recently confirmed the 12-floor limit in reply to questions by Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi.  

But contacted by MaltaToday CPD Director John Rizzo was keen in emphasising that the CPD already imposes a number of conditions on buildings which are higher than seven floors, aimed at facilitating fire fighting and the rescue of people who could end trapped in a fire. 

Fire fighting in tall buildings is considered a major challenge the world over. Aerial platforms like those which the CPD intends to order normally consist of a platform attached onto a mechanically bending arm installed on a fire truck. 

Some aerial ladders are known to reach a maximum of 64 metres, which would not be enough to reach beyond 15 floors.  This means that any new device will not be able to reach the higher floors of tall buildings like the proposed 38 storey high Townsquare tower in Sliema.

Yet even if such equipment is in place, accessing a high-rise building with ladders will remain a problem, which is best addressed through preventive measures and precautions, according to Rizzo.

Buildings which are more than seven floors high, must also have dry risers: empty pipes that can be externally connected to a pressurized water source by firefighters. This vertical pipe can distribute water to multiple levels of a building.

Buildings, which are more than 10 floors high, must also be equipped with sprinkler systems; which automatically discharge water when the effects of a fire have been detected, such as when a predetermined temperature has been exceeded.

These conditions are already imposed by the Civil Protection Department before a planning permit is issued. The department is always consulted by the PA before such applications are approved.

Other measures include having fire-fighting shafts, which provide the fire and rescue service with a safe area from which to undertake firefighting operations. A firefighting shaft typically contains a firefighting main, stairway and sometimes a lift.  Buildings must also include protected lobbies, which serve as a refuge from fire and fumes in case of an accident.