As part of the Trust’s drive to give the service training opportunities in Trust premises so that fire and rescue personnel understand how a large acute hospital will manage a fire incident, the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has recently been undertaking exercises with West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (WYFRS) – one of the goals being to evaluate whether established operational fire procedures used in other buildings would be effective in hospitals.
The exercises have been co-ordinated by Trust fire safety manager, Peter Aldridge (who is also NAHFO general secretary) and WYFRS to coincide with the WYFRS’s Leeds District Performance Management Visit (PMV). Peter Aldridge explained: “The PMVs are a programme of inspections whereby the District Commander assesses the operational effectiveness of each crew within his or her district. Russ Hepton, District Commander for Leeds, is keen that these assessments have robust learning outcomes linked to higher-risk premises.”
A search and rescue incident scenario was based on a fire on a building’s second floor, with persons unaccounted for. It was expected that crews would deploy positive pressure ventilation (PV) techniques. Training smoke was used, and the building used was still partially occupied by outpatient clinics. Alongside practical firefighting techniques, issues such as incident command and control, informative messages, water supplies, building information, and occupancy, were assessed.
Peter Aldridge explained: “A significant part of the exercises was to assess the effectiveness of positive pressure ventilation – a technique widely used in many fire scenarios, but perhaps not in premises only partially evacuated such as hospitals. PPV requires the strategic management of opening windows as an airflow from a fan is introduced into a fire incident.”
Issues identified warranting further discussion included:
- PPV sees a reliance on opening and closing windows in a sequence. In healthcare premises almost all windows have some form of restriction to prevent falls, and for infection control purposes.
- In healthcare it is very likely there will be a fire-fighting bridgehead set up internally in the building, perhaps two floors below. This could involve micromanagement of the stairs if still to be used for evacuation, or if occupants are being temporarily evacuated internally.
- Issues could arise with hose lines in stairs still being used for fire evacuation of patients on ski pads etc.
Peter Aldridge said: “The above list is not exhaustive, but acts as a starting to point to discuss operational firefighting in a large acute hospital setting in more detail.” Russ Hepton added: “WYFRS crews are benefiting practically through close liaison and support during the exercises, as the Leeds General Infirmary staff act as the initial point of contact. Hopefully in turn the LGI staff are learning about WYFRS tactics and expectations.”
