Developments in positive pressure ventilation

Positive pressure ventilation (PPV) has been used by the fire service for a number of years as a procedure to remove smoke and hot gases from a building on fire. PPV is a procedure where air is pushed into a building exposed to fire with the help of fans, consequently pushing hot air and smoke out of the building. This paper summarizes a large number of studies on PPV, draws conclusions from these studies and suggests further work in the area of safe fire attack involving PPV. Such work includes investigating impact of various wind conditions, flow path from inlets to exhausts, risk of unintentional fire spread, and combination of fire suppression efforts with PPV. Also, developing standards for testing and evaluating PPV are greatly needed as well as developing field guides for the safe use of PPV during fire fighting operations. (Less)