Impact on fire service

Many prominent fire departments across North America, fire research institutes, fire service organizations, and government agencies witnessed the live burn experiments at Governors Island. In efforts to reach out to the nation-wide firefighter community and civilians, the research was published in many major newspapers and manifested in TV news. It called on fire officials to rethink and review their existing firefighting strategies. Specifically, the FDNY conducted a pilot program in which special high-rise units for PPV operation, curtain deployment, and high-rise nozzle operation were developed and assigned in different parts of New York City.

The lessons learned from live burns, scientific simulations, and the pilot program aided FDNY officials to review and modify their Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). The FDNY also trained its 11,000+ firefighters using the videos, images, and research data produced as a part of this study. By August 2010, the FDNY assigned 58 high-rise nozzles (at least one engine in each battalion) in the field. One hundred forty-three FDNY truck companies, 7 squads, and 5 rescues were carrying the wind control device. The vent support units (14 companies citywide, 2 high rise units) were carrying 27" gas powered PPV fans. But most importantly, FDNY firefighters successfully deployed these tactics in several real-life wind-driven high-rise fires in New York City. These events also confirmed the efficacy of these firefighting procedures and verified the results of the research study. This video is a TV news clip showing the deployment of wind control device by FDNY firefighters at a real-life fire in New York City.