The Dry Stand Pipe is a piping system empty of water which is run thru multi story buildings which have no or limited sprinkler protection to supply fire fighters with water source should they catch fire.
Firefighters carrying Highrise Packs which usually consist of a 100 foot section of 1 1/2 inch hose a nozzle and spanner wrench and carry these packs into the building on fire to the floor where fire is or above or below it depending how bad it is and hooks up to this dry pipe which is then hooked up to outside at the FDC Fire Dept Connection and water is pushed thru this pipe by the firetrucks pumps to firefighter . The truck operator must be careful to deliver the right amount of pressurized water so a firefighter can effectively fight the fire but yet not blow the stand pipe apart which is a big issue as many buildings have old rotting and in some cases missing stand pipes .
The pipes are suppose to be tested annually but they are often overlooked and are essential in fighting multi story building fires as it is very difficult to get fire hose up a stairwell and operating properly.
yet every year there are reports of stand pipes failing. The other big problem thieves stealing the caps and even the brass valve fittings off these dry stand pipes which happened in this building because the large amount of money they bring for scrap. In some cases alarm company's now pressurize these pipes with air and monitor them with pressure monitor switches in case some one try's to steal a valve the loss of air causes a supervisory condition at panel which results in a dispatch of service personnel to check whats wrong.
these pipes provide essential life safety but too many are not getting the message and when you have lax enforcement in an area you find incidents where pipes fail.
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