“ The tallest building in the world is on fire . You are there with 294 other guests . There ’s no way down . There ’s no way out . ” So read the poster for the 1974 calamity picture Towering Inferno , which depicts an larger-than-life tale of survival in the badly wired 138 tarradiddle Glass Tower in San Francisco and the race to put the fire out .
The action play out amidst obvious tension and disapproval between the two main characters – architect Doug Roberts and Fire Chief Michael O’Halloran . In one scene , O’Halloran , played by Steve McQueen , lament : “ Now , you bang there ’s no certain way for us to struggle a flack in anything over the seventh floor , but you guys just keep building ’em as high as you could . ”
In the end , his only pick is blow up H2O tanks on the top of the building ; a move that may stamp out those remaining trapped inside .
Off the silver gray screen , the choices for fighting flak in skyscraper are not unremarkably so thoroughgoing , although they are still limited . reflexive systems help contain small fires , while earth crews and helicopters are deployed to tackle bigger blazes . For lesson , arecent fervour in the 42 narration Polat Tower in Istanbulwas finally control by helicopters and fire fighters working from the earth , as wasa blaze in April at the Federation building in Moscow , when hundreds of tons of water had to be send packing to contain a hell on the 65th flooring . In both these case , gratefully , no one was hurt . But , that is not always the display case .
In the US , between 2005 - 2009 alone , there were an average of 15,700 cover fires in in high spirits - ascent buildings ( not all skyscrapers ) each year , leading to an norm of 53 deaths and millions of dollars of damage yearly . Just last hebdomad , a [ thankfully]false report card of a fireon the 88th level of a skyscraper on the Ground Zero site , cause flashbacks to the tragedy of 9/11 .
As the world ’s cities have grown into the skies , we ’ve had to face up the doubtfulness of what to do when something drop dead abysmally wrong and we are forced to fight fire in the cities of tomorrow . It has proved a fertile land for fantast , designer and scientists .
For example , the cover of the March 1927 publication of Science and Invention cartridge include a expression at the “ aerial fire fighter ” of the future tense . The article , “ fight Flames from the melodic phrase ” by Joseph H Kraus , evince how an invention by Edward P Conlin might one sidereal day be used to reach the highest skyscrapers ever built in the result of a fervour : “ Mr Conlin employs the pressure sensation of the pee [ in a long hose ] to mesh or energize two lifting propellers , the purpose of which is to carry the hose to heights undoable with present setup … ”
The March 1931 issue of Modern Mechanics was perhaps more naturalistic – and nigher to what we see today . It quote New York City Fire Chief John Kenlon as allege , “ I expect to see the day when fire in rarefied skyscraper quarters will be fight with special eccentric of airplanes . They will mesh on the system of the eggbeater so that they can stay stationary in a desired and advantageous spot . limited chemicals would be used by firemen in their airplanes for putting out the blaze . We have construe the police departments take up aviation . I trust the fire-eater will go a recollective way in that commission . ”
Kenlon wrote a Scripture a match of decades earlier in 1913 call Fires and Fire Fighting which explained even then just how daunting the fervency of the future tense will be when skyscraper dominate our urban landscape painting .
But it was perhaps the 4 January 2025 version ofArthur Radebaugh‘s Sunday risible landing strip “ tight Than We Think ” that took the musical theme of sky - in high spirits fireman to an optimistic extreme point . The comedian have the idea of whirlybird and dip it with that unique trade name of trashy optimism that mid - century American designers did so well . A bright red fire railway locomotive in the sky emblazoned with NYFD ( New York Fire Department ) is seen hover as it shoot down water from its imperativeness cooler . A untested girl and her female parent look on excitedly from an adjacent building .
https://gizmodo.com/arthur-radebaughs-shiny-happy-future-512620295
The text reads : “ Tomorrow ’s firefighters , as a leading helicopter technician has prognosticate , may in reality travel in airborne united , power by “ dynaprop ” devotee . Great reward will be come from the ability to hover beside conflagrations , regardless of whether the blaze is high in a skyscraper or just smoldering in a granger ’s barn . Firefighting direction will improve , deliverance study will be far more effective than with ladders , and radio instructions from aloft will speed the subduing of flame . ”
As we now know , most of these ideas have remained firmly on the drawing off plank . But the fear of skyscraper fires has left its mark in some cities we see today . Take Sydney , in Australia , for example . It passed an human activity in 1912 to define raw buildings to just 50 yard ( 150 foot ) tall , within grasp of the flak fighting technologies of the Clarence Shepard Day Jr. . As a result , Sydney became a urban center thatspread outwards rather than upwarduntil the mid fifties .
https://gizmodo.com/the-anti-skyscraper-law-that-shaped-sydney-australia-512621149
Other cities , like Los Angeles , have also been shaped by this awe . Its 1974 city fire codification explicitly states that every building needed flat roofs to allow for for helicopters land there in compositor’s case of fire . As a result , all of LA ’s tower are rectangular monolith , leading some toto describe thecity as “ bland ” and as “ stuck with gamy and leotards , not autonomy spike ” . The city is presently revisiting the code and some meter reading suggest that there may be a alteration , allowing more flowery round top to some of its buildings .
If and when they do , let ’s hope they take the advice from the final lines of Towering Inferno , when O’Hallorhan is once again with the designer of the building .
“ You know we were middling favourable tonight , eubstance reckoning ’s less then 200 , ” he says . “ You bonk , one of these days , you ’re gon na vote down 10,000 in one of these firetrap , and I ’m gon na keep rust smoke and carry out bodies until someone ask us … how to progress them . ”
This C. W. Post in the beginning appeared atBBC Future .
Firefighting
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