smoke ventilation

[nearlythere]

Do I recall that if there was one stairway there should be an automatic vent and if more than one then they could be manually openable. These were essentially for use by FS.

[lyledunn]

Just as a matter of interest, does the operation of a smoke vent cause an increased draw for an incipient fire that might otherwise self extinguish?

[nearlythere]

Just as a matter of interest, does the operation of a smoke vent cause an increased draw for an incipient fire that might otherwise self extinguish?

Ventilation is a very import part of a fire fighting strategy Lyle. Firefighters have to be able to get to the seat of a fire and a smoke logged building can be be very dangerous to firefighters for obvious reasons as well as making fire finding a long process.  A fire which has a poor air supply is very inefficient and because it is not free burning will produce a lot of smoke. A fire which is burning freely produces mush less smoke but obviously more flame.And yes in some cases they can burn out
Generally, getting to the seat of a fire quickly to deal with it can be preferable to trying to find one in a smoke logged building. And indeed passive or reactive smoke control measures in conjunction with others can result in less damage to a building overall.

[Mike Buckley]

Just as a matter of interest, does the operation of a smoke vent cause an increased draw for an incipient fire that might otherwise self extinguish?

The smoke vents should be fitted to the staircases which are MOE to keep he clear of smoke and allow people to escape. For this type of ventilation to increase the draw for the fire it would mean that the fire doors separating the fire compartment from the protected staircase have failed.