The Next Standpipe
The Next Standpipe Initiative | This or That?
This or That? Can the fire service afford to continue firefighter air operations without determining whether those operations can be sustained in large-scale warehouses and high-rises? Do we continue to operate as we have or is there another option.
Today, a growing coalition of fire service leaders is asking whether a similar discussion is needed about breathing air.
The Firefighter Air Coalition today announced the launch of “This or That? The Next Standpipe Initiative,” a national effort intended to examine whether modern building growth has created firefighter air-resupply challenges that deserve further study, research, and evaluation.
The initiative launches with the release of a comprehensive position paper, a national awareness campaign, and video resources designed to encourage discussion among firefighters, chief officers, fire marshals, code officials, researchers, building owners, labor organizations, and other stakeholders.
Unlike many industry initiatives, The Next Standpipe does not begin with a proposed product, technology, or code requirement.
It begins with a question.
At what point does building size, travel distance, and operational complexity begin to challenge the traditional methods firefighters use to move breathing air to the point of operation?
The Next Standpipe Initiative
This or That? | More Air. More Time.
Every cylinder eventually has to be replaced. In a smaller building, the distance between the operating area and replacement cylinders may be manageable. In a large warehouse, high-rise, below-grade facility, or industrial occupancy, cylinders may have to move through long corridors, up stairwells, across expansive floors, or to protected interior staging areas.
The farther cylinders must travel, the more personnel and time may be required to keep air moving. Those firefighters cannot simultaneously perform fire attack, search, rapid intervention, accountability, crew relief, or rescue. A well-staffed department can still consume companies on air logistics. For a department arriving with 12 firefighters, assigning several members to move cylinders may remove a significant portion of the initial response from every other fireground function.
The operational cost is not limited to the bottle brigade. It includes the time required for a crew to leave its assignment, reach the air supply, change cylinders, and travel back before returning to work. During that interval, the fire continues to develop, victims remain exposed, and an urgent rescue problem does not pause.
Hand-carried resupply works, and departments depend on it every day. The question is whether there is a point at which travel distance, building configuration, staffing demand, and operational duration grow beyond what hand-carried cylinder resupply can reasonably support as the primary method.
The answer may ultimately show that current methods remain sufficient across the overwhelming majority of occupancies. It may also identify specific conditions where additional infrastructure deserves consideration. Either outcome is acceptable.
What matters is that the answer comes from firefighters, researchers, training officers, standards developers, and operational experience rather than assumption.
Previous generations recognized that changing buildings sometimes required changes in the systems supporting firefighters. The standpipe emerged from that realization. Whether breathing air deserves a similar conversation remains an open question.
Before the fire service debates solutions, however, it should first define the problem.
Which brings us back to the question at the center of this discussion:
When is a building large enough to require air?
Our Mission
The Next Standpipe Initiative
Firefighters swear an oath to protect life and property.
The Next Standpipe Initiative exists to ensure they have the air and time necessary to fulfill that oath.
Because without air, there is no search.
Without air, there is no rescue.
Without air, there is no suppression.
Without air, firefighters cannot do the job they were called to do.
We solved the water problem – with water standpipes.
Have we solved the air problem?