Anyone seen or used these at a fire?

A recent building familiarization tour with my truck company yielded these pre-engineered smoke vents. They are spring loaded on a fusible link so they can automatically activate to reduce heat and gases by themselves. They do have a manual release mechanism for a manual activation. Warning: the hatches are hinged on the sides so they spring open from the center. Therefore never place your body over the top of the hatch when activating the handle. I suggest using a pike pole to extend your reach.

1 member likes this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by FETC on May 17, 2013 at 8:15pm

I figured many brothers in the world haven't seen these so I took some pics during our recent tour

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Shane Griffith on May 17, 2013 at 9:42pm

That's pretty damn neat!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Russ on May 17, 2013 at 9:51pm

They are called Smoke Hataches and work with a fusable link or manual opening. Thay are kept closed with a latch but to insure they open they are connected to 4 car like shock absorbers (on each door) that will fling them open with some force.

I do recomend that you use a pike pole to open them with the relase latch

most are connected to the alarm system and if prematurely opened it sends a trouble signal. since they are on flat roofs there is little chance for vandals and jokesters to use them

the first one i saw was when i was a proble. we hit several on the roof of a warehouse and it helped the vent process because when open its about a 4ft wide by 6ft long opening

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Dave Dowdle on May 20, 2013 at 4:40pm

We have 3 on an elderly housing complex. One over each stair well and one over the elevator shaft. They pop open when the fire alarm activates. We have to manually close them with what looks like an overhead door control everytime we have a false alarm there.