Vertical ventilation is an essential and effective fireground tactic.
For well over 100 years, vertical ventilation has been used by the fire service, proven as a viable ventilation method on thousands of incidents across America and beyond. In fact, it has long been considered the optimal method of ventilation.
In some departments, it is still the best option due to budget constraints that would prohibit the purchase of positive-pressure ventilation (PPV) fans. And depending on what the fire conditions are, it may literally be the only option.
How much do you know about vertical ventilation? Read Senior Captain Chris DelBello’s article, “Vertical ventilation: A firefighter’s ladder-to-roof guide,” and then find out how much you retained with this FireRescue1 Quiz.
This article, originally posted on June 17, 2020, has been updated.