What is a High Rise Kit or Standpipe Kit?
A standpipe kit or high-rise kit is a bag containing the tools you need to successfully connect to a class 1 or class 3 standpipe and set up your firefighting operations. These kits make it easy to carry everything you might need to a location and ensure you and your crew are not scrambling or searching for tools that weren’t brought with you.
What Should Your High Rise Kit Include?
Your standpipe kit may look quite different from another fire departments. You should evaluate the types of structural fires you see, particularly in high-rise buildings or hotels, to understand what tools you may need. Then, you and your crew can build kits that suit your specific needs and includes only the gear you need.
Commonly recommended items include:
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Chocks
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Reducers
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Increasers
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Pipe Wrench
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Sturdy duffel bag
Some commercially available kits (like this one from Task Force Tips) include many of the recommended items.
Let’s take a moment to explore each recommended piece of equipment and what it does:
Standpipe Elbow
The standpipe elbow typically has a 45-degree bend and gives your hose line a more gradual angle to the ground. This helps minimize kinks and can make connections easier in some setups by getting the hose connection away from the wall and/or hose cabinet.
Pressure Gauge
A quality pressure gauge allows the firefighter at the standpipe to watch pressure on the line and ensure you are getting appropriate pressure for the hose line and nozzle. Without a gauge, the firefighter would not know when to make adjustments, and your flow rate, stream quality, reach, or nozzle reaction could be affected.
Valve
A gate valve gives the firefighter the ability to control standpipe water supply without relying on the standpipe wheel. In many cases, the standpipe wheel is difficult due to its limited use over time, corrosion, and/or lack of maintenance and testing. In some scenarios, it may not exist at all! With a gate valve, once the standpipe is open you can use your own equipment to control the water supply without relying on the standpipe itself.
The TFT High Rise Kit combines the standpipe elbow with an integrated valve and pressure gauge for a one-piece solution that is configurable at the time of order. This means you have fewer items to connect to the standpipe, saving you time!
Spanner Wrenches
Spanner wrenches help you remove difficult caps on the standpipe, aid with tightening couplings, connections, and even help crack a stubborn standpipe wheel. To use them effectively, you should always have two.
Chocks
Basic wooden chocks hold doors open after entry. This may be necessary to properly run a hose line or secure exit pathways for your crew.
Reducers and Increasers
A 2.5” X 1.5” (64 mm X 38 mm) reducer and a 1.5” X 2.5” (38 mm X 64 mm) increaser are common additions to the high rise kit. The reducer lets you use a 1.5” (38 mm) coupled hose directly off your valve or standpipe elbow to use your chosen hose line with 1.5” couplings, while the increaser helps during 2.5” break and extend hose operations off a ball valve shutoff.
Pipe Wrench
A pipe wrench can help your crew if the standpipe control wheel is completely missing. Without the pipe wrench, it may not be possible to open the outlet and get water flowing. A pipe wrench and even a crescent wrench can also help with pressure regulating devices.
Heavy-duty Bag
One of the essential pieces of your high-rise kit is the bag you carry it all in! The bag should be sturdy, easy to open and close with gloved hands, and be large enough to comfortably carry everything you’ve selected for your kit.
Do You Need a High-Rise Kit?
Whether or not your department needs standpipe kits depends on the area you serve and the types of structural fires you may face. If any of your calls include the possibility of a standpipe connection, you will want to have a kit easily accessible so that you are not struggling to find the various items needed at the fire ground.