I hope to direct this question to fire fighters or other experts in the field. My home has a networked fire alarm that activates all of the alarms if one detects smoke. It is also tied in to my home automation system so that I can get alerts, etc. My home also has a large poweful whole house fan. I don’t know the rating, but it gets the house aired out pretty quickly. I have seen house fires in the past where the fire fighters put large fans in the window - presumably to get the smoke out as quickly as possible. My question is therefore does it make sense to automate my house fan to turn on when the fire alarm activates, or would this be a bad idea and potentially make the fire worse? Any expert thoughts on this are appreciated.
You should do the opposite. A large amount airflow will give more oxygen and airflow to fire and will possibly allow embers to spread. In commercial buildings, the fire alarm is often tied to shutting off the HVAC upon an activations.
Besides that, one of the first things firefighters will do upon arriving on scene of a structure fire is turn off the electricity and gas to the home. So, all you fancy automation will mean nothing and they will still probably cut a hole in your roof.