With another Christmas officially in the books, it's time to again look to the future. Included in that future is the ever changing face of your district. There is no better time then the present, to get out there and check on what is being built, how are they building it and what would you do, should you have to respond to an incident there. We have three booming subdivisions being thrown together and thrown together quick, the one is putting about two new homes under roof a week. I love to jump in the rig and drive through these places and visit these homes, making notes about how they're built and maybe even snap a photo or two to pass on to the other crews. Knowing our enemy is the best plan of attack, in my opinion. 

           After a 2009 basement fire, we really began to pay more attention to building construction and the boss said "his guys will not have to play the guessing game as far construction components go". He approached the Town Council as well as the Board of Zoning Appeals and had an ordinance passed, requiring any new construction built with lightweight construction components to affix a brass tag to the electric meter. This tag lets us know which portions of the building are comprised of lightweight components. This tag reads, F = for floor or R = Roof or F+R for both. Our fire in 2009 burned away the lightweight floor trusses, leaving the contents of the living room supported by the carpeting in the room alone. It's amazing that more of us aren't killed and injured doing the job that we love so much.

           So, today, we'll take some time out of our early afternoon and walk through a few of these homes that are being banged out as fast as they possibly can.