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Permalink Reply by Engineco913 on September 1, 2007 at 8:17pm

Perhaps you should more direct them towards the fact of building contents making the building type an oven. Furniture is like solid gasoline, and burns extremly hot. I am also pretty sure (based on most furniture stores) it was stocked to the gills, so the fire load was immense for a short span of building. Not having a sprinkler system didn't help any. I know this isn't much on building construction, but I seriously feel this fire would have been intense reguarless of what the construction type. Good Luck

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Permalink Reply by Joe Sheldon on September 1, 2007 at 10:37pm

I haven't heard a lot about it, but I did hear it was a bowstring truss with a drop tile ceiling. I would typically assume block walls, but it was probably added onto a hundred times and with who knows what.

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Permalink Reply by FF Schoen on September 2, 2007 at 4:14pm

Thank you for your assistance! It is helping me a bunch on the analysis

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Permalink Reply by Heather Langston on September 2, 2007 at 4:36pm

You might have some success checking Firehouse.com and Fire Engineering's website. Also, refer to Brannagin's 'Building Construction for the Fire Service'. Another good text is 'Collapse of Burning Buildings', which I believe is by Dunn.

I have heard that the building had several additions and renovations. Also, the fire started in a loading bay dumpster outside the building. Reports indicate there was puffing smoke issuing through various locations in the drop ceiling not long before they lost control. This is information from my training officer, I'm sorry but I don't have anything else on it.

As for the building itself, the sheer size would indicate a metal or wood bowstring truss roof. The PVC components of the stored furniture burn at least twice as hot as wood products, the fire load must have been immense. If you search through Google, you should be able to find some good pictures that might help you out.

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Permalink Reply by Kevin King on September 2, 2007 at 4:46pm

From what I could see in pics it was block walls and barjoyce construction,long spans with steel colums. Common warehouse construction,hard to judge from pics

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Permalink Reply by Kyle D. Hill on August 18, 2008 at 6:26pm

I'm glad to see that we (firefighters) are learning from a tragic accident. This is an important step to becoming better firefighters. According to NFPA 220, Standard on Types of Building Construction, a building with exterior walls constructed of masonry, and interior walls, columns, beams, floors, and roofs constructed partially or wholly of combustible materials, would be considered Type III construction (Ordinary Construction). Without knowing what the interior walls were constructed from, it's difficult to tell for sure. You're on the right track. There are many sources of information, some even on FFN! Check out this webpage: http://static.wciv.com/niosh.pdf and see what you can find. It contains the preliminary findings from NIOSH. It's good information. The roof was a flat roof, supported by open web bar joists, or lightweight construction.....a major contributor to firefighter deaths. Keep searching and you'll find your answers. We're all here to help each other! Good luck with your project.

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Permalink Reply by Christopher J. Naum, SFPE on August 18, 2008 at 7:07pm

Go to the recent issued reports and also the posting here on the FFN; ATF's Report on the Charleston Sofa Super Store Fire posted by Christopher J. Naum, SFPE on July 10, 2008 at 10:19pm in Building Construction & Firefighter Safety, Please contact me if you'd like to discuss the construction features and more details, we can set up a time and date. I posted a before fire picture of the steel framed building on the 07/10 FFN posting.

Attachments:

• Charleston_Phase I Report.pdf, 115 KB
• ATF_firereport_070908.pdf, 1.4 MB
• firereport_051508.pdf, 2.6 MB

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