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How is your department handling new construction homes?
This was brought up to me in a disscusion with our Captian:
With the new materials construction is using now, how do they pose a threat to us on a scene? The floor supports that are being used now are made of press board and I think 1 by 2's. My question is, what kind of training are you doing to make your firefighters aware of the risk when entering a home made with these materials?
With the new materials construction is using now, how do they pose a threat to us on a scene? The floor supports that are being used now are made of press board and I think 1 by 2's. My question is, what kind of training are you doing to make your firefighters aware of the risk when entering a home made with these materials?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Craig Goudie on
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My dept's service area has recently gone through a boom of new construction (commercial and residential) as well as updating of older structures. What we have done is become very aggressive with building inspections and pre-planning. Any new commercial structure is inspected by each shift through out various stages of its development. with our newer residential construction our biggest concerns have been size of the structures, floor plan, size of the yards, and materials. on the north end of our city we have a subdivision made up of wood truss constructed houses 5000-9000 sqft, with front yards 40 ft and up from curb to door. For this reason we have gone to 200 ft. cross lays, a lot more 3" hose, high rise packs with gated Y's, and doing plenty of training on size-up and deploying the correct load for the situation. Another thing we are doing is coming up with standardized fireground SOG's between us and our surrounding mutual aid departments and doing multi-agency live fire training to work out the kinks.
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Permalink Reply by Paul Montpetit on
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and don't forget the one about what color the buildings should be....!!!!!
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Permalink Reply by Charles McElroy Jr on
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We do building contruction training yearly. We use articles from leading fire publications, building trade publications, and we have some samples of these products. We (meaning chief officers) inform our people which new buildings are trussed. In our town there is an ordinance that any building constructed with truss components must signify such on the exterior of the building on the address side. The symbol is the standard red triangle with either an F or R or both if contructed with floor and roof trusses. A developer just built three four story lightweight wood truss condo buildings in my local. My captain recently gave me a video in which a research lab did a test on trusses. The I-beam truss (OSB between 2 2x4 or 2x3) failed in 3 minutes under direct flame inpingment.
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Permalink Reply by Deanna on
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that would be really good to get my hands on for my training officer. Do you know where he got it?
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Sure, I'll get the link and post it for you.
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Thanks ;-). I have a friend out in Idaho that is an engineer for a company that makes glu-lam beams. I'm going to see if he has any new material to send to me. If he does, I will definetly share.
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Permalink Reply by Jeff Cole on
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In New Jersey, particularly in the shore towns, there has been thousands of new condo and townhouse developments constructed in place of older homes, rooming houses, and older typical balloon-frame dwellings. Give me those anyday! In my community we lost literally hundreds of motels to block-long condo complexes, all lightweight materials, truss construction.
Luckily NJ has the most rigid model construction and building codes in the Nation, so I am told. Every MFD with truss floors or celings, roofs, or any combinations of truss MUST be placarded with a triangular-shaped sign with red lettering in the center; 'F'=truss floors, R/F= both, etc. Luckily we have been fairly proactive during this building period, and we visited many sites during various phases of construction. You name it, we have it. However with SFD's, it's not as easy. Many have been built conventionally with platform construction with dimensional lumber and rafters with ridge poles roofing.
But the majority have used all lightweight materials. We MUST assume the worst. Automatic alarms are a great help for getting the jump on notification. Tactically, many of these complexes require longer hoseline stretches. Entrance to particular units can be deceiving. Proper size-up is vital, before the first line is stretched so it goes to the proper stairwell, etc. Leading off with bigger line for these buildings is vital. If size-up indicates the potential for containment, it is imparative that enough gpm is applied, and avialable. For these type dwellings, the 1.75" mindset needs to be adjusted.
Adding to our problems at the shore, many of these complexes and dwellings feature 'Hurricane Windows' which have a direct impact on ventilation. Perhaps the single-most detrimental feature considering the rapid fire extension and increased heat production for interior crews. Couple this with the potential for hidden fire spreading throughout the truss spaces under and overhead the crews, and flashover potential is severe. These buildings often feature high vaulted and cathedral ceilings. Standard now is for any signs of smoke along the ceiling, inspection holes are made immediately from the point of entry and as crews advance. It should be stressed again that the potential for fire to be under and over you without any obvious signs are very real.
Use of TIC's should be standard especially for the Officer. Complete 360 degree size-up and constant monitoring is vital. If one line goes into service, being warrented for conditions, even during the investigative phase, consideration for an additional alarm, or upgraded assignment should be given.
Confirmation of fire overhead or below in the truss space that appears to be running should be an automatic evacuation and defensive operation. You should bet on it being a collapse.
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Deanna,
Here is the link. My captain said to go to youtube.com and type in captain falls through floor. A bunch of videos should come up.
Chuck
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The site said the video was unavailable. I checked out the ones on You Tube. They will be helpful.
Thanks alot
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Permalink Reply by Ron Ayotte on
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Lightweight wood construction isn't anything new.. there is a neighborhood of slab ranches in my community built in the early 1960's that have lightweight wood truss coinstruction supporting the roof.
Just down the street from my pieceof the American Dream is a "McMansion" built two years ago that looks great from the outside... I watched the construction... plywood I beams supporting the floors, lightweight wood trusses supporting the roof, OSB under vinyl siding. triple pane energy efficient windows to hold in the heat...
You have to get out of the firehouse and watch new construction as it is being built and make notes as to the construction materails, class of building, etc. Use returning from calls as an educational opportunity to identify buildings. Remember, some of them may defy classification!
I just put together a powerpoint on building construction for my FD. I spent a few of my off duty days roaming around town with my digital camera taking pics of everyhting from Class 1 to class 5 construction. You can find a lot of pics on Google too.
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