BY FRANCIS L. BRANNIGAN, SFPE (FELLOW)
Editor’s note: For further reference, consult Building Construction for the Fire Service, Third Edition (BCFS3). Page numbers, where applicable, are included after the caption.
 |
▲ This termite-infested church column will burn very rapidly. It may be replaced with an unprotected steel column.
 |
▲ These trusses collapsed as a result of exposure to the chemical action of fumes from the production process.
 |
▲ The handyman hired to dig a basement under this log cabin made this beam out of two very old barn beams and a piece of plywood.Note the cutout in one of the beams. There was no collapse, so now he knows how to do it because he is experienced. Not all “experience” is good; some is very bad.
 |
▲ As this building is collapsing, firefighters are pulling out hose. No length of hose, equipment, or piece of apparatus is worth a firefighter’s life. Train on leaving behind any equipment except what the Snowmass Village (CO) Fire Department calls “exit tools.” A hoseline left behind may help a disoriented firefighter escape if you have taught the firefighter how to distinguish hose couplings in the dark. Caution: A hoseline crew protecting personnel who have gone beyond the line must not evacuate until those personnel return or report that they have escaped by another route.
 |
▲ This landmark San Diego Marina Del Rey Hotel in California could make a giant bonfire but …
 |
▲ we see a post indicator sprinkler valve. If the sprinkler system was properly designed and installed to cover every void, has an adequate well-maintained water supply, and sends an automatic alarm to the fire department on any water flow, the chances are substantial that the building will survive an incipient fire.
■ FRANCIS L. BRANNIGAN, SFPE (Fellow), the recipient of Fire Engineering’s first Lifetime Achievement Award, has devoted more than half of his 63-year career to the safety of firefighters in building fires. He is well known as the author of Building Construction for the Fire Service, Third Edition (National Fire Protection Association, 1992) and for his lectures and videotapes. Brannigan is an editorial advisory board member of Fire Engineering.
