Building codes for the fire service

Building Codes for the Fire Services

Introduction

In the recent Charleston , South Carolina furniture warehouse fire , nine firefighters perished apparently by compromised and structural collapse of the building 's roof . Every year , fire related accidents caused by building collapse flashover and deadly smoke have been the leading causes of injuries or deaths of firefighters all over the United States (Dunn , 2007 . Most tragic was the World Trade Center Twin Towers collapse where 343 members of the Fire Department City of New York (FDNY ) perished died fifty-six minutes after the attacks (Fema 's US

Fire Administration , 2002 . The building officials , fire department architects and engineers did not anticipate that such an attack could happen in American soil

In the light of these developments , the public called for a review of all existing building and fire codes in the country . Dunn (2007 enumerated three most deadly situations in firefighting history where the ten-year study of the National Fire Protection Association indicated them as the main causes of injuries and fatalities of firefighters . They are collapse , flame spread and smoke . The most common types of collapse that have injured and killed many in the line of duty were floor collapse , roof collapse , wall collapse and ceiling collapse (Dunn 2007

It is imperative that firefighters have the basic knowledge on the behavior of buildings while being engulfed in flames . What they know could save their lives when they take the risk of controlling the situation . It is also important to look back at previous strategies on how buildings were deemed fire proofed ' and considered safe at all times . To avoid a repeat of the tragic incidents , regulatory bodies engineers , the academe and other professionals pit their wits and talents to ensure building safety standards are met . It is undeniable that some of the codes have become obsolete with the introduction of new building construction technologies

The Need to Overhaul Existing Codes

Traditionally , the safety of buildings has been regulated by codes all over the country . Since the 1800 's the safety of buildings had been mandated by these codes and they include the use of fire resistive materials , compartmentation features , and later , installation of automatic sprinkler systems and automatic fire alarm systems (Solomon and Hagglund , 2001 ,

.619 . All of these prescriptions were intended to ensure building safety even in the event of a fire . These also purported to make tall buildings safer . These had worked well under hazardous circumstances but were tested when the 9 /11 attacks occurred

Codes across the United States are also moving towards performance measures in addition to the time-tested prescriptions of the codes (Solomon and Hagglund , 2001 ,

.619 . In New York City , for example Mayor Bloomberg called for a review of the existing codes that had been in force since 1968 to conform to contemporary needs . New York has four construction codes namely the Building Code , Fuel Gas , Mechanical and Plumbing Codes (New New York City Construction Codes , n .d ,

.1 . The City government was caught...