Compromised Floor Assembly Traps (CT) Firefighters

Residential Fire and Floor Compromise Norwichbulletin.com

A Taftville (CT) Firefigher was caught in a compromised floor condition while fighting a fire in a residential occupancy on Friday morning April 15th in Norwich, CT., resulting in a mayday and RIT deloyment to support the extrication and firefighter removal from the interior.

Published reports from Theday.com indicated a fire fighter issued a mayday after his foot plunged through the floor up to his knee, according to according to Taftville (CT) Fire Chief Tim Jencks.

Two other fire fighters held him up so he wouldn’t fall through any farther, while several others rushed over to help.

A half dozen fire fighters worked to untangle wires that had dropped down from the sagging ceiling and to extricate the fire fighter from the damaged floor; the two who were holding him up also started to break through the floor, Jencks said.

Mutual aid from the Yantic Fire Company as well as the rapid intervention team from the Mohegan Sun Tribal department responded.

  • Fire ground Photos NorwichBulletin.com, HERE
  • Additional Links, HERE and HERE

The single family residential occupancy was constructed in 1932 and was a four bedroom colonial design with 1,965 square feet of space. The floor assembly was conventional full dimensional wood floor joist construction.

Two Story Four Bedroom Colonial, Circa 1932

Alpha Side Post Fire

Aerial View from Bing.com

Here’s some diagrams and images for common floor joist assembly systems Circa 1932

 

 
 
 
 

Common Balloon Frame Wall-Floor Construction

 

Full Dimensional Floor Joists

Circa 1930's Floor Joist Configurations

Filed Under: Anatomy of BuildingsThe Collapse Zone

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