Compromised Floor Assembly Traps (CT) Firefighters
By Christopher J. Naum, SFPE on Apr 16, 2011 with Comments 0
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.
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 Buildings • The Collapse Zone
