All Entries Tagged With: "Research"
The Hubbard Street Fire: The 50th anniversary of a tragic dual collapse
The Hubbard Street Fire: The 50th anniversary of a tragic dual collapse January 28th, 2011 marks the 50th anniversary of the Hubbard Street Fire, which took the lives of nine Chicago firefighters: Battalion Chief George Rees Battalion Chief George Kuhn Lt. Charles Rauch Lt. Louis Repkin Firefighter Hillard Augustine Firefighter William Hillistad Firefighter Stanley Sliwinski Firefighter […]
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire New York City 1911
The Triangle Factory Fire http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/trianglefire/ This site contains information about the March 25, 1911 fire in the New York City factory of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company and the resulting investigations and reforms. The fire killed 146 immigrant workers, most of whom were women. The materials include original documents, oral histories, and photographs held by Cornell […]
Structural Collapse: The Hidden Dangers of Residential Fires
Structural Collapse: The Hidden Dangers of Residential Fires Oct 1, 2009 Originally Published in FireEngineering.com, All Rights Reserved By James M. Dalton, Robert G. Backstrom, and Steve Kerber Educational Objectives 1 Gain an understanding of the behavioral differences between solid wood joist and lightweight wood structural members under fire attack. 2 Gain an understanding of […]
Positive Pressure Ventilation Research
Positive Pressure Ventilation The objective of this NIST research is to improve firefighter safety by enabling a better understanding of structural ventilation techniques, including positive pressure ventilation (PPV) and natural ventilation, and to provide a technical basis for improved training in the effects of ventilation on fire behavior by examining structural fire ventilation using full-scale fire experiments with and […]
NIST Wind Driven Fires Programs
Wind Driven Fires Wind blowing into the broken window of a room on fire can turn a “routine room and contents fire” into a floor-to-ceiling firestorm. Historically, this has led to a significant number of firefighter fatalities and injuries, particularly in high-rise buildings where the fire must be fought from the interior of the structure. […]
Impact of Ventilation on Fire Behavior in Legacy and Contemporary Residential Construction
Impact of Ventilation on Fire Behavior in Legacy and Contemporary Residential Construction Impact of Ventilation on Fire Behavior in Legacy and Contemporary Residential Construction Under the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistance to Firefighter Grant Program, Underwriters Laboratories examined fire service ventilation practices as well as the impact of changes in modern house […]
Wind Driven Fires
A million dollar Baltimore County, Maryland home was destroyed Sunday December 13, 2009 by a fire that tore through the 4,700-square-foot structure with such intensity that firefighters were forced to battle the flames from the exterior. Shortly after 21:00 hours, Baltimore County Fire Dispatch alerted crews for Fire Box 50-2 at 12607 Nancy Lee Court […]
Underwriters Laboratories Structural Stability of Engineered Lumber in Fire Conditions
Structural Stability of Engineered Lumber in Fire Conditions Structural Stability of Engineered Lumber in Fire Conditions Under a U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistance to Firefighter Grant, Underwriters Laboratories in collaboration with the Chicago Fire Department, Michigan State University, and the International Association of Fire Chiefs completed a fire research study to enhance […]
It’s not Lightweight Construction
It’s not lightweight construction NFPA Journal, Jul/Aug 2009 by Earls, Alan R It’s what happens when lightweight construction meets fire. Two recent studies detail the relationship between fire and engineered wood construction assemblies-notably, that they burn quicker and fail faster than their dimensional lumber counterparts. What do the findings mean for the fire service, builders, […]
USFA Releases Provisional 2010 Firefighter Fatality Statistics
The United States Fire Administration (USFA) announced today there were 85 onduty firefighter fatalities in the United States as a result of incidents that occurred in 2010, a 6 percent decrease from the 90 fatalities reported for 2009. The 85 fatalities were spread across 31 states. Illinois experienced the highest number of fatalities (9). In […]
General Truss Construction Links
General Truss Construction Links NAHB Research Foundation Inc The essential point is that it would be un reasonable to design in the superior structural integrity of truss – framed construction only to degrade it by weakening the studs http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/pdf1982/ander82a.pdf Download SAINT LUCIE COUNTY FIRE DISTRICT Where the owner of the structure and the authority […]
NIST Report on Residential Fireground Field Experiments ISSUED
Report-on-Residential-Fireground-Field-Experiments The NIST Firefighter Safety and Deployment Study; Titled- Report on Residential Fireground Field Experiements was recently issued. A copy of the report is attached. The report is also available for download at the NIST, HERE Report Abstract: Service expectations placed on the fire service, including Emergency Medical Services (EMS), response to natural disasters, hazardous materials […]
Residential Structure Flashover and FF LODD- NIOSH Report
Photo Warren Skalski On March 30, 2010, a 28-year-old male career fire fighter/paramedic (victim) died and a 21-year-old female part-time fire fighter/paramedic was injured when caught in an apparent flashover while operating a hoseline within a residence. Units arrived on scene to find heavy fire conditions at the rear of a house and moderate smoke […]
Block and Brick Warehouse Construction Live Fire Testing
Another series of experiments were conducted in Phoenix, Arizona using a brick and block warehouse structure with a “traditional” wood frame roof assembly. This set of two experiments included measurement of temperatures and carbon monoxide inside the structure. The building was approximately 150 feet long by 50 feet wide. Infra-red (IR) cameras were used on […]
Wood Frame Structures Live Fire Testing
Four wood frame residential-like structures with different roof constructions were used in a series of fire tests conducted in cooperation with the Phoenix, AZ Fire Department. The roof construction was the primary difference between each structure: asphalt shingles and plywood, asphalt shingles and oriented strand board, cement tiles and plywood, or cement tiles and oriented […]
