As part of a larger research program to help reduce firefighter injuries and fatalities, the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) funded the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to examine the feasibility of predicting structural collapse and determine if there were any trends and/or patterns that could be detected in firefighter fatalities due to structural collapse. If so, these trends could be brought immediately to the attention of training officers and incident commanders and investigated further to determine probable causes.
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Trends in Firefighter Fatalities Due to Structural Collapse, 1979 - 2002 (PDF, 392 Kb)Structural Collapse Fire Tests: Single Story, Wood Frame Structures (PDF, 1.6 Mb)Structural Collapse Fire Tests: Single Story, Ordinary Construction Warehouse (PDF, 8.0 Mb)Examination of the Thermal Conditions of a Wood Floor Assembly (PDF, 19.6 Mb)
Structural Collapse Videos and Reports (DVD)In partnership with USFA, the American Wood Council (AWC) is updating its comprehensive web-based educational program developed to aid the fire service in learning more about modern construction components and the performance of these building materials during fires to create a safer operational environment for firefighters. These components include trusses, glue laminated beams, I-joists, structural composite lumber, structural insulated panels, and wood structural panels that are replacing dimensional lumber in many applications.
The update of this program will provide the latest information on modern construction technology and expand the current awareness level program to operations level.
The current program developed by a prior USFA/AWC partnership is available at the AWC Fire Service Resource Guides website. Included in the current program is FireFrame, an interactive tool on building construction for the fire service. It was developed with the assistance of several state and local fire training systems.
AWC is the national trade association representing most of the wood products produced in the United States. It acts as an international resource and clearinghouse for technical information and expertise on wood products. For this project partnership, AWC provides a significant and beneficial technical outreach on critical safety issues related to the performance of these products.
Last Reviewed: August 3, 2012
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