The Federal Emergency Management AgencyÂ’s (FEMA) United States Fire Administration (USFA) issued a special report examining the characteristics of fires in vacant residential buildings. The report, Vacant Residential Building Fires, was developed by USFAÂ’s National Fire Data Center and is further evidence of FEMAÂ’s commitment to sharing information with fire departments and first responders around […]

Risk versus Gain: Operations in Vacant or Abandoned Structures Fire Fighter LODD after Being Trapped in a Roof Collapse During Overhaul of a Vacant/Abandoned Building. NIOSH recently published a report on a 2008 LODD that occurred in a vacant/ abandoned building. NIOSH Report F2008-0037. The full report is available HERE. LetÂ’s look at some insights […]

    December 3, 2009 marks the 10th anniversary of the Worcester Cold Storage Warehouse fire that resulted in the line of duty death of six courages brother firefighters. The Worcester Six; Firefighter Paul Brotherton Rescue 1 Firefighter Jeremiah Lucey Rescue 1 Lieutenant Thomas Spencer Ladder 2 Firefighter Timothy Jackson Ladder 2 Firefighter James Lyons […]

We’ve taked about a few things recently such as looking at the big picture related to buildings and occupancies and the functional parameters dealing with size-up and risk assessment. Then there’s the dialog and discussion on the Predictability of Performance related to buildings and occupancies. Back in July I talked about a number of operational […]