Truss Construction Claims More Lives
DEPARTMENTS
EDITOR’S OPINION
On Friday afternoon, July 1, all of America’s working force was looking forward to a three-day holiday, a weekend filled with laughter, picnics, friends, and relations.
The employees of a car dealership in Hackensack, N.J. were finishing up their daily workload in hope of an early release. It was then they noticed smoke drifting down from a ceiling space used to store auto parts and related stock. While investigating, they became aware of intermittent failure of the lighting system and phoned the fire department. Hackensack firefighters turned out for a fire reported in the attic space.
Arriving units performed routinely and expertly based on fireground knowledge available, training, and experience. There wasn’t much fire, but it was located beneath the roof.
Open the roof. Attack from beneath. The strategy was routine and it was working.
Within 20 minutes, tons of debris that once formed the plaster ceiling, the stored materials, and the truss loft assembly suddenly fell. It snuffed out the lives of five of Hackensack’s brave firefighters.
Captain Richard L. Williams, Lieutenant Richard Reinhasen, Firefighter William Krejsa, Firefighter Leonard Radumski, and Firefighter Stephen H. Ennis ended their more than 80 years of combined dedication, trapped in a pile of debris.
The media was quick to line up experts for statements. The sensationalistic press screamed comments and criticisms from some whose knowledge comes from reading textbooks, but who have never commanded fire operations with the direct responsibility of protecting the lives and property of all the citizens of a municipality. Some attempted to say that collapse of certain structures is not only predictable, but listed a time frame.
All we know now is that pieces that have spelled tragedy for our fire service at previous structure collapses were in place. The facts of delayed alarm, hidden fire, and sudden collapse have been the central focus of many investigations into firefighter deaths in the past. Additionally, the collapse structure was laminated wood, bowstring truss. These assemblies are only designed to defy gravity, not for any other purpose— certainly not to support an additional live load of stored auto parts.
The press, in attempting to second-guess fireground decisions, was perhaps answered best by Vincent Dunn, fireground commander for more than 30 years and expert on collapse of fire structures. “You can’t wait for the fire to burn to the outside to fight from the outside. Interior firefighting is the most effective way to extinguish fire,” he said. “Anyone who tells you that they can predict a collapse is a liar.”
We are the only profession in the world that ALWAYS operates in an uncontrolled environment. The commander must make rapid-fire decisions based on many factors that are in place on arrival and ongoing as the fire fight progresses. Where are these concerned citizens and elected officials when he attempts to gain life safety concepts from our builders, architects, and code officials? Many criticize, but few stand up to responsibility.
The fire service has lost five more of its sacred membership. For this we not only fly flags at half-staff, but hang our hearts a little lower and think prayerfully of the loved ones left behind. So sudden, so abrupt.
A moment of silence.
Be with God, brothers.
