BY FRANCIS L. BRANNIGAN,SFPE (FELLOW)
Editor’s note: For further reference, consult Building Construction for the Fire Service, Third Edition (BCFS3). Page numbers, where applicable, are included after the caption.
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This multistory apartment house in Ohio features balloon-frame construction because it provides a better base for brick veneer. Such construction offers less shrinkage in height in vertical vs. horizontal wood members, which allows better adhesion for the brick veneer.
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Plank-and-beam construction is a polished version of heavy timber construction such that the structural elements do not require the usual concealment. The elimination of void spaces is its advantage in fire; rapid flame spread over the finished surface is the disadvantage.
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The wood industry trumpets the slow burning and stability characteristics of heavy timber. The building department pronounced this church structurally sound, but its appearance is a total loss. These arches were heavily charred; they had to be removed and sent away to be restored.
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Then-Training Officer Don Harkins of the Killarney (FL) Fire Department fought this fire in St. Charles Church with heavy streams on both sides and in the doorway with smooth bore nozzles. The fire is principally a surface fire. If you can sweep the ceiling, you can temporarily “fireproof the wood.” After the body of fire is knocked down, you can pick up the odds and ends. The attack was so successful that the beams and roof were just refinished in place, leaving the burn marks visible.
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Orlando’s Truck 2 took about a half hour to cut this hole through the plank roof using several saw blades. The solution to such a fire is to preplan the heavy attack on the ceiling. The solution to the fire problem is to keep it out or to sprinkler any subsidiary structures such as robing rooms and sacristies. If these hazards to the building are combustible, they should be protected with exterior sprinklers. Of course, full sprinkler protection is the best solution, but unless the owners will accept exposed piping painted to blend in with the wood, a cockloft would have to be built above the roof to hide the piping. I have long urged that fire departments take the position that requires only the building be sprinklered. If the owner wants to hide the piping, that cost is not to be presented as part of the cost of the life safety-required sprinklers.
Additional information on the hazards of wood construction can be found in Chapter 3, pages 89-142, and Chapter 12, pages 518-563, of BCFS3 and updated in this column.
FRANCIS L. BRANNIGAN, SFPE (Fellow), the recipient of Fire Engineering’s first Lifetime Achievement Award, has devoted more than half of his 60-year career to the safety of firefighters in building fires. He is well known as the author of Building Construction for the Fire Service, Third Edition (National Fire Protection Association, 1992), and for his lectures and videotapes. Brannigan is an editorial advisory board member of Fire Engineering.
