You get a report of smoke showing from one of the new condo complexes in your town. It is most likely going to be a building of lightweight construction with lots of voids and concealed spaces that allow fire travel.
We need to know that the men and women with whom we work, volunteer, and fight fire have a set of values that hopefully mirror our own, writes Michael M. Dugan.
A fire in a private dwelling in Detroit gives us some real on-scene indications of how fire behavior and dynamics are explained in the fire research science being discussed and affecting tactics in the fire service today.
Scenario: A call comes in for a reported fire in a structure (it could be commercial or residential). The caller states that he has smoke in his building but he does not see any fire. Responding units report smoke showing but no visible fire.
This new “gold rush” is impacting the fire service in a big way—overpopulation resulting in unconventional living spaces, additional vehicles clogging roadways, soaring prices, industrial accidents, and local brigades with varying levels of training and education are just some of the new concerns. MICHAEL M. DUGAN