PREPLANNING BUILDING HAZARDS
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(Top left) Highly flammable imitation grape bunches decorate this restaurant. Similar decorations were placed in a restaurant on New York`s Seventh Avenue. Members of Ladder 24 responding first due northbound on Seventh Avenue saw fire blowing out of the store across the width of Seventh Avenue. We must be more alert to the potential fire growth of interior finishes and contents. Do your prefire plans include an estimation of fire-growth potential? (BCFS3, Chapter 9)
(Top right) One of the detrimental characteristics of spray-on “fireproofing” (“insulation” would be the better word) is the fact that it is easily removed. This slide was shot on the 25th floor of San Francisco`s Bank of America Building. Plasterers had chopped off the insulation because it prevented them from meeting the required dimensions of the plaster. Had Hank Spaeth of ISO not noticed this, there would have been unprotected steel columns in what the fire department would have presumed was a fire-resistive building.
(Middle) Many recreation rooms are finished out with combustible ceiling tile and very thin plywood wall panels. These materials make an extremely hot fire, which may require a bigger line than is normally used. This fire occurred when teenagers cleaned up their mess on leaving–violating the rules for teenagers. Paper and ashtrays were dumped into a plastic trash container. A burning cigarette was in the trash. Cleanliness may be next to Godliness, but it is not necessarily good fire prevention. (BCFS3, Chapter 9)
(Bottom) Sand lime mortar often has very little adhesion. Note the clean bricks when this wall was knocked down. Portland cement mortar was developed about 1880, and it was quite a while before it was universally used. Even today, sand lime mortar is used in restoring old buildings, because harder portland cement mortar will damage the historic bricks. (BCFS3, pp. 33,82)
