20 Firefighter Safety Recommendations about Building Collapse Dangers during a Fire | DENENA | POINTS
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20 Firefighter Safety Recommendations about Building Collapse Dangers during a Fire

  1. Fire departments should develop, implement and enforce written standard operating procedures (SOPs) for an occupational safety and health program based on NFPA 1500.

  2. The Incident Commander should be clearly identified as the only person with overall authority and responsibility for management of all activities at a fire.
  3. The Incident Commander should conduct an initial risk assessment of the incident scene before beginning interior fire fighting operations. The building collapse injury attorneys at Denena Points, PCemphasize that this initial assessment could be critical to saving lives and ensuring firefighter safety by determining whether fireground operations will be offensive with advance hose and interior operations or defensive.
  4. Fore departments should train firefighters to effectively communicate interior conditions to the Incident Commander as soon as possible and to provide regular updates on evolving conditions and safety threats.
  5. The Incident Commander must establish a stationary command post, maintain the role of director of fireground operations, and not become involved in firefighting efforts.
  6. Our building collapse injury attorneys note that the Incident Commander is responsible for continually evaluate risk versus gain when determining whether a fire suppression operation should be offensive or defensive.
  7. Ensure that the Incident Commander maintains close accountability for all personnel on the fireground.
  8. Have a separate Incident Safety Officer, independent from the Incident Commander, appointed at each fire.
  9. Have a rapid intervention team available to immediately respond to emergency rescue incidents.
  10. Closely coordinate ventilation efforts to release heat and smoke with interior fire suppression operations.
  11. Our building collapse injury attorneys mention that conducting pre-incident planning inspections of buildings within the fire department’s jurisdictions to facilitate development of safe strategies and tactics could have strong impacts on future firefighter safety in the event of fires.
  12. Ensure that any offensive attack is conducted using adequate fire streams based on characteristics of the structure and fuel load present and that an adequate water supply is established and maintained.
  13. Use exit locators such as high intensity floodlights or flashing strobe lights to guide lost or disoriented firefighters to exits.
  14. Train firefighters on actions to take if they become trapped or disoriented inside a burning structure.
  15. Ensure that all firefighters and line officers receive fundamental and annual refresher training under NFPA 1001 and NFPA 1021 guidelines.
  16. Ensure that firefighters wear the full array of turnout clothing and personal protective equipment appropriate for their assigned tasks.
  17. Train fire fighters in effective air management techniques so that they receive the maximum benefit from their self-contained breathing apparatus.
  18. Use thermal imaging cameras during the initial risk assessment and search phases of a fire.
  19. Develop, implement and enforce written SOPs and provide firefighters with training on the hazards of truss construction.
  20. Establish systems to facilitate the reporting of unsafe conditions or code violations to the appropriate authorities.

(Information from a NIOSH Report summarized by the Everyone Goes Home program of theNational Fallen Firefighters Foundation. Our building collapse injury attorneys emphasize that the Report has many more significant firefighter safety recommendations. Click here to read more detailed recommendations from the program that could save firefighter lives.)

Firefighters and Civilians inside Burning Buildings face their Greatest Dangers from Sudden Structural Collapses and Entrapment

Since the late 1970s, when authorities began keeping detailed statistics, the rate of firefighter fatalities has been decreasing, with the exception of 2001 when almost 350 heroic firefighters died tragically in the collapse of the World Trade Center towers in New York City.

Our building collapse injury attorneys note that as the overall number of firefighter fatalities have decreased, the rate of firefighter deaths from building collapses, particularly in residential fires, haveincreased. Click the link to read about the rise in the number of firefighter deaths from building collapses.