Improving Fire Safety by Understanding the Fire Performance of Engineered Floor Systems and Providing the Fire Service with Information for Tactical Decision Making Report Released
Executive Summary
This research project was a collaboration of several research organizations, product manufacturers and fire service representatives to examine hazards associated with residential flooring systems to improve firefighter safety. Funding for this project was provided through the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Grant Program. The main objective of this study was to improve firefighter safety by increasing the level of knowledge on the response of residential flooring systems to fire. Several types (or series) of experiments were conducted and analyzed to expand the body of knowledge on the impact of fire on residential flooring systems. The results of the study have been prepared to provide tactical considerations for the fire service to enable improved decision making on the fire scene.
Experiments were conducted to examine several types of floor joists including, dimensional lumber, engineered I-joists, metal plate connected wood trusses, steel C-joists, castellated I-joists and hybrid trusses. Experiments were performed at multiple scales to examine single floor system joists in a laboratory up through a full floor system in an acquired structure. Applied load, ventilation, fuel load, span and protection methods were altered to provide important information about the impact of these variables to structural stability and firefighter safety.
There are several tactical considerations that result from this research that firefighters can use immediately to improve their understanding, safety and decision making when sizing up a fire in a one or two family home.
This report summarizes the results from each of the experimental series and provides discussion and conclusions of the results.
Research Project: Improving Fire Safety by Understanding the Fire Performance of Engineered Floor Systems
Report Title: Improving Fire Safety by Understanding the Fire Performance of Engineered Floor Systems and Providing the Fire Service with Information for Tactical Decision Making
Report Authors: Steve Kerber, Daniel Madrzykowski, J. Dalton and B.Backstrom
Download the Report: https://dx.doi.org/10.54206/102376/ZCOQ6988
Release Date: March 1, 2012