Construction Types and Occupancy Classifications

At the time of the MGM Grand Fire, it was not required that fire department personnel had to be part of the building construction plan review process. The fire department is now largely involved in the construction and plan review process before a building is built. Also, construction materials used are more fire resistant. Ventilation systems have also been improved, and are very helpful in removing the smoke, rather than allowing it to make its way to upper floors of a high rise structure, which was a large cause of loss of life in the MGM Grand fire due to smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning.

The MW-1 2003 Contract was developed and published by the Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA) and the Master Builders Association (MBA). This contract is the revised edition of the original ABIC MW-1 2001 contract

The change to engineered lumber also means less wood to burn resulting structure collapse much sooner, risking the lives of unaware firefighters. In addition to building techniques, improved technologies have also given rise to many engineered materials that replace traditional materials found in home furnishings such as cotton and wool. Today, homes are constructed and filled with furnishings that have a petroleum base such as plastics and polycarbonates. These engineered materials burn many times hotter and faster than traditional building materials or what is considered legacy furnishings. In an experiment conducted at the NIST laboratory, two same size rooms, filled with matching furnishings. One room was filled with modern home furnishings while the second room was filled with furnishings made of cotton, wool, and solid lumber. Both rooms were ignited simultaneously, the modern room burned rapidly and flashed over in approximately eight minutes whereas the legacy room took twenty minutes to reach flashover. When we consider the length of time to call 911, take the call, dispatch units, drive to the scene, tag a hydrant and pull a line most likely takes longer than eight minutes, the timing until flashover is critical for victims and firefighters. Additionally, there is a significant difference in temperatures generated between the modern and legacy rooms. The legacy room high temperature reached approximately four hundred degrees before

Many fire service personnel that have fifteen or twenty years of service have seem many things change over time. One radical change is the way fires consume structures today when compared structures years ago, these fires have be classified as modern and legacy fires. When responding to a modern construction fire versus a legacy fire, does it change how we fight these fires? Well the answer to that is simply yes! Modern construction physiognomies have greatly changed to accommodate the comfort of the homeowner, which is not firefighter friendly. In modern construction home the floor plans are larger in size to give more living space. As the living spaces grow the footprint of the residence increases as well. As the word modern leads to occupants thinking comfort, when truthfully causes disadvantageous consequences for the fire service with open geometrics, new construction materials, and also include an increased fire load. All these construction advantages only lead to faster propagation of the fire, as well decreases the amount of time for a flashover to occur. Modern construction has led to hasty changes in fire dynamics, which at the same time decreases the amount of time to escape to safety. The structural collapse time is greater since the amount of time as been lessened

Four years ago, the city had an arsonist that would burn vacant houses. Correctly sizing up the structure that was on fire and analyzing it as a vacant house, was very important during this period. Vacant houses pose many dangers,

Pratt, J., & Castaneda, C. (1999). Builders: Herman and George R. Brown. College Station: Texas A&M University Press.

• Building technologies (C1, Section 2) evaluates the structural components and functions, and use of materials.

(1)3D Coordination (2) Design Reviews (3)Design authoring (4)Construction System Design (5) Existing Condition Modeling (6) 3D Control and planning (7) Programming (8) Phase planning(4D modeling) (9) Record Modeling (10) Site Utilization Planning (11) Site analysis (12) structural Analysis (13) Energy Analysis (14) Cost Estimation (15)Sustainability LEED Evaluation (16) Building System Analysis (17) Space Management /Tracking (18)Mechanical Analysis (19) Code Validation (20) Lighting Analysis (21) Other Engineering analysis (22)Digital Fabrication (23) Asset Management (24) Building Maintenance Scheduling (25) Disaster Planning.

In today’s ordinary construction the fire ratings would not be the same. The fire rating would be worse in my opinion. Most of the materials used in ordinary are cheap and poorly made. Materials are made with more make-up products that seem to fail a lot more so than the older materials from later years. Materials have tests now of days to determine the soundness of the materials. These tests are a flame spreading rate test and a heat release rate test. “The flame spreading test is determined by subjecting the material placed in a horizontal tunnel to a gas flame. A combustible material will be rated as Class A, Class B, or Class C based on its performance in this test. A material rated as Class A would have a lower flame spread, and therefore a better performance rating, than a Class C material”(Quarles). The fire rating numeric number scale can go from 1 to 160. The second test would be the heat release rate test. This test would involve the size of an item or product, set the product on fire and see how fast the product burns. When it comes to disadvantages of this construction and the techniques, special consideration needs to be

Throughout history we can see that housing has followed certain trends. These trends are most heavily influenced by the technology available to the public at that time. As can be seen throughout history, living conditions in general have improved, as there are more access to resources and building technologies. Although the world we live in has changed greatly, the basic type of shelter needed for everyday life and the resources needed to construct them has changed very little. This is why we can see a lot of parallels between the ways people live throughout history. However, the biggest change is in the way we construct buildings and especially housing. History has taught us that as time goes by, technology increases, making it easier for us to build structures. For example the Egyptians relied solely on Adobe (sun dried mud bricks) and slave labor for construction. Then came the development of hydraulic lime mortar, the Treadwell cranes (which is a wooden, human powered hoisting and lowering device) as well as the start of domes and arches, as structural components in architecture. Followed by the Middle Ages, which saw a huge emphasis on the construction of massive public buildings such as Cathedrals, Churches, Fortifications

Residential Dwellings on the ground-floor only when in a mixed-use building in which the first 40-feet of the ground floor is or will be occupied by a permitted commercial use

Within the United States there are five different types of construction. Firefighters need to know and understand each of them. Every construction type have fire resistant weaknesses, these weaknesses will result in fire spreading in the building. If firefighters understand how the fire will spread, then understand how to extinguish the fire faster and more importantly firefighters are better protected from injuries or worse. In America all buildings are associated with one of the types of construction, identified by Roman number. The building codes are, fire resistant (type I), combustible (type II), ordinary construction (type III), heavy-timber construction (type IV) and wood-frame construction (type V). It is important to remember that all buildings are not the same. Each different building construction type will burn much differently than the others do. In order to be able to size-up a building 's fire hazard, firefighters need to be able to understand a buildings contents and construction. Materials that are stored inside of the building and also materials used to construct the building will both fuel the fire. Also know that if a structure is vacant or if the contents in the building are not combustible, the main fire hazard is the building. The scale of the construction types are scaled according to the fire load of combustible material that was used for its construction. A fire resistant building is constructed with least amount of combustible materials, and a

(b) the renovation, alteration, extension, improvement or repair of a building; or (c) the provision of lighting, heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, water supply, sewerage or drainage in connection with a building; or (e) any site work (including the construction of retaining structures) related to work of a kind referred to above; or (f) the preparation of plans or specifications for the performance of building work; or (fa) contract administration carried out by a person in relation to the construction of a building designed by the person; or (g) fire protection work; or

In order to evaluate common fire hazards within a building and the risks presented by these, it is essential to have an understanding of where fires start, and what causes them in varying occupancy types. The best process to fulfil this aim is to review existing statistical data. Existing data is a vital tool in analysing areas or functions of a building which have the greatest risk to occupants. In particular, those functions or areas of a building having higher fatality rates historically in buildings of a similar type should be treated with special consideration (i.e. Class 2, Kitchen). It is important to be familiar with these statistics as they play a key role in predicting outcomes of future fires. Using this knowledge, fire safety engineers can identify patterns and high risk factors; and apply appropriate building fire safety systems in an attempt to reduce fire

Structural Breakdown and Zoning (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2