Light weight trusses and the glued finger joint trusses?

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Permalink Reply by Mike Walker on October 31, 2008 at 4:49pm

Thanks for sharing that article. I found it very interesting. One point that stood out in my mind was when it gave the description about the glue no failing but rather pyrolosise, which to me means it contributes added fuel to the environment. I can't help but wonder if this contributes to the domino effect; Beam heated, glue begins to pyrolisise, which increases the amount of smoke (fuel) in the area... In other words does this glue cause flashover to occur faster in the effected area? If it does, then the severe increase of fire in the area would lead to faster roof weakness.

Permalink Reply by Michael Bricault (ret) on November 2, 2008 at 7:48pm

It is interesting that even in the fire service fear is the unknown; fear is a lack of knowledge.
Understanding and recognizing light weight and glued finger joint trusses is the key to a safe and successful firefighting operation. There is too much misinformation out there and my department is no exception. Many people think they know all they need to about this topic but in reality they are only regurgitating the blind fear of others.
The light weight and glued finger joint truss system is something to recognize, respect and be fully mindful of on the fire ground. It is a potential hazard, but so is most of what we do as firefighters.
We need to learn a new term in the fire service, something fighter pilots have been using for years; Situational Awareness. If we as firefighters have Situational Awareness we will not suffer from tunnel vision/task vision, we will not be reacting to the fire scene but rather we will be proactive. Be a thinking firefighter not a reacting one.
Understand and recognize the truss for what it is and thereby operate within those parameters safely. This is the very approach we take with most hazards on the fire ground, education, knowledge, understanding and Situational Awareness.
As for my company, we understand and therefore can operate on and under the truss safely.
Be a thinking firefighter and not a reacting one.