By JERRY KNAPP
That is what Frank Brannigan said to me at FDIC a few years ago after I asked him how the American Fire Service was going to tactically deal with trusses. This was after the recent Hackensack Ford Fire where 5 Firefighters were killed and trusses were the hot topic of the year.
He asked me if we have truss buildings in our first due area, “Yes of course.” Then why don’t you know about them? Frank’s next question: How long have these buildings been in your area? Even more meekly this time I responded, “40 years or more.” Frank was kind of boisterous, he responded, “Then why don’t you know before the fire?” Someone else asked this Fire God a question mercifully terminating my discussion.
I was invited to do a flashover survival class just outside St Louis Mo and met Chief John Kriska, local fire chief and retired US Marine. John ran a small department and preplanned every one of the commercial and industrial buildings in his first due. This was before computers and Google Earth so it was painstaking work for him. One night his engine company was dispatched to a restaurant fire. His pre-plan that came one the dispatch printer with the verbal dispatch…. laid out the strategy…. if there is heavy fire, exterior attack only…why? Unprotected steel bar joist truss roof assembly. His captain stopped the guys at the front door, just before the collapse when the heavy HVAC unit fell from the roof to the floor which would likely have caused several LODDs. This was long before UL studies and Bill Gustin’s “intelligent firefighting” thoughts….. so NOT being aggressive when the building is against you and trying to kill your crew, was a bold, brave and unique strategy.
So here we are, 2026 with more computing power in our phone than on the lunar lander and we are still surprised by building construction when we pull up to the fire building in our very small first due area. Shame on us, all of us. Shame on our leadership at all levels. Why don’t we know? We know the hazards are there but seems like it is more fun to be surprised when the fire is blowing out the windows. FUN are the first three letters of FUNERAL as in LODD FUNeral, no fun there, just widows. Charity starts at home.
A day after I got home from FDIC, my department did a walk thru of an old service station as a pre-plan for a drill. It was a gas station I had gone to for 35 years in my first due area. Training plan was to do a roof cutting drill. I was shocked to look up and see the picture below. If I had cut that roof at a fire it is very likely myself and whomever was with me would have been killed or injured in the fall to the concrete floor below. The picture needs no explanation except to note the roof was 5/4 X 6” boards about 12’ on center steel I beams covered with plywood. Frank was right, “Why did I not know?”
Maybe it is time to modernize our brains and our fire suppression strategies to align more with successful elite teams. Navy SEALS conduct extensive intelligence operations before they take out bad guys like binLadin. They even have rehearsals on buildings built to simulate their target. We hope we remember the hazards. Army Generals don’t just throw their regiments and battalions at an unknown enemy strength or unfamiliar terrain, they use pre-incident intelligence to their advantage to minimize loss of lives. All sports teams send out scouts to gain pre-game information to help ensure victory. For sports teams a loss means another mark in the loss column. For us, it is another LODD. Why don’t we know? When will we modernize our approach? When will we change to as Bill Gustin lectured us to “Intelligent Firefighting?”
For more information see: Fire Engineering Magazine Jan 2023 Did that Building Just Land from Mars? and Fire Engineering Feb 1998 Pre-Incident Planning (Kriska case history)