Situational Awareness Regarding Building Construction for Firefighters

This web site is designed to serve as a presentation of what I learned during Yavapai College’s FSC 241 Firefighter Safety and Building Construction course.  Rather than recreate the detailed information presented in the course textbook and various presentation materials, I will narrow the scope of this presentation. This presentation will be written from the standpoint of situational awareness.

When on scene of a structure fire, building collapse, rescue, or any other emergency within a structure actions will be largely based upon the building type.   For example, a structure fire in a Type I fire resistive building will behave very different from one in a Type V structure.  Strategies and tactics will be very different as well.

Situational Awareness : Should They Be Inside?

This presentation will be broken down into four main sections. The sections are as follows:

• Section 1: An overview of the primary building type categories.
• Section 2: An introduction to loads
• Section 3: The importance of situational awareness on the fire ground.
• Section 4: Summary of what I learned in this course.