Structural Collapse Indicators

When you talk about putting out and overhauling big fires, there's plenty of safety concerns that need to be addressed. For an arriving officer, it seems to me that list would be overwhelming. Do the guys going in have the proper PPE on? Do they have enough air? Do they have enough water? Is an adequate accountability system in place? Are we getting enough manpower enroute? Then you have to think about what kind of fire you are dealing with. You need to know what's burning, how long has it been burning for and what kind of structure it is. But even if you do everything appropriately and safe up to this point, if you run into a building that collapses, you might not be going home at the end of your shift.
Now I haven't put out a hundred fires and I'm by no means a master of structural stability awareness, but I've been on a handful of scenes where it has been pretty sketchy. So here's a few things that the experts seem to think are indicative of imminent collapse.

-Smoke pushing through mortal joints or exterior finishes. If you can see smoke going through the nails on a roof, things have already gotten bad for the structure.

-Floors or walls that sag.

-Wood frame structures. They are light and pretty much all fuel. It doesn't take much to bring a new house down.

-Extreme or extended fire conditions. If fire is ripping through the roof or has extended to multiple large portions of the structure, it may be time to go defensive.

-Overloading crews on the roof. If a building is already being compromised, don't put more stress on it than you need. In gear, we average probably 250 lbs each. And I promise, that's being generous to an awful lot of fellas.

-Fire on load bearing members of the structure. These are walls that hold buildings up. If they go, so does the section of the building they support.

-Sudden breaking of glass on doors or windows on their own.

-Poor structural condition to begin with. Every area has shit that should be or already is condemned. The fact ia that these are the buildings that tend to go up in flames. We on the job just need to recognize added hazards that accompany these structures.

-Intuition. Follow your gut. If something just feels wrong, you owe it to you and your partner to speak up and keep safe.

-Creaking or moaning in a building. Loud cracks or sounds. These are death rattles of a building's integrity sometimes.

-Unsupported walls.

-This doesn't just affect aggressive interior fire attack either. On the defensive end, keeping out of the collapse zone which is one and a half times the height of the building is important. A building falling on you is just as deadly outside the structure as it is inside.

-If you do find yourself caught in a collapse and find yourself in a void space, keep your head together, use your radio and commence mayday procedures.