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113 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
What fire helped a National push for model building code? |
Great Baltimore fire of 1904 |
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Definition of a building code |
A building code regulates the actual design and construction of new buildings, providing for MINIMUM levels of health and safety |
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What is the definition of a fire code |
A fire code regulates the activities that take place in existing buildings including the maintenance of existing fire protection features such as automatic sprinklers and fire doors |
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What are the 3 structural components of a building? |
Superstructure (the building above grade) Substructure ( area below grade to the lowest basement floor) Foundation (from the lowest below grade slab and the footings/caissons/piles |
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What is a brick and what can it do under fire conditions? |
Smooth sided pieces of clay cured in an oven
Can spall under fire |
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What is sand-lime mortar? |
Water soluble mortar that can dissolve and cause collapse |
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What are 3 negative characteristics of structural steel? |
It conducts heat When heated it elongates It fails above 1300 degrees and elongates about 1000 degrees |
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What is a Maltese cross window in a high rise? |
A window that can be broken by firefighters |
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Best option to break a laminated hurricane resistant window? |
Carbide tipped blade |
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What was asbestos used for? |
It was used to fireproof steel |
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What is a dry pipe system |
Systems have automatic sprinklers attached to a piping that contains air or nitrogen under pressure, when a sprinkler is open by heat, the pressure is reduced to the point where water can come out |
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What is a preaction system? |
A system in which air in the piping that may or may not be under pressure. When a fire occurs, a supplementary fire detecting device in the protected area is actuated, which opens a water control valve
Benefit- won’t flow if a head is broken, desirable feature for areas that have easily damaged contents |
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What is a deluge system? |
System has all sprinklers open at all times |
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What does a protruding stem on an OS&Y mean? |
It’s open |
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How many gpm does an early suppression fast response sprinkler put out? |
As much 100 gpm per head |
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What are the 3 different types of standpipe systems? |
Class 1- provides a 2.5” connection for fire department Class 2- provides 1.5” hose stations to supply water for building occupants or FD Class 3- provides 1.5” hose stations to supply water for building occupants AND 2.5” for the fire department |
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What is a manual-dry and manual-wet standpipe? |
A dry is a standpipe that does not have a permanent water supply attached to it A wet is a standpipe connected to a small water supply for the purpose of maintaining water within the system or sharing water with the sprinklers, but does not have a supply just for the standpipe |
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What is a curtain wall? |
A non load bearing wall, carry no weight and only installed to keep out the weather |
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What is a wall-bearing? |
A structure where the entire structural load is carried on the walls |
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What is the top and bottom chord of a truss? |
The top is in compression and the bottom is in tension |
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What is the flammability range of carbon monoxide? |
12.5-74% Ignition temp is 1128 degrees |
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What type of building causes the most firefighter fatalities? |
Ordinary construction (Type 3) |
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Is concrete fire resistive? |
No, it is non combustible, but can be formulated to be fire resistive |
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What is type 2 construction? |
Non combustible |
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What is the difference between non combustible and fire resistive? |
The level of fire resistance, non combustible has little or no fire resistance VS type 1 has moderate to heavy fire resistance |
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How many stories can type 2 construction be? |
Most are 1-3 stories, but the max height is 12 |
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What type of material is used in type 2 construction? |
Relies heavily on the use of steel, but concrete can be used as well |
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What are two basic types of in concrete construction? |
Cast-in-place concrete- plain concrete, reinforced and post tensioned Precast concrete- plain concrete, reinforced and pretensioned concrete |
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What is type 1 construction? |
Fire resistive |
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What is a global collapse? |
Complete failure of the building (WTC) |
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What is a cantilever floor collapse? |
A collapse where one end of the floor is still supported while the other end is unsupported |
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What is a fire cut? |
Ends of girders are cut to release in the event of a collapse without bringing down the walls |
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What are purlins? |
Beams, usually channels, set at right angles to trusses or roof rafters to provide support for lightweight roofing |
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What are piles and caissons made of? |
Piles are made of wood or steel Caissons are typically made of concrete |
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What is a slurry wall? |
A trench is dug, steel reinforcement is placed in the trench, and a slurry compound is placed in the trench to support the trench walls |
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What is false work? Or formwork? |
Used in the construction of concrete buildings are often made of wood |
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How does steel differ between compression and tension? |
It doesn’t Equally the same |
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Is it okay to cool steel with water? |
Yes, should be done |
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Which has greater resistance to fire, wired or ordinary glass? |
Wired glass, but it passes radiant heat as readily as regular glass |
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What is gypsum? |
Typically used in a wallboard Inhert material pressed between two sheets of cardboard to create a sheet of gypsum wallboard |
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What is a semiautomatic-dry standpipe? |
Dry standpipe system that is arranged through the use of a device, such as a deluge valve, to admit water into the system piping upon activation of a remote control device located at a hose connection |
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Smoke management systems |
Smoke control- usually in the form of pressurization to prevent movement into protected areas Purge- venting of smoke Zoned smoke control- combination of pressurization and venting, typical in high rises where the fire floor is vented and the surrounding floors are pressurized to prevent migration Airflow- the use of high air velocity to stop smoke movement |
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What is a wooden walled building? |
A frame building, it’s actually a wall bearing building that carries the load of the structure and contents |
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Chamfer? |
To cut off the corners of a timber to retard ignition |
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End matched? |
Lumber with tongue and grooves at the end |
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Lumber? |
Wood that has been sawn and planed |
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Splines? |
Wooden strips that fit into grooves in two adjacent planks to make a tight floor |
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What is the common vertical means of fire spread in ballon frame and platform frame construction? |
Open stairwells |
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Fire stops vs draft stops |
Firestops typically limit vertical movement through relatively small, concealed passages such as under stairs and inside walls Draftstops limit horizontal movement through large concealed passageways such as open web floor trusses or attics |
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What are finger joints? |
Are made by cutting a series of long points into the end of each piece |
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Chipboard? |
Wood chips, glued together to make flat sheets, sometimes used as floors in mobile homes |
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Flitch plate girders? |
Composite of a steel plate or plywood sandwiched between two beams Easily can cause failure |
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Sawn beam vs I beam? |
Wooden beam sawn out of a tree trunk To some extent they have been replaced by the wooden I beam due to the weight and cost Sawn is better under fire than I beam |
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What are scuppers? |
Drains in the wall to drain water |
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What is a lintel? |
Arches and beams which are two ways to carry a wall above an opening, such a beam is called a lentil When heated they elongate and the Masonary can fail |
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How do you breach a masonary wall? |
Make a triangular cut Do not cut a straight line across the top of the opening, you could cause a collapse |
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What is a chase? |
Passageway, usually vertical, cut into a masonary wall for a pipe or conduit |
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What is the spandrel space? |
Instance between the top of one window and the bottom of the one above |
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What is dynamic fire protection for steel? |
Accomplished with various types of automatic sprinklers |
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What is passive fire protection for steel? |
Fireproofing the steel |
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What are the 4 types of steel structures? |
Unprotected Dynamically protected Passively protected Passive/dynamic combo protection |
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Which is worse, post tensioned concrete or conventional reinforced concrete? |
Post tensioned presents a greater catastrophic collapse hazard |
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What’s the purpose of concrete in fire resistive construction? |
It resists compressive stresses and protects the tensile strength of steel from fire |
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Progressive collapse |
This type of collapse occurs when a small area of structural damage results in a lost of localized load carrying capability, initiating a chain reaction and possibly a global collapse |
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Pancake collapse |
A collapse of a buildings floors and possibly roof in a pancake stack fashion with each floor on top of the other |
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Lean to floor collapse |
A collapse which one end of the floor is still supported A triangular void space is created |
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Inward outward collapse |
A collapse in which the exterior wall fails horizontally with the interior wall folding horizontally |
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90 degree wall collapse |
A collapse in which an entire wall fails as one unit |
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Lean over collapse |
Limited to wood frame, this type of collapse is characterized by a wooden building that shifts at upper levels, leaning or totally collapsing |
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What is a cavity wall? |
Hollow wall, that’s tied together with steel or masonry trusses |
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Girder? |
Any beam, of any material (not just steel) that supports other beams |
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What is a set of regulations passed in 1990 that includes, among other things, regulations requiring areas of refuge for disabled people in a multistory building? |
The Americans with disabilities act |
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Size of structural member (wood) Board Dimensional lumbar Timber |
Board- greater than 2” nominal thickness Dimensional lumber- 2”-4” nominal thickness Timber- equal or greater than 5” nominal thickness Heavy timber- equal or greater than 8” |
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What will marble turn to after being exposed to fire? |
Can look perfect, but may turn to chalk, it will collapse under the weight of a FF |
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Is cement and concrete the same thing? |
No, cement is a component of concrete Concrete is cured (hardened to full strength) using form work Concrete is mixed and proportioned to the desired strength, different admixtures are added to give the concrete special characteristics such as corrosion resistance if steel reinforcing rods are to be added |
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Does concrete have tensile strength? |
No, it’s tested in compression because it virtually has no tensile strength |
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Thermoplasics VS thermosets |
Thermoplastics can produce flaming, dripping plastic, which will product secondary fires Thermosets- plastics that char and burn, but do not flow |
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What is sprinklers tested at after install? |
Sprinkler piping is hydrostaticially tested at 200 psi for 2 hours after install |
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Where a fire pump is installed, it has a manifold for testing, each 2.5” outlet indicates how many gpm pump capacity |
250 gpm of pump capacity |
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What’s the size of early suppression fast response sprinklers Vs conventional sprinklers? |
0.75” 0.5” |
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How much gpm and at what pressure does each outlet of a class 1 and 3 standpipe provide? |
250 gpm at 100 psi Class 2 provides 100 gpm at 65 psi |
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What is engineered wood? |
Wood modified from its natural state |
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What is the size of heavy timber? |
8” or more in its smallest dimension |
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What is a ribbon board? |
A horizontal board is nailed to the studs in ballon frame construction |
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What does steal expand to at 1000 degrees? |
A steel member will expand 9.5” over 100 feet at length Steel will expand .06%-.07% in length for each 100 degree rise in temp |
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What are the compressive connecting members and tensile connecting members of a truss called? |
Compressive- struts Tensile- ties |
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When a truss is cantilevered, is the top still in compression and bottom in tension? |
No, it reverses |
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What are two types of fire stopping in the brannigans book? |
Inherent fire stopping- result of normal building construction Legal fire stopping- installed with no other purpose than to meet requirements of a code |
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Is there effective fire separation within ordinary construction? |
No, even when fire separations exist up through regular floors of the building, they often are imperfect or nonexistent in attic spaces |
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What is the most dangerous collapse? |
The worst or most dangerous is when the wall breaks at ground level and falls straight out along the full height, bricks and other debris will fly even further |
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What can a horizontal crack in a brick building mean? |
That the wall is being pushed out by steel roof beams, elongating in summer heat |
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Masonary buildings with spans greater than how many feet must have interior bearing walls? |
Spans greater than 25 feet |
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The effective strength of the wood under fire attack is determined by what? |
By the size of the thinnest portion, not the mass of the member as a whole |
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Where can you find self releasing floors? |
Old interior mercantile buildings |
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What is a light well? |
A vertical shaft with windows that provides light and ventilation to enclosed rooms |
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What is the best roof? |
One in which the roof beams rest on girders |
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What are the top and bottom of an “I” beam called? |
The top and bottom are called flanges The stem is called the web The top flange resist compression and the bottom flange resist tension |
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What is used in an excavation bracing? |
Rows of vertical beams called soldier beams are put inside They are tied by a horizontal beam called a waler Diagonal columns called rakers brace the entire structure |
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How should control a fire involving a metal deck roof? |
By continuous application of water to the underside of the roof Removing the fuel |
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What is monolithic construction? |
A method where all the concrete in a building is properly bonded together The resultant structure can be likened to one piece of stone |
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What are vertical reinforcing bars in concrete beams designed to prevent cracking under shear stress called? |
Stirrups |
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How many times does steel have more compressive strength than concrete? |
15 times, but steel costs more money |
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What is the most dangerous hazards from buildings under construction? |
Heating Sometime workers burn scrap wood in steel barrels or use kerosene heaters to keep warm By far the most dangerous and perhaps most common heating method is the use of LPG |
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Which has more of a catastrophic collapse hazard, post tensioned concrete or conventional reinforced concrete? |
Post tensioned |
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What are clear signs that a concrete building is in trouble? |
Deteriorated concrete, spalling that exposes reinforcing rods, and cracks that can admit corrosive moisture to the reinforcing rods |
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Concrete in fire resistive construction serves what two purposes? |
It resists compressive stresses Protects the tensile strength of steel from fire |
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What is a partial collapse? |
Failure of a portion of the building Floor gives out without bringing down the rest of the building Can be just as deadly as a global collapse |
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What collapse is when the floor fails near the center, with the perimeter of the floor still partially supported by the walls? |
V shaped floor collapse Creates two void spaces |
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What collapse is when one of the collapsed floor is supported by an interior wall? |
Frame floor collapse |
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Which collapse often associated with brick veneer non load bearing walls, but also included other masonry walls. The wall falls like a curtain, straight down? |
Curtain fall wall collapse |
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What usually is the cause of a pancake collapse? |
When the connection between the floor and a load bearing wall are lost, such as wood joists pulling out a brick wall |
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True or false, it’s often impossible to tell a bearing masonry wall from a veneered wall by external appearance alone |
True |
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What is deflection? |
Bending that combines both compression and tension |