THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 18, 1996 TAG: 9605180286
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JUNE ARNEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Long : 114 lines
Fire officials will unveil a plan next week to identify all commercial buildings in the city with the same lightweight wood-truss construction as the auto parts store that recently collapsed during a blaze in which two firefighters died.
Once the buildings are identified, firefighters would be alerted about the structures before they reach the scene of a fire. The plan also calls for warning decals on the buildings' front and rear doors.
There may be thousands of buildings in Chesapeake with lightweight wood- and floor-truss construction, fire officials say.
``It's a tender spot with us now,'' said Edmund Elliott, a Chesapeake fire division chief. ``We just want to do all we can to prevent another tragedy.''
Elliott said his department is using the example set by Portsmouth firefighters. They adopted a program to identify wooden and metal trusses in February 1990.
Lightweight wooden trusses are inexpensive, and a construction technique that doesn't hold up well under heavy weight or under fire. It's been reported to collapse within 10 to 20 minutes of fire involvement, according to a Chesapeake fire marshal's report issued this month.
The Chesapeake plan calls for roof and floor trusses to be flagged on the computer when 911 calls come in. The information, already contained in three-ring binders at the fire station, will be highlighted or labeled with fluorescent stickers to make sure it is not overlooked as firefighters hurriedly read it on the way to fires.
The program also calls for 3-inch-square decals to be placed on businesses' front and rear doors to warn firefighters.
``If nothing else, it's just an extra measure of safety,'' Elliott said. ``If one person sees the sticker in the book or reads the file and acts in a safer way than they normally would, then the program has worked.''
Details for implementing the program have not yet been worked out, Elliott said. Identifying and labeling the buildings most likely will be done during regular annual inspections, he said.
``We're increasing citywide safety at a very low cost,'' he said.
Suffolk, too, is planning to follow Portsmouth's lead. Suffolk fire officials plan to institute a similar program in June to identify the estimated 150 to 200 commercial buildings that contain some form of truss, Deputy Fire Chief Sam Cowan said.
Virginia Beach is taking informal surveys within engine companies but is not formally discussing such a program, District Fire Chief James Kellam said. He said he did not know how many buildings might contain such construction.
Norfolk, too, has no formal program. Battalion Chief William Syraxa said the city's firefighters do some truss identification at the fire-company level; through building inspections; and through what firefighters call ``pre-fire planning'': routine plotting of buildings and their potential danger spots.
Chesapeake Fire Marshal Thomas H. Cooke said firefighters are well-schooled in the risk posed by wooden trusses.
``It certainly is a real danger,'' he said. ``It only takes one fatality for it to become a major problem.'' Yet absent a fire in such buildings, ``they'll probably stand until they're demolished,'' he said.
Authorities say only one state in the nation requires, by law, identification of buildings that contain truss construction. New Jersey adopted the law in 1991, after five firefighters died when a roof collapsed at a Hackensack car dealership, state officials said.
The law requires registration and identification of buildings that contain such trusses in either floor or ceilings. It requires the use of stickers with a triangular emblem printed with an R or F to indicate whether the truss is in the roof, floor or both.
Such programs sound like a good idea to Allison Hudgins, whose husband, John R. Hudgins Jr., died March 18 in the Chesapeake auto parts store fire, along with firefighter Frank E. Young.
``It definitely would have made a difference if they had known the structure of the building,'' Hudgins said in an interview Friday at the Virginia Professional Firefighters convention in Portsmouth. ``I think it's a good idea to tag buildings that might be hazardous.''
At the convention, R. Michael Mohler, president of the Virginia firefighter's group, received a standing ovation when he said: ``The cause will be established. Someone will be held accountable, and changes will be made to see that this never happens again.''
The International Association of Fire Fighters, of which Mohler's group is an affiliate, has criticized the Chesapeake Fire Department and the department's 33-page report on the fatal fire.
``The lack of adequate personnel to account for and conduct a rescue operation is the leading cause of the deaths of these two firefighters,'' the association has said.
The association agreed that the lightweight, wood-truss construction of the Advance Auto Parts roof contributed to the firefighters' deaths, but criticized the failure of the report to make recommendations to solve the problem.
Mohler said Friday that he was encouraged by Chesapeake's proposed identification program but noted that it would require training to be effective.
Hudgins hopes the city will learn from the loss of two firefighters' lives.
``It was too bad my husband and Frank had to be the guinea pigs, so to speak,'' she said, ``but it always takes a certain kind of emergency situation to look at your department.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
THE PROPOSED PLAN:
The plan will identify the type of truss construction in all
commercial buildings in Chesapeake.
Roof and floor trusses will be flagged on the computer when 911
calls come in.
Before firefighters reach the scene of a fire, they will be
alerted about the structures involved.
Commercial buildings will be labeled with decals that identify
the location of trusses.
KEYWORDS: SAFETY CHESAPEAKE FIRE DEPARTMENT by CNB