 |
| Photo: Lance Wheeler |
 |
| HFD Photo: One of the floor joists that failed |
COPYRIGHT 2016 CAROLE OSTERINK
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
From the Firefighters' Point of View
There was a fire on Sunday morning in one of the townhouses at Mt. Ray Estates at the top of Rossman Avenue. The report on the fire that appeared later that day in the Register-Star indicates that "the fire was under control within 15 to 2o minutes": "Early morning fire causes damage to townhouse."
The account of the fire that appeared on the City of Hudson Fire Department website is much more detailed, exposing the challenges and risks presented by this fire: "Dangerous Fire Due to Lightweight Construction."
Kudos to our firefighters for dealing with this fire so quickly and effectively.
COPYRIGHT 2016 CAROLE OSTERINK
COPYRIGHT 2016 CAROLE OSTERINK
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Is lightweight truss construction a favored technique now, or was it just cheap construction? Is it to code? It would be disappointing indeed if it turns out that the townhouses on Academy Hill were not well built.
ReplyDeleteWhile one expects this sort of thing with old buildings, particularly, based on my own experience with my own renovation projects, add ons that were not to code, and never inspected, back in the days when Hudson was a rather lawless and laissez faire place, where folks just did their own thing, wherever and whenever they wanted to, with much newer construction one would expect precisely the opposite.
More on lightweight construction. It seems to be the standard now. Very disturbing. I learned something. I still have my garage with residence above project slated. And guess what I am going to discuss with my contractor in the immediate future? Thanks so much Carole for bring this to our attention.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.firerescue1.com/firefighter-safety/articles/455060-Dangers-of-Lightweight-Construction/
Has Hudson adopted the International Building Code, as most of the country has and if so, what version (year)? Were the condos built to the code of the time? This could have been a disaster in terms of human life, residents and firefighters.
ReplyDeleteEveryone follows the IBC, yes, all over the developed world actually, with little variation. No, the disturbing thing is this kind of construction is to code. I wonder if the IBC has discussed this issue. They have these conferences every year, all over the world, which local chapters. It is a rather big deal.
DeleteThe townhouses are built to code, and we're inspected and approved by electrical and structural inspectors of Hudson. If people have problems with "trusses" and their construction they should deal with the state. This is customary building contraction now-a-days.
ReplyDelete