"Fire safety, home construction focus of talk in Putnam County"

[Disaster_Guy 96]

http://www.lohud.com...k-Putnam-County

Fire safety, home construction focus of talk in Putnam County

11:48 PM, Jun 23, 2012

CARMEL — Putnam County Executive MaryEllen Odell has called a meeting this week with fire and building officials to discuss construction standards and fire safety in the wake of two recent fires, including one that claimed four members of a Carmel family.

The meeting will also feature local emergency service coordinators discussing findings, possible solutions and preventative measures for such fires, said Odell, who is encouraging the public to attend.

[lt411 145]

Don't get your hopes up. Obviously it would be nice for Putnam County to require automatic sprinklers, but the real estate industry will protest that they "build to code". I can guarantee you that the status quo will remain on this subject.Hope I'm wrong!

[FD828 77]

I would be happy if they institued a mandatory marking sytem similar to Jersey City. Every commercial property, residential and rnovation should be marked if it is light weight construction.

[Alwaysinheat 26]

Still waiting for the county to get back to us on two dry hydrants we want to get installed on there property. different topic but for the same good....

[Dinosaur 844]

Just more knee-jerk politics in action, Instead of meaningful intelligent discussions over time, they're going to use these two fires (one a tragedy, one just a fire in a commercial structure) to push ill-conceived legislation at us all.

Watch the taxes in Putnam County go up yet again. There was a time people escaped the tax madness of Westchester for cheaper pastures in Putnam but now they're as expensive!

[SmokeyJoe 161]

If you think we in the fire service are going to hae a shot in hell of out lobbying the building materials and construction industries, guess again!

[Ging599 13]

The meeting has been postponed.

http://www.lohud.com/article/20120625/NEWS/306250089/Putnam-postpones-Thursday-meeting-discuss-blazes-Sullivan-home-Carmel-storage-facility-Southeast

Edited June 26, 2012 by Ging599

[Bnechis 3,961]

If you think we in the fire service are going to hae a shot in hell of out lobbying the building materials and construction industries, guess again!

Thats been the fight from the start.

The only way the fire service has a chance is 1) everyone needs to be on board (chiefs, union, volunteers, districts, marshals, etc. and 2) we need back up. Lets get the insurance industry behind us. They have a financial stake in this. If they understood that we can not fight these fires, just make sure everyone is out and then we back out, they will have a total loss, including contents. THat should run the cost up. make this a money vs. money issue.

[LFD34 12]

I agree 100 % with Barry on this. I believe that we need to show the public and hte politicians the benefit of this. This needs to be made a regional effort to overcome the trades. This can't be handled one municipality at a time as then the local laws are to hard to get approved in Albany. This has been seen when municiplaities have passed their own sprinkler ordinances just to get overturned as being to restrictive and not in line with the state building code. This effort needs to be made at actually changing the State building code, to mandate residential sprinklers and other appropriate protection measures.

[Bnechis 3,961]

http://nfpa.typepad.com/nfpablog/2012/07/lightweight-construction-being-called-into-question-after-a-police-captain-and-his-family-die-in-a-house-fire.html

NFPA - "Lightweight construction called into question after a police captain and his family die in house fire"

"In recent decades, an expanding range of construction methods and building products...often termed 'lightweight construction' have been widely embraced by residential builders for their ability to deliver economy and functionality," says the story's author Alan R. Earls. "However, findings [from both reports] confirmed what firefighters have long suspected about what happens to lightweight construction when it is exposed to fire. In repeated tests by both groups, under carefully controlled conditions, lightweight structures were found to burn faster and lose their structural integrity quicker—in some cases much quicker—than those built with dimensional lumber, with obvious ramifications for the fire service and for anyone who lives in a residence constructed with lightweight materials."

[wraftery 1,275]

Problem: You have to get it past the NY State codes council, not an easy task.

Regarding "more stringent" local codes, the council believes that if an item is necessary, they will put it in the state code, and won't grant a local more stringent.

Frank Brannigan said the best way to judge integrity of a building in to weigh it. The lighter it is, the more likely it will burn bigger and faster. For example, Kensico Dam will not burn down. Whatever you build with lightweight materials will burn quickly.

It's kind of a no brainer, isn't it?

[JetPhoto 626]

I would be happy if they institued a mandatory marking sytem similar to Jersey City. Every commercial property, residential and rnovation should be marked if it is light weight construction.

I believe NYS buidling code already requries alll new commercial property to post markings on new construction