Fast Food Restaurant Roofs and thier weaknesses

[x648eng119 2]

I was just looking through funny images on "fugly.com" when I came accross this one. It's not such a funny picture, but a scary reminder of how the roofs on the typical fast-food establishments (MacDonalds, Wendys, etc) have cheap, weak construction.

http://www.davesdaily.com/pictures/361-mcburnt.htm

These roofs are extremely unsafe, and with probably at least one in almost every district in the county (average), it is important that we remember with the amount of time the roof will be exposed to heat before a unit gets on scene, they will be extremely dangerous to responders.

[Pudge3311 5]

Art,

good point, also most have nice big air conditioning units along with many vent pipes for the various cooking appliances.

[Guest alsfirefighter]

Its not just fast food restaurants, the majority of commerical occupancies built today are constructed with the use of lightweight metal bar joist truss construction. There is no reason why anyone should be operating on these types of roofs due to their instability, rapid failure rates unless it can be done off of a aerial device. These joists are spaced 4 feet apart and if fire does weaken them, cutting through the roof decking material, which is often corregated steel decking, can cause it to bow inward and make a nice sliding board for you to fall into your vent hole. They will clear that building within a week and have a new one up and running by the end of the month...are you worth that? Is any firefighter?

On a side note, another major hazard is that of grease build up on the roof from the vent hood system. If you have a grease fire inside its important to check the entire run of the duct work system.

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Important topic. Another thing to watch out for in FF resturants is the kitchen area. Often, these are small, narrow, cramped, and overcrowded with equipment and food.....easy to become trapped.

IIf it's a big fire, and the building is cleared of occupants, IMO, there should be nothing done other then master streams.