Thursday, July 5, 2007

Cheap materials make fires worse

The city's firefighters are outgrowing their name this summer as the fire academy prepares to teach new recruits skills ranging from responding to improvised explosive devices to rescuing children from abusive homes.

"From the time I came on the job 30 years ago, the threats they are faced with day to day have increased," the head of training for the fire department, Assistant Chief Thomas Galvin, said.


Going Beyond Firefighting

Here's an example:

Mr. Galvin explained that most new buildings are now made of relatively lightweight materials that, while structurally sound, often burn faster and hotter than the materials in older buildings. These days, an average building fire burns almost twice as hot — at about 1,500 degrees — as a fire 50 years ago.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh thats great. No only do they use particle board and other cheap composits, but now they are building fire traps.

Nice work. I hope those campaign contributions to the polticians do not become tainted as 'blood money.'

Anonymous said...

So is the convicted felonious "developer" Tommy Huang, known for his shoddy building and the use of cheap materials, now to be known as "The Fire King" ? !!!

Anonymous said...

Hey folks....
materials like "particle board" are nothing less than a waffle made up of a pile of a pile of pressed wood chips held together with toxic glue that catches fire pretty damn quickly !

You are inhaling the poisonous carcinogenic fumes that materials like these exude on a daily basis......even if they're not burning !

I wonder if the insurance premiums that we pay are calculated , in fact, based on the length of time it takes for your home to burn ?

Anonymous said...

Are people here really saying that construction in this country should go back to plaster and stop using sheetrock? Are you kidding?

Anonymous said...

Why do certain posters write, "Are people here saying..." all the time? People are saying exactly what they write.

Anonymous said...

I love the condos where you can punch your hand right through the wall and not hurt yourself. And morons sink their life savings into these cheap dwelling units. The Pistilli complex in LIC is just such an example.

Anonymous said...

Hey.....construction dude.....posing as an anonymous poster.......we're talking bout materials like particle board, urea foam insulation, formaldehyde based products !

These are the types of burning materials that caused all those 9-11resue workers the severe (and sometimes fatal) respiratory conditions that they have today !

Somebody here must be on crack !

Anonymous said...

No.....we're not necessarily saying go back to wooden or metal lath and wet plaster walls . There are masonry substitutes (like the old "Pyro-Bar"etc.) that make for better fire safety and sound absorbing capability between apartment units !

Wall board....remember....is just a plaster sandwich between 2 sheets of heavy paper !

I'll take an older "pre-war" apartment any day.....especially if I'm expected to pay 1/2 a million dollars (plus) for my new improved condo conversion.....like in that "Piss-tilli" former warehouse !