Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Bulletin Number 51 |
Background
Firefighters in F&RNSW and other fire services have suffered injuries and fatalities as a result of wall
collapses. These incidents have occurred during both internal and external operations, meaning that
choosing a defensive strategy alone is not sufficient to control the risk of wall collapse.
Walls of buildings that have been affected by fire, storm and tempest, or other impact can collapse
without warning, resulting in firefighter injuries and fatalities. This bulletin provides information
about the risk of wall collapse and the requirement for an exclusion zone to be maintained
wherever a risk of wall collapse is identified.
Critical message
All firefighters must observe exclusion zones of 1.5 x the height of any wall affected by fire or other
impact.
Firefighters must:
Hazards
Walls of buildings at incidents may collapse with little or no warning. Any change to other
structural components, such as damage to support structures, is likely to affect stability. Fire
presents a particularly high risk because heating of internal surfaces may cause internal
expansion and displacement of wall materials, columns and beams, which can increase the risk
of the wall collapsing.
Page 1 of 4
Factors to consider
Risk factors for wall collapse include:
Operations Bulletin 51
Page 2 of 4
Firefighters need to be aware of the common wall construction types that include :
Tilt slab
Sandwich panels
Single/double brick.
Each of these wall types will behave differently when impacted by fire.
Operations Bulletin 51
Page 3 of 4
DISCUSSION POINTS
1. Do your response plans identify hazards and pre-determined assembly or parking locations
for fire appliances and other support agencies?
2. When responding to fire alarms in buildings, do you position fire appliances within the 1.5
exclusion zones just because you observe no fire activity or it is only a report of a fire alarm?
3. What other factors may increase the exclusion zone beyond 1.5 x wall height?
SACFS currently reinforces working principles and the hazards associated with structural collapse
through Defensive Firefighting, Compartment Fire Behaviour and Basic Fire Fighting 1 training
courses.
References:
F&R NSW Safety Bulletin Wall Collapse March 2015
SACFS Training manuals
Distribution:
Created by:
Authorisation:
Chief Officer
Approved: (sign)
Operations Bulletin 51
Date: 29/07/2015
Page 4 of 4