Francis "Frank" Brannigan, author and expert in building construction as it relates to firefightin, passed away Tuesday morning. He was 87.

Designated by FIRE CHIEF as one of the 20 people who most influenced the fire service in the 20th century. The first edition of his "Building Construction for the Fire Service" was an instant success in 1971. Since then, it has sold more than 130,000 copies in three editions, the most recent of which was published in 1992.

"When I started in 1942, everyone just assumed that buildings fell down and firemen were killed in them," Brannigan told Tim Elliott in his Legacies interview. "I said, 'There has to be a better way.'" Brannigan's service in the Navy, first as an officer in World War II and later as a civilian, challenged him to innovate. In 1948, he wrote the first article about pre-fire planning for Fire Engineering.

In 1967, in the fire science program at Montgomery College in Rockville, Md., Brannigan began teaching the building construction course with which he would become synonymous. He found no appropriate body of knowledge, so he started compiling it himself. Along the way, he took many thousands of pictures, which are now the basis of Brannigan's storied, frenetic presentations. A day's class often includes more than 600 slides. "It's really more of a slow movie," he said.

The IAFC recognized Brannigan in 1998 for his dedication to making firefighters safer. Chief Richard Marinucci, then IAFC president, said Brannigan's "writing, scholarship and zeal have spread his life-saving message throughout the fire service community and undoubtedly saved an untold number of firefighters' lives."