Roof collapses are always a concern to firefighters during structure fires, and a government multimedia blitz is addressing the issue. A new CD-ROM and DVD, both available free from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, could help fire departments improve training to better deal with such hazards.

The first, a CD titled NISTIR 6923: Simulation of the Dynamics of a Fire in a One-story Restaurant, Texas, February 14, 2000, recreates a 1-story Houston restaurant fire, which cost two firefighters their lives when the roof collapsed.

Two NIST software programs — Fire Dynamic Simulation and Smokeview — were used to answer questions posed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health during its investigation of the incident.

The narrated simulation, which includes cutaways of walls, ceilings and other partitions, shows the attic was already aflame when firefighters arrived on the scene, that the use of the positive-pressure fan had no effect on fire intensity, and that it might have been possible to see the fire if a ceiling panel had been removed. The possibility that the attic space could have been obscured by smoke also was noted.

The CD also contains the NIST report to NIOSH and the final NIOSH report on the tragedy. It's available by contacting Daniel Madrzykowski at daniel.madrzykowski@nist.gov.

The second offering, the Structural Collapse DVD, features video footage of burning warehouses and single-story wood-frame structures, each with human-weight mannequins on the roofs.

The research, funded by the U.S. Fire Administration, is part of an ongoing effort to develop a system to predict roof collapse.

The DVD also contains a statistical report on Trends in Firefighter Fatalities Due to Structural Collapse, 1979-2002. It is available from David Stroup at david.stroup@nist.gov.