Fire Protection

The key element for fire protection, emergency medical and rescue services is people. In order for these complex services to function properly people must be part of the equation. Over the past 25 years the population in the United States, let alone the entire world, has grown tremendously. As the number of people grow in this country so does the potential of more fires and hazards. During the period of growth the fire service used engineering, education and code enforcement to moderate the frequency and severity of fires and fire loses, and all other services required by the fire service. Engineering in the fire service plays a very key role in today's growing population. Engineering programs can play vital part in prevention of fires because its gives the department a chance to review the development plans with in eye to fire and life safety issues. But, a fire marshal or inspector just cannot change the development plans, their review requires coordinating the fire code with building, planning, transportation and environmental codes. They also require specific legal issues that a fire department,when it is involved in he process, must be pre paired to deal with. "It is important for plan reviewers to decision makers (elected officials, city and county managers, and fire chiefs) to understand that buildings are approved and constructed for certain uses and that no one set of construction requirements will suit all types of use or occupancy. For example, the construction requirements for a public assembly occupancy usually include more exits than do the requirements for a warehouse structure of the same square footage .1" The reason being is the difference in of people per square foot is far greater in structure where the public will assemble than in a warehouse, and all those people must be able to exit quickly in the event of a fire or any other hazard. Emergency exciting is very important but their are also about five thousands other things