To commence and sustain interior fire operations, a few things must be in place. First and foremost, we must be able to get in. Only slightly less important than getting in is providing support, usually in the form of ventilation, so that once in, we can stay in until the job is done. In addition, and even more important, is that if things go bad, we must also be able to provide additional ways out of the structure. Although this is not usually a problem in most occupied buildings, it is becoming increasingly more difficult in vacant buildings. Defeating security measures in vacant buildings used to be easier than in any other types of buildings, since the building was likely to be open to the elements or boarded up with flimsy plywood.
The trend of sealing up vacant buildings is on the rise and is not likely to subside. To that end, owners of these buildings are resorting to the use of more formidable security devices, both to keep out vagrants and to protect their liability in case a vagrant who has made the vacant building his home dies in a fire there. It is ironic that the very same people who would not provide shelter to a destitute relative are more than happy to sue someone on his behalf and collect monetary settlements if that relative should die in a fire that occurs in a vacant building that should have been sealed closed.
为此,业主甚至一些城市that own derelict properties have begun renting security mechanisms. These security rentals are in the form of metal screen-like enclosures that cover the windows and a heavy metal vault-like door and frame mechanism to cover the doors. Although the enclosures are often found only on the first floor, this is not always the case; they may cover all windows and doors. The window enclosures are constructed of heavy, galvanized sheet metal, approximately 15 gauge. A securing device connects this sheet metal to heavy metal bracing (which is nothing more than pieces of street sign metal, also called Versa-Bar® or Unistrut®). A securing device behind the window frame tightens the assembly; this creates an extremely strong barrier. The heavy metal doors are set in an equally heavy metal frame, which is secured to the building’s door frame in much the same way as the window enclosures, with additional locking built-in measures. Both these window and door enclosures are nearly impossible to force using conventional means (photo 1).
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