AG 1997 05 19 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Concor Office of Emergency Management MEMO TO: DATE: SUBJECT: Mr. Frank Clifton Cabarrus County Manager 05/12/97 Fire Inspection of 70 - 86 Union Street, South A limited fire inspection was conducted for the Cabarrus County Buildings at 70, 72, 74, 76, 78, 80, 82, 84, and 86 Union Street South, (for further reference, units 70 - 78 will be called building one and the remainder as building two), on May 12, 1997. Due to conditions found in Building one, only a limited area was physically entered. Building One This building has the most extensive, visible, structural deterioration. Building one is a vacant structure. The term vacant building, regarding this structure, means not only is the building empty of people and furnishings, but has been totally abandoned and has become unusable under noimal circumstances. The "dead load", or the materials used to build the building are in a deteriorated condition. The roof has rotted and subsequent leaks have rotted wood supports. This allows rain water to attack the floors below. Lack of paint or other sealants on the now exposed interior wood members caused it to rot and fail. The condition of the mortar has allowed rain water to enter between the walls and freeze. This will cause the walls to separate. Rain water has also washed away mortar from brick work and has damaged the backup brick. The brick is soft and not meant to face the weather. In this building the brick can easily be penetrated with a metal object such as a knife and the mortar crumbles under finger pressure. A second consideration is the "live load" of the building. The live load, ( furniture or furnishings), is minimal in this building. Though the live load would be increased should fire suppression personnel enter the building with their equipment. One engine company with an officer and two personnel can easily weigh more than 600 pounds. Fire suppression hand lines can easily produce a ton of water in a minute, while a master stream can produce up to 5 tons a minute. This is not considering moisture and rain water accumulated in the structure's deteriorated construction materials. Another consideration is the "impact load". Fire suppression personnel, normally do forcible entry on the lower levels of a building or jump onto the roof from a ladder or adjacent roof. Doing the actions on this building, considering the already weakened conditions, could potentially cause structural collapse.