Dead Load Reliability Study

A load is the force attributed to gravity and other sources of stress that are placed on a structure (Brannigan & Corbett, 2015). Loads can be placed in too many different categorized such as dead loads, live loads, impact loads, static and repeated loads, wind loads, and concentrated loads.
Dead loads are the weight of the building and the items that are permanently attached or built into the building. In buildings of the past dead load was piled into the building without thought of any consequence. However, designers now consider every once that is placed into the building. Dead load is often increased during the alteration of a building (Brannigan & Corbett, 2015). Dead loads can greatly affect the strategy and tactics of a department. As the building is damaged by fire, an increased dead load can increase the risk for collapse causing an increase risk for injury and death of personnel operating at the scene.

Live loads are considered any load other that dead loads (Brannigan & Corbett, 2015).

These type of loads should always be consider when determining fire department operations. Live loads must be estimated based on the use of the buildings as well as conditions such as rain and snow. The live load of a building will also be increased due to fire department operations. In some case, the added load due to fire department operations has lead to building collapse (Brannigan & Corbett, 2015).
Impact loads are loads that are delivered in a short period of time (Brannigan & Corbett, 2015). Sudden shifts in live loads, explosions, vehicles or other objects striking a building, emergency personnel jumping onto a building, and even fire are impact loads. Departments should take this type of load into consideration when operating in a building that is already being damaged by a fire.
Static loads are loads that are applied slowly but remain constant, while repeated loads are those that are applied intermittently (Brannigan & Corbett,

2015).
Wind load is the force that is excreted on the building by wind. Buildings utilize things such as shear walls to resist the lateral movement imposed on the building by these types of loads. Wind load should be taken into consideration when fire departments are operating at buildings that are still under construction. It will also have adverse affects on the smoke at the incident.
Concentrated loads are loads that are things that are heavy and located at one point in the structure such as a large safe. It is common for beams to be placed to support the extra weight of these loads. Fire departments should consider these loads when a building is under siege due to fire as these supports may be damaged causing the once supported load to collapse.
There are many forms of loads that will place stress on a building. All of these should be taken into consideration and affect the tactics applied by the fire department.

References
Corbett, G. P., & Brannigan, F. L. (2015). Brannigan’s building construction for the fire service (5th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett.