{"id":10130,"date":"2017-05-30T14:30:27","date_gmt":"2017-05-30T18:30:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smartsignblog.com\/blog\/?p=10130"},"modified":"2026-02-16T06:48:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T11:48:47","slug":"truss-construction-warn-firefighters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/truss-construction-warn-firefighters\/","title":{"rendered":"Truss construction: what it is, and how to warn firefighters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-10177\" src=\"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/truss.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"437\" height=\"291\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/truss.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/truss-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/truss-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 437px) 100vw, 437px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lightweight truss construction is increasingly common in modern buildings. This type of construction is heavily reliant on prefabricated parts as opposed to being built on site, using long <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">chords <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">at top and bottom and <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">webs <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to keep the arc in place. \u00a0(About \u2154 of new commercial and residential construction uses truss construction.) \u00a0While lightweight truss construction is an economical and sturdy way to build a structurally sound building, lightweight truss roofs and floors are also more likely to collapse in a fire because how they are structurally engineered. \u00a0In particular, if either chord fails, the likelihood of a catastrophic failure greatly increases.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-10178\" src=\"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/truss-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"430\" height=\"287\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/truss-2.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/truss-2-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/truss-2-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 430px) 100vw, 430px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When trusses fail, it can <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1988\/07\/02\/nyregion\/5-firefighters-killed-in-jersey-as-a-roof-collapses.html?pagewanted=all\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">endanger the lives of emergency responders<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, such as in the Hackensack fire of July 1, 1988. \u00a0Five New Jersey firemen died that day when a burning car dealership\u2019s truss roof collapsed on the firemen. \u00a0Such incidents<\/span> are<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">distressingly\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/laws.flrules.org\/node\/4661\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">common<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, especially because first responders normally have no way of determining in advance whether a particular structure uses potentially dangerous truss construction.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-10179\" src=\"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/truss-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"413\" height=\"276\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/truss-3.jpg 5500w, https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/truss-3-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/truss-3-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/truss-3-1024x683.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 413px) 100vw, 413px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Because of this, some government authorities have begun to require the placement warning signs at the entrances to buildings using truss construction, including the states of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/laws.flrules.org\/files\/Ch_2008-192.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Florida<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span>New York<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, so that firefighters can account for the potential hazards.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mysafetysign.com\/truss-signs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Check out MySafetySign\u2019s line of truss signs<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lightweight truss construction is increasingly common in modern buildings. This type of construction is heavily reliant on prefabricated parts as opposed to being built on site, using long chords at top and bottom and webs to keep the arc in place. \u00a0(About \u2154 of new commercial and residential construction uses truss construction.) \u00a0While lightweight truss [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,67],"tags":[29,693,590,664,690,692],"class_list":["post-10130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-safety","category-security","tag-construction-signs","tag-firefighting","tag-safety","tag-safety-sign","tag-truss-construction","tag-truss-signs"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Truss construction: what it is, and how to warn firefighters | SmartSign Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/truss-construction-warn-firefighters\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Truss construction: what it is, and how to warn firefighters | SmartSign Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lightweight truss construction is increasingly common in modern buildings. This type of construction is heavily reliant on prefabricated parts as opposed to being built on site, using long chords at top and bottom and webs to keep the arc in place. \u00a0(About \u2154 of new commercial and residential construction uses truss construction.) \u00a0While lightweight truss [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/truss-construction-warn-firefighters\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SmartSign Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/SmartSign\/220245064667579\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-05-30T18:30:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-16T11:48:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/truss.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" 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