1. General collapse information 2. Terms of construction and building design 3. Building construction: firefighting problems and structural hazards 4. Masonry wall collapse 5. Collapse dangers of parapet walls 6. Wood floor collapse 7. Sloping peak roof collapse 8. Timber truss roof collapse 9. Flat roof collapse 10. Lightweight steel roof and floor collapse 11. Lightweight wood truss collapse 12. Ceiling collapse 13. Stairway collapse 14. Fire escape dangers 15. Wood-frame building collapse 16. Collapse hazards of buildings under construction 17. Collapse caused by master stream operations 18. Search-and-rescue at a building collapse 19. Safety precautions prior to collapse 20. Why the World Trade Center Towers collapsed 21. High-rise building collapse 22. Post-fire analysis 23. Early floor collapse EPILOGUE: Are architects, engineers, and code-writing officials friends of the firefighters?

Jason Kubrick is an aggressively complacent, middle-aged banker who believes nothing will ever change. Until it does. Jolted from his comfort zone by a series of misfortunate events, he is lead down a path of personal destruction, putting friendships, his job, and even his freedom at risk. Set in Cincinnati, Burning Buildings is the story of a man who can't seem to get out of his own way but whose semi-charmed existence tends to leave him virtually unscathed, either due to sheer luck or the good graces of unseen guardian angels.

Describes building construction features and how to recognize collapse dangers for all types of buildings and construction methods. Includes : key elements that warn of imminent fire-induced collapse; how to prevent injuries to operating personnel; adapting risk/benefit techniques to manage firefighting personnel on the fireground; how building codes affect fire-induced building collapses.

Among the most radical of the Meiji reforms was a plan for a centralized, compulsory educational system modeled after those in Europe and America. But with almost no support from the government, local officials, teachers, and citizens pursued alternative visions. Their efforts led to the growth and consolidation of a new educational system.

This title provides a group portrait of some of the greatest musicians of the 20th century, including Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith, Grandmaster Flash and Bob Dylan.

Reproduction of the original: The Burning of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania by Benjamin Shroder Schneck

An investigation into who burned South Carolina's capital in 1865 Who burned South Carolina's capital city on February 17, 1865? Even before the embers had finished smoldering, Confederates and Federals accused each other of starting the blaze, igniting a controversy that has raged for more than a century. Marion B. Lucas sifts through official reports, newspapers, and eyewitness accounts, and the evidence he amasses debunks many of the myths surrounding the tragedy. Rather than writing a melodrama with clear heroes and villains, Lucas tells a more complex and more human story that details the fear, confusion, and disorder that accompanied the end of a brutal war. Lucas traces the damage not to a single blaze but to a series of fires—preceded by an equally unfortunate series of military and civilian blunders—that included the burning of cotton bales by fleeing Confederate soldiers. This edition includes a new foreword by Anne Sarah Rubin, professor of history at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and the author of Through the Heart of Dixie: Sherman's March and America.

WINNER OF THE MIDLAND AUTHORS AWARD FOR HISTORY • LONGLISTED FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE • A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • The "illuminating" (New Yorker) story of the Great Chicago Fire: a raging inferno, a harrowing fight for survival, and the struggle for the soul of a city—told with the "the clarity—and tension—of a well-wrought military narrative" (Wall Street Journal) In the fall of 1871, Chicagoans knew they were due for the “big one”—a massive, uncontrollable fire that would decimate the city. It had been bone-dry for months, and a recent string of blazes had nearly outstripped the fire department’s already scant resources. Then, on October 8, a minor fire broke out in the barn of Irishwoman Kate Leary. A series of unfortunate mishaps and misunderstandings along with insufficient preparation and a high south-westerly wind combined to set the stage for an unmitigated catastrophe. The conflagration that spread from the Learys' property quickly overtook the neighborhood, and before long the floating embers had been cast to the far reaches of the city. Nothing to the northeast was safe. Families took to the streets with every possession they could carry. Powerful gusts whipped the flames into a terrifying firestorm. The Chicago River boiled. Over the next forty-eight hours, Chicago fell victim to the largest and most destructive natural disaster the United States had yet endured. The effects of the Great Fire were devastating. But they were also transforming. Out of the ashes, faster than seemed possible, rose new homes, tenements, hotels, and civic buildings, as well as a new political order. The elite seized the reconstruction to crack down on vice, control the disbursement of vast charitable funds, and rebuild the city in their image. But the city’s working class recognized only a naked power grab that would challenge their traditions, hurt their chances to keep their hard-earned property, and move power out of the hands of elected officials and into private interests. As soon as the battle against the fire ended, another battle for the future of the city erupted between its entrenched business establishment and its poor and immigrant laborers and shopkeepers. An enrapturing account of the fire’s inexorable march and an eye-opening look at its aftermath, The Burning of the World tells the story of one of the most infamous calamities in history and the new Chicago it precipitated—a disaster that still shapes American cities to this day.