Eli5: How so firemen rapidly know the layout of large buildings in places like NYC during a large fire or emergency?

647 views

Edit: Thanks for the folks that are in adjacent areas that got back to me and were kind, I was just curious as a laymen New Yorker.

UPDATE: One of my friends got back to me I guess they have blueprints and do drills and do drills and shit and that I’m not allowed to know the rest – whatever bitch tits, comments basically stated that

In: 75

15 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

When I did volunteer fire, many moons ago, we would regularly go out to larger buildings in our area and do a walkthrough/talkthrough of how we would handle them, taking note of everything from the layout and construction materials, to the type of doors it has. We might even go over some training scenarios with the ladder truck and stuff, if the owners were willing to let us.

On top of that, our detachable toughbook on engine had a program with pretty much all the building blueprints emergency services could get their hands on. We also had as many paper copies as we could back at the station, with more than one person tasked with making sure it’s all kept up to date.

As for how that translates to a place like NYC, I’d imagine whatever they have makes my stuff look downright primitive.

You are viewing 1 out of 15 answers, click here to view all answers.