Branningan's Building Construction for the Fire Service

Building Services Handbook, Fourth Edition: Incorporating Current Building & Construction Regulations (Building Services Handbook) (Building Services Handbook) This book is a great resource to enhance the knowledge and concepts being taught in the text book.

The late Francis L. Brannigan was truly the "Dean" of the American Fire Service modern era. He was the very first and the best at putting the emphasis on structural safety for fire fighters and the general public. Francis was the first and foremost outspoken fire service professional at speaking out against lowering building construction standards and pointing out what's killing fire fighters and occupants in substandard building construction. This is a must read for all of those in the fire service, builing code officials and those in the building trades.

I was lucky enough over the years to have attended classes taught by Mr Brannigan. Yes, it is all over the place. But I can tell you this, this book has saved my life more than once. That was Mr Brannigans motivation the whole time when he wrote this book, not to make money, but to save lives. He was a great man and will truly be missed by many. If you are in the fire service, this should be one of the books you own.

Mr. Brannigan, whether senile or just incompetent, fails to write his book in any logical order. He is all over the place when presenting the few facts he is actually correct about. The book currently stands at 667 pages. It would be 1/3 of that length if it weren't for the numerous opinions, hearsay and accumulated ramblings of this arm chair quarterback who has apparently done more fire buffing than fire fighting! Studying for a promotional or just increasing your knowledge base? Stick with IFSTA's Bld Contstruction and study guide or Vinnie Dunn's "Collapse of Burning Buildings."

This should be required reading for anyone in the fire service who deals with Structural fire fighting. The book is pretty straight forward and in an easy to read font. I love this book. It also has a pretty decent index if you're using it for school. Out of all the books I've had to buy for school so far, this is the best one. If you're a fan of Brunacini, you may find a few points where they disagree, thus creating the great debate between which author is right. The principles of this book are easily put to use in day to day firefighting and could possibly save your life.