Structural Collapse Rescue
What this domain covers
Structural collapse covers building triage, search, void-space access, shoring, lifting, and breaching in light-frame, heavy concrete, and steel structures. The exam expects you to read a collapse pattern, predict where voids are, and know when the building - not the patient - is the hazard.
Collapse patterns and voids
- Pancake: floors stacked; voids are at the perimeter, in stairwells, and where furniture or appliances hold a gap.
- V-shape: the floor fails in the middle; survivable voids are at the walls.
- Lean-to: one wall fails and the floor tilts; voids sit against the standing wall and under the high side.
- Cantilever: an unsupported span, and the most dangerous pattern to enter.
- A-frame: two walls lean together; voids are at the base edges.
Search and marking
Rapid search first (single slash), then a full search (X in a box). In the FEMA-style marking, the top quadrant is date and time, the left is hazards, the right is the team, and the bottom is live and dead victim counts. Search resources escalate: physical and verbal, canine, then technical (camera, acoustic, ground-penetrating radar).
Shoring, lifting, breaching
Shore before you dig. Types are spot, horizontal, vertical, and diagonal (raker). Lift with air bags or jacks and crib as you go - never lift a load you have not planned to hold. Breach from the safe side and keep an egress route open.
Worked example
A two-story wood-frame with a lean-to collapse against the left wall. You mark the structure, run a rapid search, and hear a voice from a perimeter void on the high side. You shore the opening with a vertical and a raker before entry, isolate the gas meter, and keep teams on a 20-minute rotation.
Traps
Treating pancake voids as always survivable. Entering before utilities are isolated. Marking a building before the search the marking describes.