Course Profile: Building Construction for the Fire Service
What do you need to know about a building that’s on fire? Where will it spread, where will it burn hottest, and where might it collapse?
A building’s construction elements and design tell you so much of what you need to know to contain a fire. If you understand how a building is made, you understand how to keep yourself, your crew and civilians safe—especially if you have to go inside.
Couch Courses ATCP2120 Building Construction for the Fire Service covers these vital elements and more. Not only will this building construction fire service course help to fulfill your required course work obligations for Florida Fire Officer I, Florida Fire Investigator I, and Florida Fire Inspector 1 (and/or a degree with Columbia Southern University if you choose); the building construction course materials will remain crucial knowledge throughout your firefighting career in the fire service.
What Will You Learn in Couch Courses “Building Construction for the Fire Service”?
In addition to required learning, aspiring firefighters gain critical information and training from Couch Courses’ building construction online coursework.
This online fire service class covers an array of real-world scenarios that firefighters must know to be safe and effective on the job. The goal of this course is to familiarize firefighters with an array of building variables that affect fire containment and fire safety, from the building foundation to the roof and everything in between.
The fire service building construction course materials include information on how the following elements can affect fire behavior as well as potential building collapse:
- Foundation materials, load and settling
- Wood, masonry, steel, concrete, and other building materials
- Building design, architecture, and layout
- Roofing, roofing support systems, and roofing materials
- Interior design and design elements, including furnishings and finishes
- Building systems including electrical and HVAC
- Buildings under construction, expansion, renovation or demolition
- Building codes
- Construction and architectural history and historical variables in building design
- Natural variables including wind, rain, humidity, and heat
Other elements of the building construction course include
- The threat to life presented by smoke, heat, and building collapse in construction elements
- What methods to use to best contain a fire depending on construction elements
- How building code enforcement benefits fire containment and mitigates collapse risk and other hazards
- How fire resistance and fire-resistant construction elements mitigate risk
- Building inspection for fire safety and building codes, including construction industry terms and definitions
What You Should Know: Building Construction Course Basics
This building construction course is available with continuous enrollment; it is always available for currently enrolled Couch Courses students. The online classes, totaling 45 hours of required online learning, are self-paced and available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you have access to a computer with high-speed internet and the required textbook, you will be able to fit this coursework into your schedule.
Successful completion also counts for three hours of class credit (FIR 2304 Building Construction for Fire Protection) toward your Columbia Southern University degree.
Before beginning this course, you should purchase the required textbook, Building Construction Related to the Fire Service, 4th Edition (IFSTA; ISBN: 978-0-87939-594-0). (This book is not included with Couch Courses enrollment.)Top of Form
This course is approved by the Florida Bureau of Fire Standards and Training and upon successful completion is applied by us directly to your records at FCDICE.
This course is approved by Columbia Southern University and can be applied by you directly towards a degree by submitting to them your Couch Courses Course Completion Certificate.
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