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Chapter 2 Building. and Site Design. • GENERAL _ The faster the fire service-can respond, enter, locate the incident, and safely operate in a build- ing, the sooner they can mitigate an incident in a safe manner for themselves as well as occupants. This chapter contains guidance on this topic for both building site layout and interior design fea- tures. Those preparing design documents such as site plans, civil plans, foundation plans, and archi- tectural layouts would typically use this informa- tion. Building designers desiring to locate fire pro- tection systems features should consult the appro- priate chapters of this manual for further guidance. FIRE APPARATUS. ACCESS Properly positioning fire apparatus can be critical at a fire scene, In particular, placing aerial apparatus is critical for positioning of the aerial ladder or elevat- ing platform, which is mounted on top of these vehicles (Figure 2.1). Pumper apparatus also need to get close enough to the building to facilitate hose line use. The location of other specialized appara- tus, or small vehicles, such as chief's cars or ambu- lances, should only be of particular concern to the designer of unusual facilities. For instance, a sports arena may need to be designed for entry of ambu- lances but not fire apparatus. Many structures are situated on public streets that provide fire fighting access. Others, which are set back from public streets, have private fire appa- ratus access lanes or "fire lanes, " for short. These enable fire apparatus to approach the building and operate effectively (Figure 2.2). Fire lanes can be dedicated to fire service use, or can serve ordinary vehicular traffic as well. There are many considerations for both public roads and fire lanes: clear width, clear height; length, turn radius, arrangement,' distance from the building, and paving materials. In all cases, the most stringent practicable dimensions should be considered for design, since future apparatus piur- chases or mutual aid apparatus from other jurisdic- tions may exceed the specifications required in a given jurisdiction at any given,time. Extent of Access • Minimum building access for fire apparatus is a function of the access road reaching to within a cer- tain distance of all portions of the building's first a J a . r ; 1Lt { + ~ n (Fig. 2.1) Good aerial apparatus access at an apartment fire. This fire lane is wide enough to allow passing even when aerial outriggers are extended, and it is located a proper distance from the building to facilitate aerial operations. Arnim; J!,~,rmte~-,A Dn ml FIRE SERVICE FEATURES OF BUILDIN'GS` AND FIRE PROTECTION S-YSTEMS 127 11 247