NAPSTV's video: Firefighters Choose Brick

The best part of being a firefighter is just being a hero. It’s a feeling of helping the community. I get to hold their hand and tell them that everything’s gonna be okay. That’s really what it’s all about is helping the community, saving a life. I absolutely love it. Slowing down the spread of the fire gives us that added few minutes to be able to go in and possibly make a life save. Time is of the essence in emergencies that we respond to. Pulling up to a vinyl house, we don’t have much time. Fire will tear through that house within minutes. Once it gets going, it’s gone. You can kiss it goodbye. The cement board, it is a lot more fire-resistant than vinyl but after about thirty minutes, it will burn through. Brick is a safer, better bet. It takes about an hour and a half if not more for a fire to breach a brick structure. It gives us a chance to get in there and prevent damage to the rest of the home. It’s a huge diff erence for firefighter safety, for the occupant safety, for everybody’s safety. The fire training facilities being made of brick and of masonry products, it just says it all. Have us put out fires in the training facilities and the structures everyone will finish, it’s almost impossible to burn. Here in an all-brick firehouse, this has been standing for a long time and it’s seen a lot. A lot of firehouses are built out of brick. It’s beautiful, it stands the test of time. I haven’t seen any aging of this department at all. I honestly believe that brick is the number one building component. It should be used on every building. It’s stable, it’s strong, it’s sound. For me and my family, the cost is not a factor. Brick will stand the test of time and it’s proving that. I wanted my family to be safe. My pretty red brick home, that’s where I live and that’s where I feel safe. Seeing what my house has been through and seeing how my family’s been protected, my next home would be brick. Brick is the answer. Build that building out of brick. Saves life, saves property.