Florida 69A-60.008 Signs: Helping Fire Fighters in a Different Way

Florida Building Solutions of Tampa and Hillsborough provides all the required Florida 69A-60.008 Signs for all sorts of buildings, from commercial, to industrial, to multi-unit residential buildings with three units or more. If you prefer, they could also personally inspect your building to determine its construction composition. In addition, they also help determine the required locations and placement of all Florida 69A-60.008 Signs throughout your building to conform to the new code requirements.

These signs are important because it serves as a warning to persons conducting fire control and other emergency operations for a structure made of light-weight truss-type construction. Light-frame truss-type construction means a type of building construction whose primary structural elements are formed by a system of repetitive wood or light gauge steel framing members. The signs for this are generally made with reflective red colors, more specifically, truss signs and decals are State Compliant 8" X 8" Maltese Cross made of 3M Engineer Grade Reflective material mounted on 8.5" X 8.5" aluminum.

A building is required to pass all sorts of safety standards—the (Florida Fire Prevention Code) being one of them. According to this code, or Florida 69A-60.008 code, a building is required to put up notices or signs if they have been made with Light-frame Truss or Wood frame trusses—Light Weight Truss Signs and Wood Frame Truss sings.

Here are some examples of Florida 69A-60.008 Signs: R—used for the Light Weight Truss Roof Sign; F—used for light-weight truss floor system sign; RF—for light-weight truss floor and roof systems sign. In addition to these compliance signs, the company also provides services for the placement of other hazard signs such as fire marshal signs, and warning hazard signs.

Other details about Florida 69A-60.008 Signs

Maltese Cross shall be not less than 4 feet above or more than 6 feet above grade walking surface and mounted 24" to the left of the main entry. The complete rule is available on the State Fire Marshals web site under Rules of the State fire Marshal. The Florida approved symbol is the Maltese Cross should measure 8 inches horizontally and 8 inches vertically.

Compliance regarding these signs can save a fire fighter's life. It is stated in the Aldridge-Benge Firefighter Safety Act which states that it is a requirement for residential structures to mark their buildings in a manner that identifies them as light-frame truss-type construction. A sign or symbol will alert firefighters of the construction material and allow them to modify their tactics for fighting fires in buildings.

Other light-weight truss sign variants include Light Gauge Truss Signs, Wood Frame Truss Signs, and Repetitive Wood Truss Signs. In the event of a fire, firefighter would depend in these signs to plan out their approach on the building. This became an issue after the death of two Orange County, Florida Firefighters, Todd Aldridge and Mark Benge, who died in 1989 after the roof of a gift shop collapsed.

You can reduce firefighter fatalities with your compliance to these hazard and construction type signs. For 2009, the USFA got 93 fatality notices of firefighters during their duty. You can help reduce this number by getting the necessary compliance signs. Contact Florida Building Solution of Tampa and Hillsborough for truss sign and fire hazards sign building inspection and placement.