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40 FIRST RESPONDERS DISCUSS THE DANGERS OF PLYWOOD e property preservation industry's age- old standard for securing windows on vacant residential homes, plywood, has come under heavy scrutiny in the last couple of years due to issues that can arise when a plywood-secured property sits vacant for any period of time— squatters, vandalism, community blight, and violent crime. e industry has taken various measures to combat these issues—for instance, in November 2016 Fannie Mae announced that all of its residential properties in preforeclosure would be required to use an alternative to plywood to secure the homes. ese issues affect more than those in the mortgage industry and in the community where the vacant properties are located, however. First responders are aware that anytime they are called to a vacant property, there might be danger lurking inside—and that the vacant property might not be truly vacant. e Seattle Fire Department has concerns when responding to structures that have been physically modified, as it creates very dangerous and hazardous situations for our firefighters," Seattle Fire Chief Harold Scoggins said. "It is such a significant problem that we have created standard operating guidelines for derelict buildings to try and ensure the safety of our firefighters when responding to these types of buildings. In the vacant or abandoned buildings alone this year, SFD has seen 16 fires in these kinds of structures." In an area such as Miami, which is hurricane-prone, homeowners sometimes board their windows up throughout hurricane season. "Any time we encounter a situation where there are boards on the windows, we never look at those properties as unoccupied. We never do that," said Captain Bill Gustin of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue. When he is called to a property and there are boards on the windows, Gustin said the procedure is to look for extension cords running from the property to the home next door, where squatters may be borrowing electricity. "Several times I've cut the wood and seen people who are in there jump up and run out of there like a scared rabbit," Gustin said. As they do with any situation, first responders are careful to consider safety first when entering a boarded-up house. "e first thing we need to do is make sure the scene is safe," said Captain Joseph Amador, Fire Captain with the San Diego fire department and public information Officer. "If the house is boarded up, or something like that, and I don't think that it's safe for my firefighters or EMTs to enter, then we will not enter. We'll call for the police department to come and give us a backup and maybe clear the area for us to come on in." An unexpected situation could cause a change in plans for first responders, Amador said. "We're there with the intention to help someone who has called for assistance, and we're unable to reach that patient because someone is there to cause us harm or someone is standing in our way, obviously we don't want that to happen," he said. "With that in mind, we'll call for assistance or back out." If there is a fire inside a boarded-up structure, the home loses ventilation over time and causes the fire to slowly die. When firefighters enter a home with limited ventilation and a fire is smoldering inside, the sudden influx of oxygen on the embers could cause the house to quickly become "a roman candle," Gustin said. "One of the issues is going to be ventilating the structure," said Lt. Steven Lawrence, Deputy Fire Marshal and Public Information Officer with the St. Petersburg (Florida) Fire Department. "If we have an active fire inside, firefighter safety is our concern. Not only is our safety a concern, but being able to get the superheated gases and smoke out of the structure are going to be a priority for us to deal with. e other thing with the boarded- up structure is, you don't know what type of condition the interior is in. A lot of times in our area, vagrants will get into the property and demolish it or steal the wiring out of the property. You never know what you're going into when it's a vacant structure, especially when it's boarded up. Our biggest concern is what are we getting into and how easily could we get our people out in an emergency situation." e issues brought on by using plywood to board up vacant homes have prompted some innovators to create alternatives to plywood (such as polycarbonate clearboarding and steel) that do not create the same concerns as plywood. "ose houses are used frequently by squatters, sometimes as drug houses to sell drugs out of, or drugs houses to use drugs in," said Mike Taylor, State Secretary and Legislative Chairman with the Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio. "So you have that direct law enforcement problem of a vacant and abandoned property to begin with. With plywood on the windows, vacant and abandoned properties are easily identified. You get sent on dispatch runs or calls there for a suspicious person or possible drug dealer, and you arrive at the property, and you can't do any type of short-term surveillance where you can look in the windows and see what may or may not be in there or may or may not be going on. If you have a view through the

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