St. Louis FFs Begin Collecting Data on Vacant Structures

St. Louis firefighters began collecting data on vacant structures this weekend after losing firefighter Benjamin Polson to a January fire in a vacant home.

Crews will collect data about building conditions, structural hazards and other critical information with the goal to prevent a tragedy like the department faced in January.

Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson told KDSK.com, "We'll do a review on what type of conditions are around the building. Are all the walls standing? Is there a missing wall? Is the roof in place? Are the floors missing in a multi-story building? ...There's all kinds of indicators that are going to cause us pause, if you will.”