Firefighting

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Not to be confused with a firefight, which is a battle with firearms.

A repair locker hose team aboard USS John F. Kennedy (CV 67) combats a controlled fire on the mobile aircraft
firefighting training device May 2, 2006.

Firefighting is the act of extinguishing destructive fires. A firefighter fights

these fires to prevent
destruction of life, property and the environment. Firefighting is a highly technical skill
that requires that professionals have years of training and education to become proficient.
Contents
[hide]

1 Firefighters' duties

2 Hazards caused by fire

3 Reconnaissance and reading the fire

4 Science of extinguishment

5 Use of water
o 5.1 Open air fire

o 5.2 Closed volume fire

6 Asphyxiating a fire

7 Tactical ventilation or isolation of the fire

8 Categorising fires

9 Appendix: calculating the amount of water required to suppress a fire in a closed volume
o 9.1 Volume computation

10 Notes

11 See also
 12 References

[edit]Firefighters' duties

Firefighters' goals are to save life, property and the environment. A fire can rapidly spread and
endanger many lives; however, with modern firefighting techniques, catastrophe is usually, but not
always, avoided. To prevent fires from starting, a firefighter's duties include public education and
conducting fire inspections.

Because firefighters are often the first responders to people in critical conditions, firefighters provide
many other valuable services to the community they serve, such as:

 Emergency medical services, as technicians or as licensed paramedics, staffing ambulances;

 Hazardous materials mitigation (HAZMAT);

 Heavy rescue;
 Search and rescue;
 Community disaster support.

In addition, firefighters also service in specialized fields, such as:

 Aircraft/airport rescue;

 Wildland fire suppression;

 Shipboard and military fire and rescue;
 Tactical paramedic support ("SWAT medics");
 Tool hoisting.

In the US, firefighters also serve the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as urban
search and rescue (USAR) team members.

The "tender and receive method" is a safe and effective method for hoisting equipment on the
fireground. The "tender and receive method" is used to deploy tools between divisions of a structure
where the distance between floors is 10 feet or less. It can only be used with hand tools (pike pole,
trash hook, axe, halligan, etc) and the firefighter should hold the working end of the tool in his left hand
and tender the handle end to the firefighter on the other division, confirming he has safely received the
tool before letting go. When used correctly, this method is safer and faster than the use of utility rope
or webbing.
[edit]Hazards caused by fire

UK firefighters tackle a house fire.

A burning building in Japan casts off clouds of smoke.

The primary risk to people in a fire is smoke inhalation (breathing in smoke; the more common cause
of death in a fire rather than burns). The risks of smoke include:

 suffocation due to the fire consuming or displacing all of the oxygen from the air;

 poisonous gases produced by the fire;

 aspirating heated smoke that can burn the inside of the lungs.

Firefighters carry self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA; an open-circuit positive pressure

compressed air system) to prevent smoke inhalation. These are not oxygen tanks; they carry
compressed air.

Obvious risks stem from the effects of heat. Even without contact with the flames (conduction), there
are a number of comparably serious risks: burns from radiated heat, contact with a hot object, hot
gases (e.g., air), steam and hot and/or toxic smoke. Firefighters are equipped withpersonal protective
equipment (PPE) that includes fire-resistant clothing (nomex orpolybenzimidazole fiber (PBI)) and
helmets that limit the transmission of heat towards the body.
The heat can make pressurised gas cylinders and tanks explode, producing what is called
aBLEVE (boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion).[1] Some chemical products such as ammonium
nitrate fertilizers can also explode. Explosions can cause physical trauma or potentially serious blast
or shrapnel injuries.

Heat causes human flesh to burn as fuel, causing potentially severe medical problems. Depending
upon the heat of the fire, burns can occur in a fraction of a second.

Main article: Burn

Additional risks of fire include the following:

 smoke can obscure vision, potentially causing a fall, disorientation, or becoming trapped in the
fire;

 structural collapse.


[edit]Reconnaissance and reading the fire

The first step of a firefighting operation is a reconnaissance to search for the origin of the fire (which
may not be obvious for an indoor fire, especially when there are no witnesses), and identify the
specific risks and the possible casualties. Any fire occurring outside may not require reconnaissance;
on the other hand, a fire in a cellar or an underground car park with only a few centimeters of visibility
may require a long reconnaissance to spot the seat of the fire.

The "reading" of the fire is the analysis by the firefighters of the forewarnings of a thermal accident
(flashover, backdraft, smoke explosion), which is performed during the reconnaissance and the fire
suppression maneuvers. The main signs are:

 Hot zones, which can be detected with a gloved hand, especially by touching a door before
opening it;

 Soot on windows, which usually means that combustion is incomplete and thus there is a lack
of air;
 Smoke going in and out around a door frame, as if the fire breathes, which usually means a
lack of air to support combustion;
 Spraying water on the ceiling with a short pulse of a diffused spray (e.g., cone with an opening
angle of 60°) to test the heat of the smoke:
 When the temperature is moderate, the water falls down in drops with a sound of
rain,
  When the temperature is high, it vaporizes with a hiss.

Ideally, part of reconnaissance is to consult an existing preplan for the building. This provides
knowledge of existing structures, firefighter hazards, and can include strategies and tactics.

[edit]Science of extinguishment

See also: Fire Chemistry and Physical properties of wildfires

Fire elements[2]:

There are four elements needed to start and sustain a fire and/or flame. These elements are classified
in the “fire tetrahedron” and are:

1. Reducing agent (fuel)

2. Heat
3. Self-sustained chemical chain reaction
4. Oxidizing agent (oxygen)

The reducing agent, or fuel, is the substance or material that is being oxidized or burned in the
combustion process. The most common fuels contain carbon along with combinations of hydrogen and
oxygen. Heat is the energy component of the fire tetrahedron. When heat comes into contact with a
fuel, it provides the energy necessary for ignition, causes the continuous production and ignition of fuel
vapors or gases so that the combustion reaction can continue, and causes the vaporization of solid
and liquid fuels. The self-sustained chemical chain reaction is a complex reaction that requires a fuel,
an oxidizer, and heat energy to come together in a very specific way. A chain reaction is a series of
reactions that occur in sequence with the results of each individual reaction being added to the rest.
This happens in the science of fire, but is self-sustaining in that it continues without interruption. An
oxidizing agent is a material or substance that when the proper conditions exist will release gases,
including oxygen. This is crucial to the sustainment of a flame or fire.

A fire helicopter is used to fight a wildfire

A fire can be extinguished or put out by taking away any of the four components of the tetrahedron.
[2]
One method to extinguish a fire is to use water. The first way that water extinguishes a fire is by
cooling, which removes heat from the fire. This is possible through water’s ability to absorb massive
amounts of heat by converting water to water vapor. Without heat, the fuel cannot keep the oxidizer
burning to sustain the fire. The second way water extinguishes a fire is by smothering the fire. When
water is heated to its boiling point, it converts to water vapor. When this conversion takes place, it
dilutes the oxygen in the air with water vapor, thus removing one of the elements that the fire requires
to burn. This can also be done with foam.

Another way to extinguish a fire is fuel removal. This can be accomplished by stopping the flow of
liquid or gaseous fuel or by removing solid fuel in the path of a fire. Another way to accomplish this is
to allow the fire to burn until all the fuel is consumed, at which point the fire will self-extinguish.

One final extinguishing method is chemical flame inhibition. This can be accomplished through dry
chemical and halogenated agents. These agents interrupt the combustion reaction and stop flaming.
This method is effective on gas and liquid fuels because they must flame to burn.

[edit]Use of water

USAF airmen from the 20th Civil Engineer Squadron Fire Protection Flight neutralize a live fire during a field
training exercise atShaw Air Force Base.

Often, the main way to extinguish a fire is to spray with water. The water has two roles:


in contact with the fire, it vaporizes, and this vapour displaces the oxygen (the volume of water
vapour is 1,700 times greater than liquid water, at 1,000ºF (540°C) this expansion is over 4,000
times); leaving the fire with insufficient combustive agent to continue, and it dies out. [1]

the vaporization of water absorbs the heat; it cools the smoke, air, walls, objects in the room,
etc., that could act as further fuel, and thus prevents one of the means that fires grow, which is by
"jumping" to nearby heat/fuel sources to start new fires, which then combine.
The extinction is thus a combination of "asphyxia" and cooling. The flame itself is suppressed by
asphyxia, but the cooling is the most important element to master a fire in a closed area.

Water may be accessed from a pressurized fire hydrant, pumped from water sources such as lakes or
rivers, delivered by tanker truck, or dropped from aircraft tankers in fighting forest fires.

[edit]Open air fire

For fires in the open, the seat of the fire is sprayed with a straight spray: the cooling effect immediately
follows the "asphyxia" by vapor[citation needed], and reduces the amount of water required. A straight spray
is used so the water arrives massively to the seat without being vaporized before. A strong spray may
also have a mechanical effect: it can disperse the combustible product and thus prevent the fire from
starting again.

The fire is always fed with air, but the risk to people is limited as they can move away, except in the
case of wildfires or bushfires where they risk being easily surrounded by the flames.

Spray is aimed at a surface, or object: for this reason, the strategy is sometimes called two-
dimensional attack or 2D attack.

It might be necessary to protect specific items (house, gas tank, etc.) against infrared radiation, and
thus to use a diffused spray between the fire and the object.

Breathing apparatus is often required as there is still the risk of inhaling smoke or poisonous gases.

London firefighters use ground hoses and an aerial water tower to combat a structure fire with water
[edit]Closed volume fire

Until the 1970s, fires were usually attacked while they declined, so the same strategy that was used for
open air fires was effective. In recent times, fires are now attacked in their development phase as:

 firefighters arrive sooner;

 thermal insulation of houses confines the heat;

 modern materials, especially the polymers, produce a lot more heat than traditional materials
(wood, plaster, stone, bricks, etc).

Additionally, in these conditions, there is a greater risk of backdraft and of flashover.

Spraying of the seat of the fire directly can have unfortunate and dramatic consequences: the water
pushes air in front of it, so the fire is supplied with extra oxygen before the water reaches it. This
activation of the fire, and the mixing of the gases produced by the water flow, can create a flashover.

The most important issue is not the flames, but control of the fire, i.e., the cooling of the smoke that
can spread and start distant fires, and that endangers the lives of people, including firefighters. The
volume must be cooled before the seat is treated. This strategy originally of Swedish (Mats Rosander
& Krister Giselsson) origin, was further adapted by London Fire Officer Paul Grimwood following a
decade of operational use in the busy West End of London between 1984-94 (www.firetactics.com)
and termed three-dimensional attack, or 3D attack.

Use of a diffused spray was first proposed by Chief Lloyd Layman of the Parkersburg Fire Department,
at the Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC) in 1950 held in Memphis.

Using Grimwood's modified 3D attack strategy the ceiling is first sprayed with short pulses of a diffused
spray:

 it cools the smoke, thus the smoke is less likely to start a fire when it moves away;

 the pressure of the gas drops when it cools (law of ideal gases), thus it also reduces the
mobility of the smoke and avoids a "backfire" of water vapour;
 it creates an inert "water vapour sky", which prevents roll-over (rolls of flames on the ceiling
created by the burning of hot gases).

Only short pulses of water must be sprayed, otherwise the spraying modifies the equilibrium, and the
gases mix instead of remaining stratified: the hot gases (initially at the ceiling) move around the room
and the temperature rises at the ground, which is dangerous for firefighters. An alternative is to cool all
the atmosphere by spraying the whole atmosphere as if drawing letters in the air ("pencilling").
The modern methods for an urban fire dictate the use of a massive initial water flow, e.g. 500 L/min for
each fire hose. The aim is to absorb as much heat as possible at the beginning to stop the expansion
of the fire, and to reduce the smoke. When the flow is too small, the cooling is not sufficient, and the
steam that is produced can burn firefighters (the drop of pressure is too small and the vapor is pushed
back). Although it may seem paradoxical, the use of a strong flow with an efficient fire hose and an
efficient strategy (diffused sprayed, small droplets) requires a smaller amount of water: once the
temperature is lowered, only a limited amount of water is necessary to suppress the fire seat with a
straight spray. For a living room of 50m² (60 square yards), the required amount of water is estimated
as 60 L (15 gal).

French firefighters used an alternative method in the 1970s: they sprayed water on the hot walls to
create a water vapour atmosphere and asphyxiate the fire. This method is no longer used because it
was risky; the pressure created pushed the hot gases and vapour towards the firefighters, causing
severe burns, and pushed the hot gases into other rooms where they could start a new fire.

[edit]Asphyxiating a fire

In some cases, the use of water is undesirable:

 some chemical products react with water and produce poisonous gases, or even burn in
contact with water (e.g., sodium);

 some products float on water, e.g., hydrocarbon (gasoline, oil, alcohol, etc.); a burning layer
can then spread and extend;
 in case of a pressurised gas tank, it is necessary to avoid heat shocks that may damage the
tank: the resulting decompression may produce a BLEVE.
 electrical fires where water would act as a conductor.

It is then necessary to asphyxiate the fire. This can be done in different ways:

 some chemical products react with the fuel and stop the combustion;

 a layer of water-based fire retardant foam is projected on the product by the fire hose, to keep
the oxygen in air separated from the fuel.
 carbon dioxide.

[edit]Tactical ventilation or isolation of the fire

One of the main risks of a fire is the smoke: it carries heat and poisonous gases, and obscures vision.
In the case of a fire in a closed location (building), two different strategies may be used: isolation of the
fire, or positive pressure ventilation.

Paul Grimwood introduced the concept of tactical ventilation in the 1980s to encourage a better
thought-out approach to this aspect of firefighting. Following work with Warrington Fire Research
Consultants (FRDG 6/94) his terminology and concepts were adopted officially by the UK fire
services and are now referred to throughout revised Home Office training manuals (1996–97).

Grimwood's original definition of his 1991 unified strategy stated that ....

tactical ventilation is either the venting, or containment (isolation) actions by on-scene

firefighters, used to take control from the outset of a fire's burning regime, in an effort to gain
tactical advantage during interior structural firefighting operations.

Ventilation affects life safety, fire extinguishment, and property conservation. First, it pulls fire
away from trapped occupants when properly used. It may also "limit fire spread by channeling
fire toward nearby openings and allows fire fighters to safely attack the fire" as well as limit
smoke, heat, and water damage[3].

Positive pressure ventilation (PPV) consists of using a fan to create excess pressure in a part of
the building; this pressure will push the smoke and the heat away, and thus secure the rescue
and fire fighting operations. It is necessary to have an exit for the smoke, to know the building
very well to predict where the smoke will go, and to ensure that the doors remain open by
wedging or propping them. The main risk of this method is that it may activate the fire, or even
create a flashover, e.g., if the smoke and the heat accumulate in a dead end.

Hydraulic ventilation is the process of directing a stream from the inside of a structure out the
window using a fog pattern[1]. This effectively will pull smoke out of room. Smoke ejectors may
also be used for this purpose.

[edit]Categorising fires

Main article: Multiple-alarm fire

In the US, fires are sometimes categorised as "one alarm", "all hands", "two alarm", "three alarm"
(or higher) fires. There is no standard definition for what this means quantifiably, though it always
refers to the level response by the local authorities. In some cities, the numeric rating refers to
the number of fire stations that have been summoned to the fire. In others, the number counts
the number of "dispatches" for additional personnel and equipment.[1][2]

Alarms are generally used to define the tiers of the response by what resources are used.
Example:

Structure fire response draws the following equipment:

3 Engine/Pumper Companies
1 Truck/ladder/aerial Company

This is referred to as an Initial Alarm or Box Alarm.

Working fire request (for the same incident)

Air/Light Units
Other specialized rescue units
Chief Officers/Fireground Commanders (if not on original dispatch)

Note: This is the balance of a First Alarm fire.

Second and subsequent Alarms:

2 Engine Companies
1 Truck Company

The reason behind the "Alarm" is so the Incident Commander doesn't have to request each
apparatus with the dispatcher. He can say "Give me a second alarm here", instead of saying
"Give me a truck company and two engine companies" along with requesting where they come
from.

Keep in mind that categorization of fires varies between each fire department. A single alarm for
one department may be a second alarm for another. Response always depends on the size of
the fire and the department.

[edit]Appendix:calculating the amount of water required to

suppress a fire in a closed volume

In the case of a closed volume, it is easy to compute the amount of water needed.
The oxygen (O2) in air (21%) is necessary for combustion. Whatever the amount of fuel available
(wood, paper, cloth), combustion will stop when the air becomes "thin", i.e. when it contains less
than 15% oxygen. If additional air cannot enter, we can calculate:

 The amount of water required to make the atmosphere inert, i.e., to prevent
the pyrolysis gases to burn—this is the "volume computation"

 The amount of water required to cool the smoke, the atmosphere—this is the "thermal
computation"
These computations are only valid when considering a diffused spray that penetrates the entire
volume. This is not possible in the case of a high ceiling: the spray is short and does not reach
the upper layers of air. Consequently the computations are not valid for large volumes such as
barns or warehouses: a warehouse of 1,000 m² (1,200 square yards) and 10 m high (33 ft)
represents 10,000 m3. In practice, such large volumes are unlikely to be airtight anyway.

[edit]Volume computation
Fire needs air; if water vapour pushes all the air away, the fuel can no longer burn. But the
replacement of all the air by water vapour is harmful for firefighters and other people still in the
building: the water vapour can carry much more heat than air at the same temperature (one can
be burnt by water vapour at 100 °C (212 °F) above a boiling saucepan, whereas it is possible to
put an arm in an oven—without touching the metal!—at 270 °C (520 °F) without damage). This
amount of water is thus an upper limit that should not be reached.

The optimal, and minimum, amount of water to use is the amount required to dilute the air to
15% oxygen: below this concentration, the fire cannot burn.

The amount used should be between the optimal value and the upper limit. Any additional water
would just run on the floor and cause water damage without contributing to fire suppression.

Let:

 Vr be the volume of the room,

 Vv be the volume of vapour required,
 Vw be the volume of liquid water to create the Vv volume of vapour,

then for an air at 500 °C (773 K, 932 °F, best case concerning the volume, probable case at the
beginning of the operation), we have[3]

and for a temperature of 100 °C (373 K, 212 °F, worst case concerning the volume,
probable case when the fire is suppressed and the temperature is lowered): [4]

For the maximum volume, we have:

Vv = Vr
considering a temperature of 100 °C. To compute the optimal volume (dilution of
oxygen from 21 to 15%), we have[5]
 for a temperature of 500 °C. The table below show some results,
for rooms with a height of 2.70 m (8 ft 10 in).

Amount of water required to

suppress the fire
volume computation

Amount of liquid
water Vw
Volume of the
Area of the room
room Vr

maximum optimal

5.4 L (1.3
25 m² (30 yd²) 67.5 m³ 39 L (9.4 gal)
gal)

11 L (2.7
50 m² (60 yd²) 135 m³ 78 L (19 gal)
gal)

110 L (26 15 L (3.6

70 m² (84 yd²) 189 m³
gal) gal)

Note that the formulas give the results in cubic meters, which are
multiplied by 1,000 to convert to liters.

Of course, a room is never really closed, gases can go in (fresh air) and
out (hot gases and water vapour) so the computations will not be exact.

[edit]Notes

^ indeed, the mass of one mole of water is 18 g, a liter (0.001 m³) represents one kilogram i.e.
55.6 moles, and at 500 °C (773 K), 55.6 moles of an ideal gas at atmospheric pressure
represents a volume of 3.57 m³.

^ same as above with a temperature of 100 °C (373 K), one liter of liquid water produces
1.723 m³ of vapour

^ we consider that only Vr - Vv of the original room atmosphere remains (Vv has been replaced
by water vapour). This atmosphere contains less than 21% of oxygen (some was used by the
fire), so the remaining amount of oxygen represents less than 0,21·(Vr-Vv). The concentration
of oxygen is thus less than 0,21·(Vr-Vv)/Vr, and we want this fraction to be 0.15 (15%).
[edit]See also

Main article: Outline of firefighting

 Index of firefighting articles

 Junior firefighter
 Fireboats
 Fire Equipment Manufacturers' Association
 Glossary of firefighting terms. A list of firefighting
terms and acronyms.
 Saint Florian, the patron saint of firefighters. His
cross is widely used as a symbol in firefighters'
emblems.
 Maltese cross, often mistakenly[4] mentioned as the
origin of the firefighters symbol.
 Women in firefighting

[edit]References

1. ^ a b c Thomson Delmar Learning. The Firefighter's

Handbook: Essentials of Fire Fighting and

Emergency Response. Second Edition. Clifton

Park, NY: Delmar Publishers, 2004.

2. ^ a b Hall, Richard. Essentials of Fire Fighting.

Fourth Edition. Stillwater, OK: Fire Protection

Publications, 1998.

3. ^ Bernard Klaene. Structural Firefighting:

Strategies and Tactics. Jones and Bartlett

Publishers, 2007. ISBN 0763751685,

9780763751685

4. ^ Don Engebretson (2008-03-08). "The

Firefighter's Cross". Northwoods Seelsorger.