Not just what and how, but why!
In a compartment fire, the upper layer presents a number of hazards to firefighters including the fact that 1) Smoke is fuel, and 2) the upper layer can be extremely hot. Application of an appropriate amount of water fog into the upper layer reduces the potential for ignition and lowers the temperature of the gases … Read more
Developing and maintaining proficiency in reading the Fire using the B-SAHF (Building, Smoke, Air Track, Heat, and Flame) organizing scheme for fire behavior indicators, requires practice. This post provides an opportunity to exercise your skills using a video segment shot during a commercial fire. Commercial Fire This post examines fire development during a fire in … Read more
My last two posts (Hazards Above, Hazards Above: Part 2)examined a series of incidents involving firefighter injuries or near miss incidents involving fires occurring in or extending into void spaces in wood frame, residential structures. Yesterday, two members of the Bridgeport, Connecticut Fire Department lost their lives under similar circumstances. Bridgeport, CT LODD At 1553 … Read more
My last post, Hazards Above, provided a brief overview of three incidents involving extreme fire behavior in the attic or truss loft void spaces of wood frame dwellings. This post will examine the similarities and differences between these lessons and identify several important considerations when dealing with fires occurring in or extending to void spaces. … Read more
Finally! It has been quite some time since my last post, but the CFBT-US web site and blog have been attacked twice by hackers WordPress and ISP upgrade issues have been a major challenge and it has taken some time to get things back to normal. A Big Improvement, But More Work is Needed The … Read more
Last night I returned from The International Fire Instructors Workshop and OTTAWA FIRE 2010 Symposium. The workshop was started in 2008 by Dr. Stefan Svensson of the Swedish Civil Contingency Agency who wanted to see what would happen if he put a number of operational fire officers, instructors, scientists and engineers, in a room together … Read more
As a critical friend of the NIOSH Firefighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program, I have provided testimony at public hearings and engaged in discussions with NIOSH staff regarding improvement of the quality of information provided in Death in the Line of Duty Reports, particularly in incidents involving extreme fire behavior. In addition, I have provided … Read more
It has been a number of months since the last Reading the Fire post. It is essential to continue the process of deliberate practice in order to continue to improve and refine skill in Reading the Fire. As we start the New Year it is a good time to reaffirm our commitment to mastering our … Read more
Firefighters are often provided with an oversimplified explanation of fundamental scientific concepts related to fire behavior. This is done with the intent to make training manuals and texts understandable and to focus on the information that firefighters must know. However, a tremendous opportunity to develop the ability to make sense of fire dynamics and the … Read more
Things to Think About Methods of heat transfer are often presented to firefighters in a simplistic way with the expectation that they will understand the basic concepts and are assessed on their ability to recall the definitions of conduction, convection, and radiation. Unfortunately this does not provide a solid basis for understanding phenomena encountered on … Read more