Not just what and how, but why!
Updated March 7, 2010 with Longer Video Clip of this Incident On the afternoon of February 18, 2010, firefighters in Chicago responded to a residential fire at 4855 S. Paulina Street. First arriving companies discovered a fire in the basement of a 1-1/2 story, wood frame, single family dwelling and initiated fire attack and horizontal … Read more
Two recent events in Baltimore, Maryland and Gary, Indiana point to the criticality of recognizing key fire behavior indicators and understanding practical fire dynamics. Five Firefighters Injured in Baltimore Early on the morning of Friday, January 15, 2010, the Baltimore City Fire Department was dispatched to a residential fire Southeast Baltimore. First arriving companies observed … Read more
As we start the New Year it is a good time to reaffirm our commitment to mastering our craft. 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 … Read more
As discussed in prior Reading the Fire posts and the ongoing series examining fire behavior indicators (FBI), using the B-SAHF (Building, Smoke, Air Track, Heat, and Flame) organizing scheme, developing proficiency requires practice. This post provides an opportunity to exercise your skills using three video segments shot during an apartment fire. Apartment Fire At 2235 … Read more
This morning I begin the process of relocation to beautiful Whidbey Island, Washington. Later this week I begin my new job as Fire Chief with Central Whidbey Island Fire & Rescue. Coupeville Harbor at Sunrise As I have been packing and preparing for my move all weekend, I have not had time to develop an … Read more
As discussed in Flashover and Fully Developed Fires: Key Fire Behavior Indicators, providing additional oxygen to a ventilation controlled fire will result in a corresponding increase in heat release rate (HRR). This occurs because oxygen is required to release the chemical potential energy in fuel. The energy released per unit of mass of oxygen is … Read more
This post continues examination of key indicators used to recognize stages of fire development (i.e., incipient, growth, fully developed, and decay), burning regimes (i.e., fuel and ventilation controlled) with a look at indicators of the fully developed stage of fire development. Most buildings are comprised of multiple, interconnected compartments and fire conditions can vary widely … Read more
Chicago Dollar Store Fire On the morning of October 1, 2009 the Chicago Fire Department (CFD) responded to a fire in the Super Dollar and Up store at 3952 West Cermak Road. CFD Senior Fire Alarm Operator and Fire Photographer Steve Redick captured early incident operations on video. The first segment of the video was … Read more
The last post in this series, Incipient Fires: Key Fire Behavior Indicators reviewed stages of fire development (i.e., incipient, growth, fully developed, and decay), burning regimes (i.e., fuel and ventilation controlled) and identified key indicators used to recognize incipient stage fires. This post examines key indicators to identify growth stage fires and their burning regime. … Read more
Building Factors, Smoke, Air Track, Heat, and Flame (B-SAHF) are critical fire behavior indicators. Understanding the indicators is important, but more important is the ability to integrate these factors in the process of reading the fire as part of size-up and dynamic risk assessment. This post reviews application of the B-SAHF organizing scheme to recognizing … Read more