BURNING QUESTIONS, PART 1
BY TOM BRENNAN
I am trying to reconcile the fact that more firefighters are being “burned up” in today`s fire service than ever before. Sure, we lost a greater annual average of firefighters in line-of-duty deaths in past years. But we never trapped and burned them so horribly before. Did you ever give that a thought or brainstorm this topic at a drill? Or, do you still avoid the subject like the majority who are thankful that it isn`t them? Let`s toss out some strictly random ideas.
Earlier
We arrive earlier than in the old days. That is a good thing for rescue operations but a bad thing for “prior-to-flashover” potential. I believe that in the old days, the fire compartment or room already had time to flash if “it wanted to” before we arrived. Replacement of alarm boxes with telephones and making telephones a necessity for the nation`s poor give us quicker notice of discovery and better locations to our dispatchers to relay to responding units–all facts that put us at and in the fire building earlier.
Another reason is the installation of early warning detectors, especially the automatic/monitored type. The fire is certainly discovered earlier than ever before. It is good that more and more civilians are warned in enough time to escape, but we generally arrive prior to flashover probabilities as the heat and reradiated heat are reciprocally building over time a condition deadly to humans. Only now, we have more of a chance to commit to the inside of the structure before it “blows.”
This fact is combined with several other factors to show that we are operating in an uncontrolled fire building envelope more now than at any other time in the history of firefighting.
Combustibility
“Things” that have a function in households and businesses such as chairs, drapes, rugs, bedding, countertops, files–just to name a few–are more combustible and burn hotter/faster than in the days of yore. They are plastic bombs. The BTU product of one pound of household functioning items could only give off 8,000 of these little devils years ago. But the same products–plastic this time–give off more than 17,000 BTUs per pound today. The additional contents get hotter faster and create the ignitable gases that are forced out of the unburned prod-ucts surrounding the fire that is so necessary for the room/ enclosure contents to flash over (re-member?).
Building Construction
Energy-efficient buildings hold the heat longer. As a matter of fact, even when we think we have “gotten” some fire compartment windows, we fail because of unknown double- and triple-pane window installations. Fire refuses to vent itself for a much longer time than ever before.
Security
Security-conscious America has begun building “safes” in which to live and do business. All membranes easily fractured by fire or firefighters are also easily fractured by unwanted intruders. Roof openings and those in the rear of stores are steel-plated and are bricked and cemented-blocked over. Skylights are removed in favor of replaced, additional, and flimsier roofing materials. LexanT (virtually unbreakable clear panels) is installed in windows and commercial interior partitions in liquor stores and other occupancies known as burglary “hits.” Wooden panels of plywood, known as HUD (Housing and Urban Development) wood paneling, are bolted into window openings of structures undergoing occupancy changes and which are momentarily vacant (pieces of junk).
Lack of Awareness of Changing Conditions
One of the drawbacks of being “wrapped” so well in space-age fire clothing is that it is becoming impossible for the firefighter to detect rapid heat changes in his environment or to detect the subtle noises that accompany local collapse occurring only rooms away from the operations area. The only things that will warn you of flashover probability in the building compartment in which you are operating is the rapid heat buildup of the impending event on the flesh on your hands, neck, and other facial skin. Not your ears. We no longer can use these warnings of impending flashover while inside a burning structure while we are wearing gloves and other fire clothing we are mandated to wear “at all times.” More ideas next time.
TOM BRENNAN has more than 35 years of fire service experience. His career spans more than 20 years with the Fire Department of New York as well as four years as chief of the Waterbury (CT) Fire Department. He was the editor of Fire Engineering for eight years and currently is a technical editor. He is co-editor of The Fire Chief`s Handbook, Fifth Edition (Fire Engineering Books, 1995). He is the recipient of the 1998 Fire Engineering Lifetime Achievement Award.
