Proper use of PPE can save lives
I commend Fire Engineering for keeping readers informed on life-saving techniques for downed firefighters.
One area that should be stressed is the proper use of personal protective equipment (PPE), especially the SCBA waist strap. In most of the survival techniques, some part of the SCBA is used for victim removal. If the waist strap is unfastened, the effectiveness of using the SCBA harness to move the victim is lost. The SCBA tends to pull farther away from the downed firefighter’s body, possibly causing additional injury. The rescuer may also suffer a strain, which could lead to a second member’s going down.
The best rapid intervention team we have is ourselves. Let’s protect ourselves and not become victims. Even with the lighter-weight SCBA, loads on our shoulders will fatigue us sooner than loads on our waist. Through continued training and a progressive, positive attitude, we will keep ourselves safe. Take advantage of your PPE.
Albert C. Bassett, Jr.
Norwalk (CT) Fire Department
Inmate/firefighters are trained volunteers
This refers to Dan Noonan’s letter to the editor in the January 2000 issue. I am an inmate/firefighter with the Arizona State Prison Complex/Fire Department. Inmate/firefighters assigned to fire crews and fire departments are trained on a regular basis using IFSTA manuals and other materials, including Essentials of Fire Fighting; National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1051, Standard for Wildland Fire Fighting Professional Qualifications, 1995; and the essentials of wildland firefighting. The chiefs are Department of Corrections staff members; they handle all training and testing.
We take the same test to become state certified as our fellow firefighters and are on the same side as these firefighters.
Robert Willis
Arizona State Prison Complex
Tucson, Arizona
Y2K planning “cost effective”
With much post-Y2K debate over the expense of it all, the work of fire and emergency service providers during the months leading up to the millennium celebration must be recognized for what it really was-a cost-effective exercise in contingency planning. It effectively saved lives.
Without their organizational contingency planning and community coordination, the price could have been much higher. How can you put a price tag on having someone answer the telephone when you call for emergency services and ensuring that help can be dispatched to your home?
- If 911 centers did not have work-around plans, and if there were not enough experienced individuals who recalled the noncomputer-aided dispatch (CAD) days, emergency responses could have been greatly delayed or halted.
- If telecommunications had not remediated to be sure that our calls would get through to 911, our family members could have perished by fire or emergency medical events as we held a telephone without a dial tone.
- Without fire safety education in our communities and reminders to the public advising them not to use the telephone for nonemergency calls at midnight, the lines could have been jammed when we had critical needs.
- Extra firefighters and EMS personnel could have been celebrating with their families or could have been with them in case of power outages, terrorism, and civil unrest instead of being on duty across the country to ensure the safety and welfare of their communities.
Fire and emergency service providers did what they do everyday-prepare for the unknown. Covering all bases is nothing new to them. They accepted an unpopular challenge. There was cost involved. Some communities need help understanding the value of the investment that was made for their welfare and safety. Otherwise, the price tag could have been much higher-the cost of life.
Please help get the word out that emergency responders and their organizations, however small or large, did all this for the rest of us and kept the vigil right through the New Year transition. It was just another day, and life goes on.
Val Dyar
Fire Technical Specialist
IOCAD Emergency Services Group
Emmitsburg, Maryland
High-pressure backdraft
Reference is made to “Firefighting and the High Pressure Backdraft,” by Brian M. White (Fire Engineering, January 2000). I am impressed with White’s research; however, I, respectfully, question his conclusions. I wonder if the phenomenon he so ably describes is less a function of building leakage and more a function of the fire room’s being exposed to an oxygen-enriched environment. I refer to the Fire Protection Handbook (FPH), 14th edition, page 5-40. An oxygen-enriched atmosphere is defined as any atmosphere in which the concentration of oxygen exceeds 21 percent by volume or the partial pressure of oxygen exceeds 160 millimeters of mercury or both.
It is my hypothesis that a fire room exposed to windy conditions has an internal increase of pressure. These pressures build up and, as a result of a greater oxygen concentration, actually change the combustibility characteristics of the fire load (see page 5-41 FPH, 14th ed.). I would postulate that rather than a high-pressure backdraft, we actually have an accelerated flashover event. As a consequence of this accelerated flashover in a confined space, there is an instantaneous increase in fire pressure. This rapid increase forces gases and heat throughout the structure.
While I would find it extremely difficult to prove my theory conclusively, I am looking for ways that could adequately demonstrate its possibilities.
Patrick T. Reynolds
Lieutenant (Ret.)
Fire Department of New York
Assistant Professor
University of Cincinnati/College of Applied Sciences
Cincinnati, Ohio
Brian M. White responds: I appreciate Reynolds’ comments. As I mentioned at the end of my article, I am looking for as much information concerning this area of research as possible. I feel that hearing ideas from every viewpoint will help me to better understand this phenomenon.
The idea that the fire room may be enriched with oxygen because of the pressure exerted by the wind seems quite interesting. I checked out the information referenced in his letter and found it very relevant. I feel his theory is quite sound in its foundations and is worth pursuing.
As mentioned in my paper, I believe that the “backdraft” occurs because of three factors:
- increased pressure in the building because of the sustained wind,
- lower pressure on the opposite side of the building because of the flow of the wind (Bernoulli’s Law), and
- increased pressure inside the fire apartment because of the increased temperature (PV=nRT).
It had not occurred to me that the addition of an oxygen-enriched atmosphere, because of the increased pressure caused by the wind, could accelerate or intensify the fire (temperature), thereby increasing the pressure inside the fire apartment even more. I do believe this pressure will aid in the propulsion of the fire into unaffected regions of the buildings, but I strongly believe the propulsion is attributed mainly to the wind’s pushing into an open window combined with the low-pressure zone of the opposite side of the building.
I will keep Reynolds’ suggestions in mind during my future research work.
