Proper Fire Ventilation Techniques

October 17, 2010 by Leave a Comment
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Deadly fires occur for a myriad of reasons, but the most deadly aspect of fires is how the product of combustion attacks the human respiratory system. Fires greatly reduce the amount of oxygen in the air and dump carbon monoxide into the area. A lack of oxygen and breathing in carbon monoxide are both deadly to humans. The best manner to prevent death by poisoning the blood through carbon monoxide inhalation or asphyxiation through a lack of oxygen is to ventilate the fire.

Although ventilation is vital to saving lives during a fire it also carries its own risks, which means that proper steps must be take to ensure that the ventilation is performed properly otherwise the fire will spread. Ventilation is merely the act of exposing the fire to fresh air, which allows smoke and carbon monoxide to escapes but also allowed the fire to grow. Fires need oxygen to propagate, so ventilation should ideally happen only after water is to being applied to the fire. This caused the negative effects of the ventilation to be negated as the positive effects help to fight the fire.

Proper ventilations of a fire should occur at the roof. Heat and smoke rise and will accumulate the pinnacle of a structure. Opening the roof will allow the heat and smoke to escape at a rapid pace. Ideally there will already be a way to ventilate the fire in the form of skylights or scuttle holes. But if there is not other way to ventilate the fire, then cutting holes into the roof is an effective way.

Any floor were smoke has accumulated should also be ventilated. Proper fire ventilation techniques call for opening all windows and doorways on the level of the fire and above. The best way to ventilate a fire is by providing a path directly above it. Ventilating above the fire in another location can drawn the fire to areas that would otherwise remain untouched. Proper fire ventilation training is vital to creating an effective firefighting unit.

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Backdraft

October 1, 2010 by Leave a Comment
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Backdraft
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The term Backdraft was widely introduced to the general public by the 1991 action thriller of the same name. In the movie Kurt Russell and William Baldwin played Chicago firefighters that did not quite get as they fought fires, an arsonist and each other. While the movie’s main village turned out to be a firefighter who had lost his way, actual firefighters regularly deal with the dangerous real life possibility of a backdraft.

Backdrafts or smoke explosions are another deadly attribute of toxic carbon monoxide. When a fire generates carbon monoxide, it might explosively ignite with the introduction of fresh air. Smoke explosions are some of the most deadly and dangerous events that firefighters must face. Luckily, techniques have been developed to prevent smoke explosions.

Backdrafts can be avoided by ventilating above the fire. This allows the heated carbon monoxide to escape to outside air. Opening doors and windows on the floor of the fire or below the fire could trigger a smoke explosion. Top ventilation is the ideal way to combat backdraft conditions, but it also has other advantages.

Carbon monoxide has the same density as air and it is even lighter when heated. Providing an opening will drive it away from the fire. Other produces of the fire also escape through top ventilation. All the smoke and is replaced by air, which has the negative effect of providing additional oxygen for the fire. The absence of the smoke improves visibility and allows firefighters to more effectively perform their job.

Smoke is the combination of tar bubbles and particles of carbon closely gathered together. This mixture obscures vision and is an irritate to the eyes, nose and throat. Clearing the room to properly access a fire is one of the best ways to fight it. Even with additional oxygen feeding the fire, eliminating a smoke screen and backdraft conditions could save lives.

Ventilating a fire is almost as important as dowsing it with water. The proper knowledge of where and how to ventilate can prevent adding a smoke explosion to the problems of putting out the fire.

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Fires and Ventilation

September 2, 2010 by Leave a Comment
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Ever have trouble sleeping at night because the room was too stuffy, or been in an apartment that caused its inhabitants to have difficulty breathing? The problem could be that the areas were not properly ventilated. Fresh air needs to enter space to make an area livable. While the concept of ventilation is similar in firefighting, it takes far more than adding a fan or cracking a window, either of which could help fuel a fire. Ventilation in firefighting means the systematic removal of gases and heat from a structure.

All fires give off a pair of gases that can be deadly in excess. Carbon dioxide is odorless, tasteless and invisible. In small doses it is not harmful, but if it dilutes the air enough it can choke out the oxygen to the point that there is not enough in the air to sustain life. At most fires the carbon dioxide usually escapes without causing a problem. Although carbon dioxide is heavier than air, the heat from a fire causes it to become lighter than air. As a result, even with an indoor fire the carbon dioxide will attempt to escape into the atmosphere.

Carbon monoxide, the other gas created by fire, is also an invisible, odorless and tasteless gas. Unlike carbon dioxide, it is extremely dangerous. Carbon monoxide is flammable and toxic, which means that it can replace the oxygen in blood and cause death. The concentration of carbon monoxide can be reduced in open areas. But rooms with poor ventilation can be deathtraps. The vast majority of deaths caused by inhaling the products of a fire are due to carbon monoxide. Death can also occur due to a lack of oxygen. Oxygen is the lifeblood of a fire, and feeding the flames can cause the amount of oxygen in a room to drop below what is necessary to sustain life.

So in stuffy rooms or apartments the temporary discomfort of a runny nose could be an alarm to something far more sinister. A poorly ventilated room could quickly become a gas chamber in case of a fire.

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