Fire Fighting

Techniques and equipment used to extinguish fires and limit the damage caused by them. Fire fighting consists of removing one or more of the three elements essential to combustion fuel, heat, and oxygen or of interrupting the combustion chain reaction.

The Roman emperor Augustus is credited with instituting a corps of fire fighting vigiles ("watchmen") in 24 BC. Regulations for checking and preventing fires were developed. In the preindustrial era most cities had watchmen who sounded an alarm at signs of fire. The principal piece of fire-fighting equipment in ancient Rome and into early modern times was the bucket, passed from hand to hand to deliver water to the fire. Another important fire-fighting tool was the ax, used to remove the fuel and prevent the spread of fire as well as to make openings that would allow heat and smoke to escape a burning building. In major conflagrations long hooks with ropes were used to pull down buildings in the path of an approaching fire to create firebreaks. When explosives were available, they would be used for this same purpose. Following the Great Fire of London in 1666, fire brigades were formed by insurance companies. The government was not involved until 1865, when these brigades became London's Metropolitan Fire Brigade. The first modern standards for the operation of a fire department were not established until 1830, in Edinburgh, Scotland. These standards explained, for the first time, what was expected of a good fire department.

After a major fire in Boston in 1631, the first fire regulation in America was established. In 1648 in New Amsterdam (now New York) fire wardens were appointed, thereby establishing the beginnings of the first public fire department in North America.

Many modern fire departments spend a decreasing amount of overall activity in fighting fires. Instead, fire fighters typically respond to all kinds of emergencies. For example, in the U.S. approximately 70 percent of all emergency medical calls are handled by the fire service. The same is true in many other countries.

The enormous increase in transportation of hazardous materials or dangerous goods has resulted in intensified training for fire fighters, and their departments often provide them with chemical protective clothing and monitoring equipment.

Fire departments also prepare and equip their members to handle emergencies that result from earthquakes, plane crashes, and violent storms. In addition, fire fighters handle incidents that require extricating trapped people from fallen structures, from cave-ins, and from other situations.

Although fire fighting is largely a matter of local jurisdiction in the U.S., many countries have more centralized fire departments. Italy has a national fire service (Corpo Nazionale-Vigili del Fuoco) organized into 92 provinces, administered from 12 regional centers. In Great Britain, local fire departments are organized into county, borough, and special district departments, all under a chief inspector of fire services. In France, fire protection is administered in sectors, except in Paris, where the fire department is operated by the Sapeurs-Pompiers, a brigade of the French army, and in Marseille, where it is administered by the navy. The Japanese government administers 43 regional and 3 metropolitan fire departments. In Denmark, local governments contract for fire-fighting services with companies under supervision of the Ministry of Justice. In Germany, professional fire brigades operate in large cities; volunteer brigades serve the small towns.

In all industrial countries fire fighters undergo training, beginning with probationary fire fighters' school and continuing throughout a fire fighter's career. Great Britain has several fire training centers. In Russia, fire schools are in Moscow and Saint Petersburg; Sweden and Denmark have similar schools. In some European countries fire protection and fire fighting are among the courses included in teaching safety engineering.

International fire service and fire protection associations bring together leaders of the fire services of many nations. In Europe Comité Technique International de Prevention et d'Extinction du Feu (CTIF) has over 30 member nations, including Russia. The Organización Iberoamericana de Protección Contra Incendios (OPCI) brings together the fire service leaders of all Latin American countries. The Asia-Pacific region is served by the Asian Pacific Fire Safety Association (APAC).

Auxiliary vehicles are equipped with specialized equipment for effecting rescue, ventilating buildings, and salvage. Aerial ladders that typically extend to 30.5 m (100 ft) are carried on "hook and ladder" vehicles that also hold various kinds of tools and equipment, including heavy-duty jacks and air bags, extrication tools, oxyacetylene torches, self-contained breathing apparatus, and resuscitators. Other more basic equipment includes axes, shovels, picks, battering rams, power saws, hooks, and wrenches. Elevating platform trucks can raise fire fighters and equipment, including the water delivery system, as high as 30.5 m (100 ft). Rescue trucks carry a wide assortment of specialized emergency equipment, including the type that might be used in building collapses and cave-ins. Field communications units carry sophisticated electronic equipment for use in managing fire and emergency operations. Salvage trucks carry implements for reducing water damage, including large waterproof covers, dewatering devices, and tools for shutting off water flow from sprinkler heads. Hazardous materials response units are staffed with specially trained personnel equipped with protective clothing and monitoring devices for use at chemical spills and similar incidents.

The basic tactics of fighting a fire can be divided into the following categories: rescue operations, protection of buildings exposed to the fire, confinement of the fire, extinguishing the fire, and salvage operations. The officer in charge, usually designated as the fireground commander, surveys the area and evaluates the relative importance of these categories. The commander also estimates what additional assistance or apparatus may be needed. Rescue operations are always given priority. Fire fighter safety has assumed increasing importance. Once the fireground commander has appraised the situation, fire fighters and equipment are deployed. Pumper, ladder, and other truck companies, as well as rescue squads, are assigned to different areas of the fire, usually in accordance with the number and types of hose streams the fireground commander considers necessary to control the fire and prevent its spread.

In accordance with standard procedure for first alarms, fire companies go immediately to their assigned locations without waiting for specific orders. Special plans cover contingencies such as a fire covering a large area, a large building, or a particularly hazardous location. Usually on a first alarm one of the pumpers attacks the fire as quickly as possible, using preconnected hose lines supplied by the water tank in the truck, while larger hose lines are being attached to the hydrants. Members of the ladder and rescue companies force their way into the building, search for victims, ventilate the structure-break windows or cut holes in the roof to allow smoke and heat to escape-and perform salvage operations. Ventilating the structure helps to advance the hose lines with greater safety and ease, and also serves to safeguard persons who may still be trapped in the building.

Temperatures within a burning building may exceed 815° C (1500° F). Brightly burning fires principally generate heat, but smoldering fires also produce combustible gases that need only additional oxygen to burn with explosive force. The hazards to which fire fighters and occupants of a burning building are exposed include the breathing of superheated air, toxic smoke and gases, and oxygen-deficient air, as well as burns, injuries from jumping or falling, broken glass, falling objects, or collapsing structures. Handling a hose is difficult even before the line is charged with water under pressure. Nozzle reaction forces can amount to several hundred pounds, requiring the efforts of several people to direct a stream of water.

Various nozzles are capable of projecting solid, heavy streams of water, curtains of spray, or fog. Fire trucks carry a selection of nozzles, which are used according to the amount of heat that must be absorbed. Nozzles can apply water in the form of streams, spray, or fog at rates of flow between 57 liters (15 gal) to more than 380 liters (more than 100 gal) per minute. Straight streams of water have greater reach and penetration, but fog absorbs heat more quickly because the water droplets present a greater surface area and distribute the water more widely. Fog nozzles may be used to disperse vapors from flammable liquids, although foam is generally used to extinguish fires in flammable liquids.

A variety of chemicals may be added to water to improve its ability to extinguish fires. Wetting agents added to water can reduce its surface tension. This makes the water more penetrating and facilitates the formation of small drops necessary for rapid heat absorption. By adding foam-producing chemicals and liquids to water, a fire-blanketing foam is produced. Foam is used to extinguish fires in combustible liquids, such as oil, petroleum, and tar, and for fighting fires at airports, refineries, and petroleum distribution facilities. A chemical additive can expand the volume of foam 1000 times. This high-expansion foam-water solution is useful in fighting fires in basements and other difficult-to-reach areas because the fire can be smothered quickly with relatively little water damage.

This term refers to the methods by which fire fighters protect merchandise, household goods, and the interiors of buildings from smoke and water damage. Objects are covered with waterproof covers, and water is removed by water vacuums, mops, squeegees, water chutes, and portable pumps. Almost all fire departments carry salvage equipment in their apparatus. Fire departments in some large cities maintain special salvage companies.

Forest fires, often called wildland fires, are spread by the transfer of heat, in this case to grass, brush, shrubs, and trees. Because it is frequently difficult to extinguish a forest fire by attacking it directly, the principal effort of forest fire fighters is often directed toward controlling its spread by creating a gap, or firebreak, across which fire cannot move. Firebreaks are made, and the fire crews attempt to stop the fire by several methods: trenching, direct attack with hose streams, aerial bombing, spraying of fire-retarding chemicals, and controlled back-burning. As much as possible, advantage is taken of streams, open areas, and other natural obstacles when establishing a firebreak. Wide firebreaks may be dug with plows and bulldozers. The sides of the firebreaks are soaked with water or chemicals to slow the combustion process. Some parts of the fire may be allowed to burn themselves out. Fire-fighting crews must be alert to prevent outbreaks of fire on the unburned side of the firebreaks.

Fire-fighting crews are trained and organized to handle fires covering large areas. They establish incident command posts, commissaries, and supply depots. Two-way radios are used to control operations, and airplanes are employed to drop supplies as well as chemicals. Helicopters serve as command posts and transport fire fighters and their equipment to areas that cannot be reached quickly on the ground. Some severe wildfires have required more than 10,000 fire fighters to be engaged at the same time.

The U.S. Forest Service maintains research laboratories, which develop improved fire-fighting equipment and techniques, and a school that trains fire fighters in the latest fire-fighting techniques. International conferences on wildland fire prevention and fire fighting have been held with greater frequency in recent years.

Commercial and industrial buildings usually have some sort of internal, or private, fire-protection system installed.

A sprinkler system is an integrated system of underground and overhead piping, designed in accordance with fire protection engineering standards, and connected to one or more automatic water supplies. The system is usually activated by heat from a fire, and the sprinkler heads then discharge water over the fire area. Sprinkler systems are nearly 100 percent effective. Many sprinkler systems are supervised electrically from a central station, and alarms are transmitted to a fire department whenever the sprinklers operate or when a valve in the sprinkler system closes for any reason. If a fire-fighting unit arriving at a fire finds that the sprinkler system is not receiving sufficient water and pressure, a pumper is connected to the sprinkler system to supply additional water.

Many high-rise or other large buildings have an internal system of water mains (standpipes) connected to fire-hose stations. Trained occupants or employees of the building management operate the hoses until the fire department arrives. Fire fighters can also connect their hoses to outlets near the fire.