Fire Combustion Paper

Fire incidents that have not been taken care of earlier have been known to bring a lot of tragedy. These tragedies are like destruction of properties that are worth of millions and most importantly the loss of human life. Therefore, firefighting measures needs to be followed carefully and seriously because fires accidents are very dangerous. The national fire protection association (NFPA) is an organization that is charged with the settings of standards that involves fire protection and some other lifesaving endeavors. NFPA has played a big role in fire preventing since its foundation and some of them are outlined below. But the standard 25 is the one that will be on focus.

For as long as mankind can conceive, fire has been a remarkable tool to conquer. When controlled, it provides necessary heat, energy, and fuel for a consumer to use; however, when fire goes unattended, it has the potential to become a wholly destructive element. The more western states of America, such as Utah and Colorado, have repeatedly experienced this concept in its most devastating form: wildfires. A wildfire is generally considered to be difficult to control and fast moving, swallowing anything that lay in its path, including forest or human habitat. As human incursion reaches more remote areas in wooded mountains, wildfires pose a serious threat to high-end homes and secluded cabins. The untamed nature of these fires also allows them to creep into subdivisions and endanger more

The most common source of heat for the purpose of firefighting comes from chemical reactions. When something burns, it is the result of a chemical reaction where heat is being released. Pyrolysis is the "decomposition or transformation of a compound caused by heat."(Coleman, et al. 81)

Inhalation injury is the leading cause of death in fire victims. It is estimated that half of these deaths could have been prevented with use of a smoke detector. Often, burn victims make it out of a burning home safely. However, once they are outside, they may realize that their loved ones, pets, or valuable items are still inside the burning home. They then re-enter the burning home and are overcome with toxic smoke and fumes and become disoriented or unconscious. Inhalation injury has a significant impact on survivability of a burn patient. Deterioration in severely burned patients can occur without evidence of a smoke inhalation injury.

Within the United States there are five different types of construction. Firefighters need to know and understand each of them. Every construction type have fire resistant weaknesses, these weaknesses will result in fire spreading in the building. If firefighters understand how the fire will spread, then understand how to extinguish the fire faster and more importantly firefighters are better protected from injuries or worse. In America all buildings are associated with one of the types of construction, identified by Roman number. The building codes are, fire resistant (type I), combustible (type II), ordinary construction (type III), heavy-timber construction (type IV) and wood-frame construction (type V). It is important to remember that all buildings are not the same. Each different building construction type will burn much differently than the others do. In order to be able to size-up a building 's fire hazard, firefighters need to be able to understand a buildings contents and construction. Materials that are stored inside of the building and also materials used to construct the building will both fuel the fire. Also know that if a structure is vacant or if the contents in the building are not combustible, the main fire hazard is the building. The scale of the construction types are scaled according to the fire load of combustible material that was used for its construction. A fire resistant building is constructed with least amount of combustible materials, and a

The threat of fire in private and public premises necessitates a standard procedure of preventing and mitigating the frequency of fire. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is a non-profit organization that develops codes that provide guidelines on ways to handle fire. The establishment writes up to three hundred codes and standards that assist people in all sectors of operations. Moreover, the professional recommendations made by NFPA, act as guidelines to the legislation process. In particular, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) collaborate with the NFPA to ensure safety in the workplace. The article conducts an analysis of two codes from the NFPA and the limitations that hinder the efficient

An understanding of how fires, wildfires in particular, work was a fundamental part in learning how to fight fires properly. This understanding entailed knowing what makes a fire a fire, what could cause a fire, what hinders and aids a fire’s growth, what different types of fire there are, and the characteristics of said types. Without the basic understanding of these things, it would have made the evolution of aerial firefighting next to impossible.

Christopher Topik has been the Director of the Nature Conservancy Program which is an international organization aimed at protecting ecologically important lands. In his written testimony, Christopher advises all levels of government to work with local communities in fire preparation. He also advises the use of healthy fires during cooler and wetter months to help reduce the risk of harmful wildfires. The current emergency fire suppression funding needs to be fixed. Another approach suggested by Christopher is the expansion of Fire Learning Network programs in communities to help people learn how to live with fire and smoke. (Energy Commerce, 2017).

It can take from anywhere from seven to twelve men to put that fire out. Not risking their lives, this tank can take out a fire by itself without the help of some men. “This tank was created from airplane like material. Which, allows it to withstand a great amount of high temperature”.( Siciliano, Leon).

The law of conservation of mass states that atoms cannot be created nor destroyed during a chemical reaction. The mass of the reactants of an atom rearranges to form an equal mass of the products. An example of the law of conservation of mass in an everyday life is the combustion of a piece of paper burning. In the process of the paper burning, the paper forms into ash, water, and carbon dioxide. The mass of the paper does not destroy; instead, it transforms into another form. Assuming that the total mass of the compounds from the burning paper(products) is weighed, it still equals the mass of the paper(reactants). The purpose of this lab is to determine if the mass of the reactants will equal the mass of the products when the Acetic acid and

But that's not true at all. Firefighters sometimes start a wildfire on purpose, which is called a controlled burn. The controlled burning started in 1995 by the US Forest service. Controlled burns are wildfires that have their speed, intensity, and location of the wildfire. These wildfires are controlled by removing or adding fuel. Controlled burns happen to eliminate flammable fuels like dry leaves so a real wildfire doesn’t happen, restore the health in the ecosystem, recycle nutrients and to prepare an area for planting or new vegetation. Controlled burns don’t happen very often, which means they aren't bad for the air.If a controlled burn is hard to control or a wildfire has started, Firefighters may do something called “Back Burning”. Back burning is used to eliminate fuels for the fire in the direction it's going. For example, if a wildfire is heading north, then fire fighters will make a back burn north of that fire. When firefighters back burn, they make small fires to make it harder for the main fire to get more fuel and easier to put it out. Back burns are used in combination with controlled burns to limit an area to that controlled burn. The US Forest service decides when and how to do controlled burns by finding out what vegetation needs to and doesn’t need to be burnt,what intensity the fire has to be at, considering the history of burning in the area,determining the time of day to start the burn,and finding the quality of the moisture and the fuels in the area. Controlled burns are very safe. Very much planning goes into controlled burns, so it will be very hard to lose control, but it still happens. So controlled burns are a lot more useful than people

Large open fires threaten lives and properties worldwide. In the United States, only in 2016, over one million fires were reported which has caused 3390 civilian death and 10.6 million dollars property loss [1]. In open fires, three mechanisms have been renown for spreading of fire: (1) direct flame contact, (2) radiant and convective heat flux, and (3) firebrands. A 2008 study found that the direct flame and radiant/convective heat flux mechanism is relatively weak and ultimately incapable of initiating another fire when the distance is more than 100 feet [2]. Therefore, the first two mechanisms are conceivably less dangerous with distance. On the other hand, firebrands are capable of initiating spot fires miles away from the fire line. These flying hot particles can be either burning combustible materials (woods) or high temperature non-combustible materials (metals) depending on their origin at which they have been lofted. Given both the firebrands’ ignition capabilities at great distances as well as the diversity of the firebrands’ origins [3], the natural problem culminates around the firebrands’ potential for catastrophic destruction. The lethality of a firebrand depends on various parameters such as mass, projected area and lying distance. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct experiments and measure the above mentioned parameters. This papers addresses the measurement of the projected area (the measurand) and the uncertainty in this measurement.

There has been change throughout generations in firefighting tactics/certification, and in structures. For example, in the mid to early 1900’s, the type of wood to use during construction for one and two family-dwellings changed. Prior to the change, dwellings were built with heavy timber which absorbed more heat. When dwellings were on fire, there was more time to save property and lives. Now with today’s dwellings, the construction is lightweight wood such as cedar. Then with lightweight material and more items to combust which makes the fire grow and spread, without properly having the right flow, there can be backdraft. So with modern fire behavior now, firefighters have to somewhat tell the future. Firefighters now have to take more training

One leading cause for increasing fire activity is climate change. Over the past several hundred years, average temperatures across the globe have increased. Warming temperatures have shortened winter and spring by melting snow packs and drying out areas prematurely. They have also staved off the chilling temperatures of fall. Altogether, summer and the firefighting season is 78 days longer than it was, even in the last several decades. As a result, burnable fuels are exposed to extreme temperatures for a longer period of time. Prolonged exposure to such temperatures drives the moisture out of the fuels. Additionally, fuel moisture directly relates to fuel flammability. With high fuel moistures, fuels like trees and shrubs will have a difficult time being ignited. Not coincidentally, fires under these conditions tend to be creeping in nature and unable to rapidly devour land. However, when fuel moistures low, percentages in the teens or single digits, fire can spread very rapidly and run across the landscape. So, climate change does directly affect fire behavior and increasing fire behavior. But, that is not all. Increasing fire behavior and increasing temperatures due to climate change is a cycle. Warm temperatures enable fuel moistures decline and fires are able to take off and engulf millions of acres a year in fire. In turn, fires, more specifically large ones, emit enormous amounts of exhaust. In a study conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture, the

Fire prevention is a term being heard more and more today in America. It is starting to become a standard in today’s fire departments. Fire has the ability to keep us warm and also has the ability to make us homeless. As we grow as community and the technology changes, Fire Prevention needs to be made more of a necessity in our homes today. More homes are being built out of lighter material along with being built closer and closer together. Each can lead to extreme destruction, homes being lost, people being displaced, and even death. Why should we not protect homes and defend them against an enemy that can attack at any minute? Fire prevention needs to start in the home and then be carried onward in our lives. There are very