Summary: The Evolution Of Firefighters

Matthew E. Barnes was a firefighter who could be called many things including a hero, a friend, a husband, a father and even an angel. The story begins like many 9/11 stories do, with the planes being hijacked, he was one of the men working that day in the New York City Fire Department that would go into the World Trade Center, but would never come out. The 37-year old resident of Monroe, New York was a father to three boys and the husband to Ms. Susan Barnes; he would spend all his available time with his family, somehow slipping out of chores and such just to go fishing with his boys. Two years before the 9/11 he had saved two twins, Isabella and Jacob Kalodner from a fire in their mother, Linda Kalodner’s apartment, by climbing up a 100-foot aerial ladder to the 10th story to save the 6 week old twins.

Firefighting goes all the way back to Ancient Rome. They had their own group known as the fire brigade. The first one was founded by Marcus Licinius Crassus. He was not the greatest of men, and went to burning structures and made them negotiate a price, if a price was not negotiated he would let the structure burn to the ground.

For years if not decades, firefighters have responded to a reported structure fire that turned out to be a fully involved single room. This fire scenario requires a core set of fire tactics and skills to control and extinguished the fire, but is it this simple? Perhaps twenty years it may have been, but new dangers are lurking in every scenario and may have detrimental outcomes for unsuspecting and unaware firefighters and victims. The National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) agency along with the Underwriters Laboratory (UL) have been conducting research to understand fire behavior and fire dynamics. This research is providing firefighters with new information about how and why

Many fire service personnel that have fifteen or twenty years of service have seem many things change over time. One radical change is the way fires consume structures today when compared structures years ago, these fires have be classified as modern and legacy fires. When responding to a modern construction fire versus a legacy fire, does it change how we fight these fires? Well the answer to that is simply yes! Modern construction physiognomies have greatly changed to accommodate the comfort of the homeowner, which is not firefighter friendly. In modern construction home the floor plans are larger in size to give more living space. As the living spaces grow the footprint of the residence increases as well. As the word modern leads to occupants thinking comfort, when truthfully causes disadvantageous consequences for the fire service with open geometrics, new construction materials, and also include an increased fire load. All these construction advantages only lead to faster propagation of the fire, as well decreases the amount of time for a flashover to occur. Modern construction has led to hasty changes in fire dynamics, which at the same time decreases the amount of time to escape to safety. The structural collapse time is greater since the amount of time as been lessened

For many years, the fire service has been behind the times in scientific advancements in regards to fire tactics, fire behavior, and fire equipment. Through the investigation and experiments of the National Institute of Standards and Technology over the last few years, the fire service has seen enormous strides in research that has changed the mentality of the fire service for the better in my opinion. This paper will cover a little background of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), along with how NIST has changed the fire service for the better, and is NIST good for the fire service as a whole.

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 position that the alluring pioneer has good concerns are as the firefighter in light of the fact that feeling are included. The impact of acknowledgment the magnetic pioneer the "upgrade profitability, lower mishaps, and improve work fulfillment," as indicated by DuBrin, 2013 p. g. 74.

The history of firefighting have began since the Roman Empire under the rule of Augusts. There also a evidence fire preventing started in Ancient Egypt by using machinery including water pump. In the united states, firefighting officially started on January 27, 1678 when the first fire company went into action under the captain Tomas Atkins. Thorough out the time, firefighting in The United States of America have have changed their technique and protocol and created lot of jobs. Every jobs in fire department holds different responsibilities according to the ranks.

A new national holiday I would like to honor is National Firefighter day. A national holiday is usually a day off of school and-or work. We take these days off to honor their accomplishments and impacts on society! Firefighters have been around for God knows how long and have put out more fires than you can count!!

To become a fireman, it is now required, in the state of Florida to complete an almost year long course on Emergency Medical Technician training. The course requirements include CPR certification and at least a couple hundred hours of work at a hospital. EMT is a basic course in medical training. This course is a good tool for what a firefighter can expect in the future on a fire truck. Typically, fire trucks are the first of the emergency team to arrive at a scene. If firefighters are the first to arrive, they should be expected to know everything possible. If they arrive at a car accident and the paramedics are not available for a few minutes, a fireman can act as a paramedic until help arrives. Although EMT is a single course, a class such as biology can aid in the study of the human body. Not only will it help with passing the EMT course, it will enrich one’s knowledge about the human body. Just as biology helps with completing the EMT course, physics and chemistry also reinforce the process. Completion of a fire science course and a hazardous materials course are needed for the fire academy. While in college, one can take physics or chemistry. Physics can help with the study of how buildings are made and what makes a weak building collapse. Structural fires are every firefighter’s worst nightmare. A building can collapse within seconds. If an individual knows what structures are unsafe or unstable, it can assist in knowing whether to enter the building or not. Also, while inside the building, one can determine what the best route to take is while carrying someone through the building based on how the structure looks. Chemistry also plays a crucial role in how fire lives. In today’s society, according to Joy Masoff, “one of the toughest problems facing firefighters is massive chemical fires that release deadly poisons into the air” (43). Chemistry studies

In training to be a firefighter, you learn many different but helpful facts. Mattress and bedding fires are the second most common type of fire out there. These types of fires then lead to houses fires. House fires are just one of the many types of fires they have to put out. Other common problems that firefighters have to deal with are: airplane crashes, assisting in childbirth, dealing with bomb threats, having to clean up gas leaks, and putting out car fires and brush fires (Pitts Interview 9/20/05). In training, you also learn how to climb and help people on the ladder. Standing on the ladder is very dangerous. The ladder's that the firefighters use can go stories high so falling off would

Much like all events and natural phenomena that pose a threat to civilization, humans have learned to cope with and prevent the loss of human life and destruction of property in devastating blazes that can break out seemingly at random. Fighting fires was not always the science it is today, but due to the use of new technologies and the fundamental understanding of what fire is, how it spreads, how it can kill, and how it is stopped, our protocol when dealing with fires has increased our success rate and continues to grow with applications of engineering, chemistry, and meteorology.

     Ventilation is one of the first things that a firefighter will do when dealing with a structure fire. It is the beginning step to try and control a fire. There are four different kinds of ventilation, vertical, horizontal, natural and forced. Depending on the situation firefighters determine which way they are going to approach the structure fire. Planning the ventilation process is very important when dealing with safety, to the best of my knowledge. Something can and may go wrong if ventilation is not planned and coordinated correctly.

Fig. (2-8) shows the situation of early stage when a fire occurs in an adjacent floor to an atrium. The fire floor has two vertical vents (WA and WB) open to outside and the atrium respectively. The ceiling of the atrium is open, and it is supposed that the isolation between the atrium and the other floors is ideal.

In 1970’s a person home will be engulfed in flames in 17 minutes, today, three minutes, what changed? In the 1970’s homes were almost made to prevent the spread of fire. The National Fire Protection Association or NFPA were making stronger codes and stricter standers for homes. Today they are still in effect, but a fire in today’s home can spread five times quicker. The reason why today’s home catches on fire quicker is how the house is made of, the house layout, the furniture in the home, and how to prevent such a fire.