I attended a training session on Monday for firefighting training. It was organised by Learning Solutions from the university for postgrad students and staff.
It was run by the fire department people and ran for two hours. We spent the first bit talking about fire and process. Protocol (RACE - Remove/Rescue, Alert/Alarm. Contain, Extinguish), the Fire triangle (Oxygen - Heat - Fuel) before getting to watch some videos on fire. The first one was a lounge chair going up from a simulated cigarette smouldering. In less than two and a half minutes (2:28) the whole room was a massive inferno, where even the carpet was burning and the glass walls had exploded out from the intensity and gas output of the flames. We then watched how another room went up in total flames in twelve seconds, yes, that's right, twelve seconds, when a pine tree catches alight accidentally from Christmas lights. Apparently the pine trees sold in Australia are called Turpentine Pine, which, as you might know, turpentine is a solvent and highly flammable. We then watched a LPG powered car go boom, a woman ignite her car when refuelling due to static, and a fuel tanker turning into a massive mushroom cloud explosion.
The next section we were told about the fire extinguishers and types of fire classification. A, B, C, D, E, F.
A - Flammable Solids
B - Flammable Liquids
C - Gasses
D - Metals
E - Electrical
F - Fats/Oils
There were also four main types of extinguishers commonly found. All extinguishers of these types have a red body, with different stripes.
Water - Red stripe (thus all red) (A fires only)
Carbon Dioxide - Black stripe (A, B, E, D, F)
Foam - Blue stripe (B)
Dry Chemical Powder (DCP) - White stripe (most)
Another type that might be found is HCF but this is very rare and only for specialised circumstances and these are yellow containers, most commonly found on airplanes because the HCF will extinguish fire for almost all circumstances very quickly with little volume required. The reason why they are rare however is because they are illegal in any other situations being flurocarbons (i.e. ozone destroying CFC's).
Once that was over, finished off by going outside to look at them being used, and also how to use a fire blanket (woven fibreglass).
It was a pretty informative session I guess, though we didn't see the DCP being used since it was too windy. I got back to my department and looked in the hallway, and we have one of each in the hall. The closest one to my lab is a CO2, then a H2O, then the DCP is all the way down the end of the hall next to the bathroom. They are 5kg containers and not the 1 or 9kg containers that the firefighter guy had to show us with. Apparently the 9kg will give you a sustained blast of compound for approximately 18-20 seconds, and the 1kg container will only give you about 5 seconds worth, enough for a small fire and thats pretty much it. The 18-20 is reasonable sized but definitely not for anything more than putting something small out and ensuring nothing flares back up. I guess it's more important to use it to get out of there than to try and fight big fires but rather quell something to enable your escape.
Now after that, I'm fairly confident I can take on a small fire if needs be.
It was run by the fire department people and ran for two hours. We spent the first bit talking about fire and process. Protocol (RACE - Remove/Rescue, Alert/Alarm. Contain, Extinguish), the Fire triangle (Oxygen - Heat - Fuel) before getting to watch some videos on fire. The first one was a lounge chair going up from a simulated cigarette smouldering. In less than two and a half minutes (2:28) the whole room was a massive inferno, where even the carpet was burning and the glass walls had exploded out from the intensity and gas output of the flames. We then watched how another room went up in total flames in twelve seconds, yes, that's right, twelve seconds, when a pine tree catches alight accidentally from Christmas lights. Apparently the pine trees sold in Australia are called Turpentine Pine, which, as you might know, turpentine is a solvent and highly flammable. We then watched a LPG powered car go boom, a woman ignite her car when refuelling due to static, and a fuel tanker turning into a massive mushroom cloud explosion.
The next section we were told about the fire extinguishers and types of fire classification. A, B, C, D, E, F.
A - Flammable Solids
B - Flammable Liquids
C - Gasses
D - Metals
E - Electrical
F - Fats/Oils
There were also four main types of extinguishers commonly found. All extinguishers of these types have a red body, with different stripes.
Water - Red stripe (thus all red) (A fires only)
Carbon Dioxide - Black stripe (A, B, E, D, F)
Foam - Blue stripe (B)
Dry Chemical Powder (DCP) - White stripe (most)
Another type that might be found is HCF but this is very rare and only for specialised circumstances and these are yellow containers, most commonly found on airplanes because the HCF will extinguish fire for almost all circumstances very quickly with little volume required. The reason why they are rare however is because they are illegal in any other situations being flurocarbons (i.e. ozone destroying CFC's).
Once that was over, finished off by going outside to look at them being used, and also how to use a fire blanket (woven fibreglass).
It was a pretty informative session I guess, though we didn't see the DCP being used since it was too windy. I got back to my department and looked in the hallway, and we have one of each in the hall. The closest one to my lab is a CO2, then a H2O, then the DCP is all the way down the end of the hall next to the bathroom. They are 5kg containers and not the 1 or 9kg containers that the firefighter guy had to show us with. Apparently the 9kg will give you a sustained blast of compound for approximately 18-20 seconds, and the 1kg container will only give you about 5 seconds worth, enough for a small fire and thats pretty much it. The 18-20 is reasonable sized but definitely not for anything more than putting something small out and ensuring nothing flares back up. I guess it's more important to use it to get out of there than to try and fight big fires but rather quell something to enable your escape.
Now after that, I'm fairly confident I can take on a small fire if needs be.
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