Fire Fighting - An introduction to Fire Fighting and Fire Protection

Introduction to Fire Fighting and Fire Protection

 The historical backdrop of Firefighting traces all the way back to Ancient Rome, while it was under the rule of Caesar Augustus. Before that time, there is a proof of putting out fires apparatus that was utilized in Ancient Egypt. One of these machines is the water pump that was developed by Ctesibius in the third century BC.

                    Any building structure that is being constructed or already has been constructed, will comprise of many building services such as Water supply, electricity, drainage services, heating ventilation and air conditioning services, LPG services, Fire fighting and Fire Protection services etc. Among all the services the most important service that is at highest priority, which leads to saving your life is Fire fighting and Fire protection services.

                From day to day, we observe in many news channels that there is a massive fire caught in this building. Fire protection services that have been installed at the time of building construction will come handy in these scenarios when there is a Fire in a building.

                Fire Fighting guys will reach when they get the news about the fire in the building, but Fire protection services will be the first Tool to help the building tenants to fight and save their lives from such fire incidents.

                There are many types of fire protection equipments and systems available. We will discuss regarding all these systems in our future posts. This is just an overview, so that you get an idea on what all topics might be there in fire protection services. 

                The most basic type of fire fighting equipment that we can see almost everywhere is Fire extinguishers. They come in variety of sizes and materials. For example, Co2 extinguishers, foam extinguishers, water additive etc. These can put out small fires. And these are operated manually. We can see in every building, on every floor there will be a fire extinguisher. Fire extinguishers should never be utilized to open a door or break a lock. It should be mounted on the wall and to be checked by an assistant specialist occasionally. While purchasing a new fire extinguisher, it is always wise, you pick one that can successfully put out the fire in your home or the office.

                Water plays a very important role in fire protection. Most of the automatic fire protection services utilize water as the primary source for Fire fighting. Automatic sprinklers will be installed on every floor of the building. When certain threshold of temperature is reached, the bulb in the sprinkler breaks and water is splashed on the fire.

                 Other than water, there is foam systems. Instead of water, this system utilizes the foam as fire suppressing agent. There is also Mist Spray system. 

                A Fire bucket is the most basic and simple fire fighting gear. The fire bucket usually has 'Fire' written boldly on it. This Fire bucket is usually made up of plastic or some metal. This bucket can be filled with some flame extinguishing powder or water. To utilize the bucket, just dump the substance of the bucket into the fire and repeat the same cycle over and again, until the fire is put out.

                There is also Fire blanket, which is used widely in kitchens at homes and small pantries in offices. These fire blankets are utilized to cover little fires that begin at home or work environment. White kitchen blankets are ideally suited for a procession or little kitchens. A huge studio or a warehouse should have a huge fire blanket of size 1.2 metre x 1.2 metre in case of an emergency. Assuming you work in a spot that stores combustible fluids, you will require a considerably bigger fire blanket of size 1.8 metre x 1.75 metre.

                Regardless of whether you live in a normal size condo or a house, you genuinely should have fire safety equipment with you. You can't precisely tell when a fire will occur. Having a Fire extinguisher, fire bucket or a fire blanket could save your life in case of a crisis. 

                Remember that, things like fire dry risers, fire hose etc can only be operated by trained fire fighters. 

            Fires are classified into five particular classes, in light of the idea of the fuel that is supporting the fire. This technique for classifying makes it simple to decide the best putting out fires strategy and the right fire fighting gear to utilize. The Five fire classes are Class A, Class B, Class C, Class D and Class E.

            Class A fires are the most well known sorts of fire. They happen when burnable materials become warmed to their ignition point. This sort of fire is supported by three components, oxygen, hotness and fuel. Materials associated with this kind of fire are wood, paper, plastic, textiles and other inorganic based mixtures. Class A flames are not difficult to quench. Splashing it with foam or water will cool the fire, and decrease heat supply that ignites the fire. Water based extinguishers are the most suitable gear for extinguishing Class A flames.

            Any Liquid that has an ignition temperature that is lesser than 100 degree Celsius are named combustible fluids. A few normal instances of combustible fluids are liquor, paints, petroleum, and solvents. The best way to deal with suppressing a Class B fire is to utilize a foam extinguisher to extinguish the fire. Utilizing water to cover this sort of fire will make the fire spread and cause more harm.

            Combustible gases like oil gases, butane and propane can make a genuine blast whenever set off by an open fire or a flash. Fires including combustible gases are hard to put out. Prior to endeavoring to smother a Class C fire, you ought to guarantee that the gas source is detached. Water and foam fire-extinguishers are not successful against Class C flames. Dry powder extinguishers are compelling against this sort of flames.

              A few metals can consume interminably when touched off. Although a great deal of hotness is expected to touch off most metals as they are amazing conduits of hotness. Alkali metals like sodium, potassium, aluminum, and magnesium can consume when they interact with water and oxygen.The most secure method for addressing this fire is to permit it to wear itself out. Class D flames produce a ton of debris that ultimately develops and keeps the fire from oxygen.

                Broken equipment, short circuits, harmed wiring, and over-burden switchboards can cause electrical flames. Since water is a decent transmitter of power, it should not be utilized to extinguish electrical flames. Dry powder and Co2 extinguishers are the main kinds of fire extinguishers that can successfully handle electrical flames.