Fire and Combustion - Assignment Example

Fire and Combustion Section A Qn1. Fire professionals Fire fighter A fire fighter1 also known as fireman is the person responsible in putting out destructive fires. His job also includes2 controlling and extinguishing fires, maintains fire equipment, protects property and life either as an employee or a volunteer of an industrial plant, township or a city. He responds to emergency calls and other fire alarms and updates the rest of the team in a fire rescue industry. Selects hose nozzle in reference to fire type and directs chemicals or water stream onto fire. Positions ladder and climbs in upper part of tall building to gain access and help out persons held hostages within a burning structures. Create openings within burning houses to pave way for ventilation using power equipments, core cutter, electric saw, crowbar, chisel, or using axe. Protects property from smoke and water either deodorants, smoke ejectors and waterproof salvage covers. Keeps authorities in his department updated during fire through frequent communication by use of a two-way radio. Offers artificial respiration and first aid to those injured during fire and fire rescue process. Inspects to find out whether building complies with fire prevention ordinances. He carries out duties assigned to him in maintaining hydrants, grounds, equipment, buildings, quarters and apparatus. Participates in firefighting techniques, pump maintenance and operations, courses, drills and demonstrations in hydraulics. He may also fill or refill fire extinguishers in industrial plants or institutions. He is at liberty to issue forms to owners of the buildings listing where they need to correct in regards to fire violation policies. He may also operate and drive firefighting equipment and vehicles. He can also be assigned duties in fire department within marine region and designed the firefighting responsibility. Some fire fighters are medical professional who respond to medical emergencies of casualties upon rescue. Fire fighter has the mandate of ensuring the community gets informed regarding fires and fire prevention and control through providing community fire and fire safety education. Fire fighter should also be equipped as a driver and as such they can drive emergency trucks and vehicles. Fire captain Fire captain is a professional in a fire industry mandated with participation and responsibility for maintenance of skill in different department operations and skill development, administration and services in order to ensure the department standards and requirements are met3. Therefore, he3: Assist in maintenance and cleaning of rescue/ fire facilities and equipment after incidents on fire emergencies Is a key person in making sure that the fire and rescue site’s is properly maintained as well as related equipments and fire water systems. Ensures that support personnel in the emergency section do comply with departmental regulations, rules, procedures and policies He is mandated with accurate report preparations and records maintenance that are related to assigned duties as required. Fire engineer Fire engineering is the practice of scientifically applying expert judgment, rules and engineering principle in accordance to how fire behaves and impacts on environment in general and people behavior reaction to fire, so as to protect environment, property and people from the consequences of destructors fires4. Fire engineering is carried by a trained and educated fire engineer who understands4: The mechanism, characteristics and nature of the fire The associated fire combustion materials, how the fire can spread and be controlled Understand modes in which fires originate, spread outside the structures or building and within Ways in which fires can be extinguished, controlled and/ or detected Has the capacity to anticipate process, apparatus, machines, structures and materials in reference to environment, property and life protection from fires. The integration and interaction of all systems involved in fire safety as well as all other system within a structure or building, similar facilities and industrial structures and hence able to use his knowledge to carry any practice regarding fire safety to undertake responsibilities gathered during fire engineering training. Drivers Drivers in any fire and rescue company are entitled to drive the emergency trucks and other vehicles within the facility2. They ought to have a fine knowledge and experience in driving as well as mechanical skills to be able to understands and check out when vehicle seem or is developing mechanical related problems. They should ensure that the vehicle is ready for use all the time and is in good condition. They should understand how to operate firefighting vehicles as compared to ordinary automotives. They should keep and provide records of vehicle usage to the authorities all the time and ensure it is in accordance with driving laws and regulation of the country. However, the driver position in most small and medium position is carried by the fire fighters in most cases2. Human resource The human resource (HR) is key personnel in the fire safety companies5. He is mandated with5: Organizing department personnel, sets out training and return-to-work programs so as to boost morale of the employee, improve regulatory and legal compliance, share technology and tools, influence managers and change behavior of the employees. Engineering, design, planning or operations so that safety risks as much as possible are designed as per the proposed equipment changes, plant or process or given considerations during the expansion or acquisition plans. Corporate social sustainability or responsibility to ensure that health and safety measures are pieced into the sustainability program’s of the organization. Environmental protection on storing and handling regulatory compliance, training, indoor-air-quality issues and hazardous materials. Fire /security alarm technician This is very important personnel in the fire and safety organization. He plays the mandate of6: Commissioning, maintaining and servicing fire alarms and advices accordingly in reference to better and faulty alarm and alarm system. Carries out security, investigations, and keeps records and reports ultimately Ensures fire prevention Legislative compliance Equipment compliance Fire plans and control. understands locations for emergency exist, fire alarms, fire-fighting equipment and telephones Understands any vulnerable area in area of duty. Understands fire regulations Understands institutional contacts and how they can be immediately reached to ensure efficient, effective and timely service delivery on fire rescue. The different professional personnel in any fire and rescue organization aim at ensuring the lives of people, infrastructures and the environment is safeguarded from fires havoc through a coordinated manner of handling fire, control and prevention246. Qn2. Fire statistics Keeping data in any discipline is vital. Statistics is the cornerstone in keeping performance. Like any other field; fire statistics is important because it enables fire and rescue organization to carry out evaluation of fires and response in the area they are located as well as the nation as a whole. It helps in proper disaster preparedness, evaluation of the company’s capability and adequacy to handle fires. Statistics provides future data reference for comparison and future plans in case the same fire disaster arises. It helps in understanding the groups, personnel and other association who need to be put forth to ensure collaborative fire fighting techniques. It helps the monitoring and evaluation team come up with the best mitigation measures toward different and commonest fires in the area. It helps understand other hazards that need to be curbed in line with fire control and prevention in a given area. It helps understand the efficient and effectiveness of fire and rescue organization in the area. It helps come up with the commonest causes of fires and lay prevention measures. It helps understand the capability of fire brigade personnel and the need for refresher courses or the need to increase manpower, equipment and departmental sections. It helps come up with a financial plan for an organization and the nation at large. It helps alert and educate the community on the need to keep watch on the fire risk areas, prevention and control to prevent large number of property and lives loss as well as environmental damage. Mostly, the government is reluctant to issues related to fire and fire consequences. The fire department assists in advising the government using the compiled stats on the need to look into fire issues financially and human resource9. a) Non-fire fatalities and fire fatalities casualties9 The following comparison of 2002 and 2012 in this study is carried in reference to England survey. In 2011-2012 in England total non-fatal casualties due to fires were 4,277 which were 54% (9,242) lower compared to 2001-2002. In 2011-2xxx012 in England total provisional accidental dwelling fires fatalities number was 187 which was 40% (310) lower compared to 2001-2002. In 2011-2012 in England total provisional fire fatalities number was 304 which was 34% (458) lower compared to 2001-2002. Table 1 summary 2011-12(P) Change 2001-2002 t0 2011-2012(p) Non-fatal fire casualties 4,277 -54% Accidental dwelling fire fatalities 187 -40% Fire fatalities 304 -34% (p)Provisional b) Non-fire, false alarms and fires incidents9 In England 2011-2012 fire and rescue authorities attended 133,000 total non-fire incidents which was 24% less compared to 2001-2002. Of these incidents majority in 2011-2012 were as a result of medical incidents (12,000), flooding (12,000), lift releases (14,000), effecting entry (15,000) and road traffic collisions (28,000). In England 2011-2012 fire and rescue authorities attended 249,000 total false fire alarms which were 37% less compared to 2001-2002. In England 2011-2012 fire and rescue authorities attended 223,000 total fires which was 48% less compared to 2001-2002. Table 2: Summary attended incidents in England 2011-123 Change 2001-2002 to 2011-2012 Non-fire incidents2 133,000 -19% Fire false alarms 249,000 -37% Fires 223,000 -48% Total attended incidents 606,000 -39% 2includes false alarms whose service was not of importance. 3 figures are rounded and hence information given is an approximate of the exact figures. The decrease in figures of casualties over the years is a good indicator of successful fire prevention and safety activity by the fire and rescue agencies10. Qn3. Fire mechanism For fire to burn there should be existences of four things7: sufficient oxygen that can support burning, adequate heat to ensure the ignition point of the material is reached, material that can burn and presence of fire. These three factors fuel, heat and oxygen form fire triangle. Exothermic chemical reaction does form the fourth factor required for ignition to be successful. Therefore, any fire extinguisher works on the principle of eliminating one or more fire elements with aim of separating the ignition and fuel source. Fire extinguishers exist in two types globally: the cartridge-operated and stored pressure. Different extinguishing agents exist depending on different classes of fire. In UK different fire classes are categorized in alphabetical letters. Class A involves fires that arise from wood and paper, class B fires includes those arise from combustible liquids such as oil, grease or petrol, class C involves flammable gases fires, class D includes combustible metals Class E are the fires caused by electrical appliances and class F includes fires arising from oil and cooking fat8. i. Carbon dioxide extinguishers CO2 extinguishers8; works on the principle of cutting off O2 which supports combustion and heat removal from the combustion material. Due to pressure from nozzle CO2 can spread light materials such as papers hence discontinuing burning process. ii. Water additives and wet chemical extinguishers Water additives and wet chemical extinguishers8 are used in putting off fires by forming a blanket of soapy foam on the surfaces of burning cooking fats and oil. They also cool the oils to lower temperatures compared to their ignition temperatures. iii. Dry chemical extinguishers Dry chemical extinguishers8 they are desirable for most classes of fires. They put out the fire by forming non-flammable material covering the burning and extinguished site hence preventing fire spread and reignition. Examples of these extinguishers include potassium or sodium bicarbonate. iv. Water extinguishers Water extinguishers8 are referred for fires in class A. the main aim of using water extinguishers is to reduce heat below ignition point unto the burning materials and bring about cooling hence put out the fires. Water should not be used to put out electrical fires or any fire originating from electrical appliances because water is a good conductor of electricity. Therefore water can spread out during fire fighting and give electrical shock to the persons exposed causing more damage9. References 1. Firefighter http://www.thefreedictionary.com/firefighter 2. Mdguidelines Occupational Information For Fire Fighter (Any Industry) http://www.mdguidelines.com/fire-fighter-any-industry 3. Fire Captain Industrial Sector http://www.workopolis.com/jobsearch/job/fire-captain-industrial-sector/express-employment-professionals-sarnia-jobs/14848006 4. About Fire Engineer http://www.ife.org.uk/about/about/fireengineering 5. Employer Handbook https://www.asse.org/docs/Employer_Handbook_version_5_6.pdf 6. British Columbia Institute Of Technology http://www.bcit.ca/files/pdf/policies/7100_pr3.pdf 7. http://www.uregina.ca/hr/hse/assets/docs/pdf/Emergency-Management/The-ABCs-of-Fire-Extinguishers.pdf 8. Know Your Fire Extinguishers http://safety.eas.ualberta.ca/node/15 9. http://www.cspe.com/SafetyCenter/Articles/SafetyCenter-FireExtUseElecFire03.2012.pdf 10. Fire Statistics In England 2011/2012 and 2001/2002 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/6959/2172323.pdf 11. Hill, J,W & Petrucci, R, H, (2001)General Chemistry: An Integrated Approach (3rd edition), Prentice Hall. Read More

Fire captain Fire captain is a professional in a fire industry mandated with participation and responsibility for maintenance of skill in different department operations and skill development, administration and services in order to ensure the department standards and requirements are met3. Therefore, he3: Assist in maintenance and cleaning of rescue/ fire facilities and equipment after incidents on fire emergencies Is a key person in making sure that the fire and rescue site’s is properly maintained as well as related equipments and fire water systems.

Ensures that support personnel in the emergency section do comply with departmental regulations, rules, procedures and policies He is mandated with accurate report preparations and records maintenance that are related to assigned duties as required. Fire engineer Fire engineering is the practice of scientifically applying expert judgment, rules and engineering principle in accordance to how fire behaves and impacts on environment in general and people behavior reaction to fire, so as to protect environment, property and people from the consequences of destructors fires4.

Fire engineering is carried by a trained and educated fire engineer who understands4: The mechanism, characteristics and nature of the fire The associated fire combustion materials, how the fire can spread and be controlled Understand modes in which fires originate, spread outside the structures or building and within Ways in which fires can be extinguished, controlled and/ or detected Has the capacity to anticipate process, apparatus, machines, structures and materials in reference to environment, property and life protection from fires.

The integration and interaction of all systems involved in fire safety as well as all other system within a structure or building, similar facilities and industrial structures and hence able to use his knowledge to carry any practice regarding fire safety to undertake responsibilities gathered during fire engineering training. Drivers Drivers in any fire and rescue company are entitled to drive the emergency trucks and other vehicles within the facility2. They ought to have a fine knowledge and experience in driving as well as mechanical skills to be able to understands and check out when vehicle seem or is developing mechanical related problems.

They should ensure that the vehicle is ready for use all the time and is in good condition. They should understand how to operate firefighting vehicles as compared to ordinary automotives. They should keep and provide records of vehicle usage to the authorities all the time and ensure it is in accordance with driving laws and regulation of the country. However, the driver position in most small and medium position is carried by the fire fighters in most cases2. Human resource The human resource (HR) is key personnel in the fire safety companies5.

He is mandated with5: Organizing department personnel, sets out training and return-to-work programs so as to boost morale of the employee, improve regulatory and legal compliance, share technology and tools, influence managers and change behavior of the employees. Engineering, design, planning or operations so that safety risks as much as possible are designed as per the proposed equipment changes, plant or process or given considerations during the expansion or acquisition plans. Corporate social sustainability or responsibility to ensure that health and safety measures are pieced into the sustainability program’s of the organization.

Environmental protection on storing and handling regulatory compliance, training, indoor-air-quality issues and hazardous materials. Fire /security alarm technician This is very important personnel in the fire and safety organization. He plays the mandate of6: Commissioning, maintaining and servicing fire alarms and advices accordingly in reference to better and faulty alarm and alarm system. Carries out security, investigations, and keeps records and reports ultimately Ensures fire prevention Legislative compliance Equipment compliance Fire plans and control.

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