6 minutes for safety: Wildland/Urban Interface -- Structure Protection

Friday, August 28, 2009

6 minutes for safety: Wildland/Urban Interface -- Structure Protection

The primary consideration of any operation is to assure firefighter and public safety. It is a must to assess potential fire behavior, ingress/egress routes, nature of the threat, hazardous materials, and available water supplies before engaging in the protection of any structure.

Factors that may make an attempt to save a structure hopeless or too dangerous include:

The fire is making a sustained run and there is little or no clearance between the structure and the fuel.
The fire behavior is extreme; spot fires are numerous and the spread is outpacing containment.
Water supply will not last as long as the threat of the fire.
The fire’s intensity dictates that you leave the fire area immediately.
The structure is constructed of wood and has a wood, shake roof.
The roof of the structure is more than one-quarter involved.
There is fire inside of the structure or windows are broken and there is no way to quickly repair them.
You can’t safely remain at the structure because your escape route could become unusable.

When implementing a plan to protect structures, consider the following:

Don’t enter a burning structure unless you are trained, equipped, and authorized. Firefighter safety and survival is the number one priority.
Always stay mobile and wear all of your PPE.
Back in equipment to allow for a quick escape.
Coil a short, 1½”, charged line with fog nozzle on your engine for safety and quick knock down capability.
Don’t make long hose lays. Keep at least 100 gallons of water reserve in your tank.
Check the road system before the fire approaches. Know bridge limits, alternate access routes, and turnarounds for your vehicle and other support vehicles.
Determine if residents are home. Leave on the inside and outside lights, regardless of the time of day. Close the garage door.
Place the owner’s ladder at a corner of the home on the side with the least fire threat.
Coil and charge garden hoses.
Check and mark hazmat; e.g., LPG, pesticides, and paint storage.

More at: http://www.nifc.gov/sixminutes/dsp_sixminutes.php

No comments:

How fires get their names

Every year in California thousands of wildfires start throughout the state. In most cases, the dispatch center sending the initial resources to a wildland fire will designate a name for the fire, but the first on scene engine or fire official can also name the incident. Fires are usually named for the area in which they start – a geographical location, local landmark, street, lake, mountain, peak, etc. Quickly naming the fire provides responding fire resources with an additional locater, and allows fire officials to track and prioritize incidents by name. For example during the Southern California Fire Siege of 2003, the largest wildland fire in California history, the Cedar Fire in San Diego County, was named after the Cedar Creek Falls area where it started. The destructive Old Fire, which burned during the same time period in San Bernardino County, was named after the road along which it started - Old Waterman Canyon Road.

CAL FIRE is the largest fire department in California and the second largest fire department in the United States. CDF - CAL FIRE Firefighters answer the call more than 300,000 times a year. CAL FIRE Firefighters make up the fire department for 30 of our 58 counties in California and more than 100 local communities. We serve as the incident command during many of California’s most serious disasters. CAL FIRE Firefighters respond to many various types and forms of calls ranging from structural fires, to auto accidents, to earthquakes, to floods, to the spilling of hazardous materials, to every conceivable disaster; CAL FIRE answer's the calls. CAL FIRE is the largest fire department in California and the second largest fire department in the United States . CAL FIRE firefighters protect 33 million acres of State Responsibility Area (SRA). We have over 4,000 members within CAL FIRE and CAL FIRE is associated with the California Professional Firefighters (CPF) and the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF).

CFN - CALIFORNIA FIRE NEWS - CAL FIRE NEWS

Friday, August 28, 2009