Fire protection is the directives and precautions taken to prevent destruction caused by fire to rescue property and lives by decreasing the influences of uncontained fire (Sobel, Khan, & Swerdlow, 2002). My study details the emergency responses to this using chemical deliveries and enhanced water.
Case study 1
On a chilly November night, a firefighting company receives an urgent call from a Hotel that has just caught fire and requires an immediate response. The firefighters put on the fixed gears and set the fire extinguishers with water enhanced with the essential chemicals needed to extinguish the fire without further damage to human life and the environment.
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"Emergency Response Using Enhanced Water Deliveries with Chemical Additives".
On reaching the site, the whole area is covered with smoke, and there are desperate cries of the people trapped inside. The firefighters are dressed in the right gear to help them get into the building without being exposed to dangers of suffocation by smoke. The fighters source to establish the origin of the fire so that they can attack from the base. As they enter the premise, the team leader assigns the groups to different allocations. Some are expected to evacuate the people from the danger and others are projected to attack the fire and extinguish it (Lee & Harbison, 2003).
The electricity supply in the area has to be switched off at the main connection to avoid further explosions as the wires catch fire. The best advice is always to disconnect all electric equipment regardless of the extinguishers used. There are other types of equipment in the hotel that fuel the fire. LPG gas used for cooking and other connections like a standby generator are dangerous, and the officers disconnect them too. The parking lot at the basement has several cars, but luckily the fire started on the first floor of the building in the hotel’s kitchen. The fire experts have to address the immediate removal of the vehicles from the basement as they can be highly explosive owing to the gas they use.
Chemicals used in the process
As the officers assigned to different areas execute their duties, the ones with the fire extinguishers rush to the source of the fire. Since there are many dangers of explosives, the officers cannot use ordinary water to quench the explosion. Rather, they have to use water enhanced with chemicals to extinguish the fire without causing further damages.After mixing the chemicals are mixed with water, they tend to increase the performance of the extinguishers by 300%. A small fire extinguisher with water enhancement chemicals delivers the performance of a bigger one without the chemicals. A 6lt water additive extinguisher has the rating of a 21lt meaning more performance. They are also referred to as Hydro sprays (Meinhardt, 2005).
The chemicals make the water stickier and wetter by eliminating its natural tension which helps in soaking and adhering to the hot material more efficiently than the plain water that runs off. Soaping agents like alkyl surfactants are used as foam extinguishers that help to decrease the surface tension. Glycols are chemicals with high evaporation degrees that soak up the heat in the rooms. The water used in the rescue had a high concentration of the chemicals as this was a place with other explosives and the fire had to be completely put off (Sobel, Khan, & Swerdlow, 2002). The chemical used in the process had a high evaporation rate as the kitchen is an area used for cooking food for human and no toxic smells are supposed to emit from the area. For the well-being of the people in the area, high evaporation is highly recommended. The objects in the place also have to be protected and should not be damaged after the fire is put off. The experts have to make sure that the hazard is entirely controlled and everything is back to order.
The team also had to use individual nozzle sprayers that are recommended with the water additives as they distribute the water in a more actual way and arc by atomizing the water more than the standard nozzles. Most of the chemicals used are powders which are converted to liquids as they mix with the water. The water additives have to be biodegradable and non-toxic according to DIN EN ISO 9888 and should have no adverse effect on the skin and eyes according to OECD 405 European Standards (Meinhardt, 2005). ORCHIDEE EFX is the chemical used in kitchen fires and is a wet chemical which has no toxic effects.
Most of these products are premixes which are ready to use and comes with guidelines on the mixing proportions for quality performance. They are always eco-friendly as they are mostly applied to areas of human occupation. Their high qualities allow low concentration to get desired returns. As a fire protector, one should always take the necessary precautions on the products to be used depending on the type of light and the area (Lee & Harbison, 2003). Lack of expertise or general knowledge of the chemical compositions used reduces the effectiveness of the product in extinguishing the fire. The correct ratio has to be used to enable the performance.
After the situation is curbed, all the people are assembled at the fire point assembly, and a head count is done to establish if all are safe. There has to be a standby ambulance in case of any casualties from the accident. The manager of the hotel has to confirm if all the crew is safe while the fire protection department also accounts for the members who were on board. The damage is to be assessed later. It is every Fire protecting officer’s duty to rescue and protect the public from the dangers of uncontrolled fire by adequately responding to the emergencies. After successively responding and arresting a predicament the officers feel contented.
- Lee, R., & Harbison, R. (2003). Food as a Weapon. Food protection trends 23.8, 664-674.
- Meinhardt, P. (2005). Water and bioterrorism: preparing for the potential threat to US water supplies and public health. Annu. Rev. Public Health 26, 213-237.
- Sobel, J., Khan, A., & Swerdlow, D. (2002). Threat of a biological terrorist attack on the US food supply: the CDC perspective. The Lancet 359.9309, 874-880.
