3D Firefighting Tactics
I've heard of 3D firefighting tactics before, but an article from Ivanhoe Broadcast News reminded me of it.
GRESHAM, Ore. (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- Every year dozens of firefighters in the United States die fighting fires. Explosions, back drafts and flashover fires can trap them inside buildings. Now, a new method of firefighting aims to change that.Engulfed and devoured by flames, within seconds an inferno could surround and overcome even the best firefighters. Edward Hartin is one of the first people in the United States to teach 3-D firefighting -- a method that looks not only at flames, but also the flammable gasses they create.
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Hartin's firefighters still use a powerful stream of water once they get to the flames, but first, they shoot short bursts of water, creating a fog. "You're providing a buffer zone, in essence, between the firefighters and the fire," Hartin says. Without that buffer zone the gasses can ignite.
The main criticism of this tactic is that it creates steam that could burn firefighters and could push the smoke down obscuring what the firefighter can see.
However, on the second page of this article, they list some impressive results of implementing this tactic:
In Sweden, the number of firefighter deaths was cut in half from 1986 to 2005. The United Kingdom adopted the 3-D firefighting approach in 1997 with even more impressive results. Britain lost 12 men to extreme fire behavior from 1990 to 1996, but from 1997 to 2003, they didn't lose any. France has since made the 3-D technique its official training methodology.
Firetactics.com has tons of info on this technique.
