Study of the Fidelity and Safety of the Fire Service Training Environement
Publication or External Link
Date
Authors
Advisor
Citation
DRUM DOI
Abstract
Recent firefighter line of duty deaths as a result of rapid fire progression have
highlighted that there is a deficiency in firefighters’ understanding of the fire dynamics
created by modern, synthetic fuels on the fireground, and how their tactics
may influence these conditions. In particular, the rapid growth of these modern
fires, their response to ventilation, and their propensity to become underventilated
have changed when compared to their legacy counterparts. Among the reasons for
this gap in understanding is the way in which firefighters conduct live fire training.
Typical fuels used for firefighter training, such as pallets and straw, are more typical
of legacy fuels than modern, synthetic fuels, however. Recognizing this, many
instructors have begun to introduce synthetic materials into live fire training, in an
effort to make the training feel more realistic. While these fuels may exhibit fire
behavior more representative of a room and contents fire with modern furnishings,
they also create the potential for hazardous conditions for firefighters. A series of
eight experiments was conducted in a concrete fire training building. Two training
fuel packages were considered. The first consisted of wooden pallets and straw, a
common fire training fuel. The second introduced oriented strand board (OSB) to
the pallets and straw fuel package. Both of these training fuels were compared to a
room with furnishings similar to those that may be found in a residential home. The
results indicated that pallets and straw fail to replicate the high radiant heat flux,
underventilated conditions, and rapid response to additional ventilation that was
noted in the furnished room fire. Further, since the concrete training building had
several built-in ventilation points, and additional ventilation resulted in no increase
in thermal conditions, the pallets and straw training fires could be considered fuel
limited. In the OSB experiments, on the other hand, a limited growth secondary to
ventilation was observed. Thus, the OSB fires represent a more realistic simulation
of a furnished room fire than the pallets and straw. In addition to increased fidelity,
the OSB training fires exhibited more severe thermal conditions, which would pose a
greater hazard to students and instructors than in the pallets and straw evolutions.
Thus, if fire instructors should elect to include synthetic materials, such as OSB,
into live fire training evolutions, additional precautions must be taken to ensure that
participants are not exposed to excessive thermal conditions. Likewise, if instructors
choose pallets and straw as a training fuel because of the increased margin of
safety, special emphasis must be placed on the difference in fire behavior between
the training fuel and the modern, synthetic fuels that would be encountered on the
fireground.