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Wind blowing into the broken window of a room on fire can turn a "routine room and contents fire" into a floor-to-ceiling firestorm. Historically, this has led to a significant number of firefighter fatalities and injuries, particularly in high-rise buildings where the fire must be fought from the interior of the structure.
Wind-Driven Fire in a Ranch-Style House in Texas, 2009
On April 12, 2009, a fire in a one-story ranch home in Texas claimed the lives of two fire fighters. Sustained high winds occurred during the incident. The winds caused a rapid change in the dynamics of the fire after the failure of a large section of glass in the rear of the house.
Wind Driven Fire in Home, Texas, 2009. Aerial view of damage to the structure. Photo credit: Houston Fire Department.
NIST performed computer simulations of the fire using the Fire Dynamic Simulator (FDS) and Smokeview, a visualization tool, to provide insight on the fire development and thermal conditions that may have existed in the residence during the fire.
Based on the analysis of this fire incident and results from previous studies, adjusting fire fighting tactics to account for wind conditions in structural fire fighting is critical to enhancing the safety and the effectiveness of fire fighters. Previous studies demonstrated that applying water from the exterior, into the upwind side of the structure can have a significant impact on controlling the fire prior to beginning interior operations. It should be made clear that in a wind-driven fire, it is most important to use the wind to your advantage and attack the fire from the upwind side of the structure, especially if the upwind side is the burned side. Interior operations need to be aware of potentially rapidly changing conditions.
See full report, Simulation of the Dynamics of a Wind-Driven Fire in a Ranch-Style House – Texas (NIST TN 1729, January 2012.)
For more information, including simulation video, see the Wind Driven Fires page.
Self Contained Breathing Apparatus
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| Opening the door provided additional air to a smoldering living-room fire and caused the fire to increase in burning rate and flames to extend out the doorway, resulting in high temperatures and heat flows that melted a hole in the mask. Pressure sensor (brass fitting that was mounted on the face of the headform) is visible through the hole in the lens. Credit: NIST |
Fire fighters are exposed to highly variable environments including elevated temperatures and convective and radiant thermal flux, which can put a significant burden on personal protective equipment. Thermally degraded and melted self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) facepieces have been identified as a contributing factor in certain fire fighter fatalities and injuries in the United States. The SCBA facepiece lens is often considered the weakest component of a fire fighter's ensemble in high heat conditions.
NIST conducted experiments (with the support of the Chicago Fire Department, the Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Fire Administration) which demonstrated a range of realistic thermal exposures and environmental conditions that firefighters could be exposed to. The environments that caused the failures were identified in an attempt to characterize the thermal performance of SCBA facepieces.
For details, see the report, Fire Exposures of Fire Fighter Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus Facepiece Lenses (NIST TN 1724, November 2011.)
For more, see the Personal Protective Equipment page.