What is flow path in a fire?
The flow-path is the route that air/oxygen takes when it heads in to feed the fire and the route that fire, smoke or heat heads for, to leave the building.
Why is flow path important?
Operations conducted in the flow path can place firefighters at significant risk due to the increased flow of fire, heat and smoke toward their position.” It is essential for all firefighters to understand why flames and hot smoke move and behave the way they do.
What happens when you interrupt the fire flow path by limiting or controlling the inlet or outlet?
Interrupting the flow path — disrupting the flow of the fire within the burning structure — involves tactics that are innovative and sometimes counterintuitive, but our research shows that these methods can reduce heat within the structure, minimize the potential for flashover and greatly enhance the survivability of …
What is fire flow requirement?
A Required Fire Flow (RFF) is the rate of water flow, at a residual pressure of 150 kPa and for a specified duration that is necessary to control a major fire in a specific structure or grouping of structures utilizing manual fire fighting measures in conjunction with built-in safety features of buildings.
Why is fire dynamics important?
Fire dynamics can provide a fire officer or a firefighter with means to understand how a fire will grow and spread within a structure and how best to control that growth. In addition, firefighter protective equipment has also changed over the years.
How is a flow path created?
You can create a flow path for a catchment that is based on the surface elevations and a manually selected hydraulically most distant point. To create a flow path, you specify an upstream hydraulically most distant point and the same algorithm that is used in the Water Drop command is used to create a flow path.
What direction do heat smoke fire or air move in a uni directional flow path?
A unidirectional flow is a flow of smoke, flame or air moving in a single direction across the full area of the opening, as shown in Figure 22.
Which principle is used in fire fighting?
Fire extinguishing works on the principle of cutting off the supply of oxygen to the fire and bringing down the temperature.
How do you calculate fire flow requirement?
Required fire flow (gpm) = (length x width) ÷ 3. Using the same example, an IC arrives at a burning mercantile occupancy that measures 50 feet by 75 feet and is one story tall. The IC quickly determines that the area of the structure is 3,750 square feet.
How does a fire spread along a flow path?
Fire spreads along a flow path. Flow path is the lower pressure space between an inlet for fresh air (door or window), the fire, and the higher-pressure space between the fire and the outlet for hot gases and smoke (open window or roof vent) Courtesy of NIST.
What do you need to know about fire dynamics?
Fire Dynamics is the study of how chemistry, fire science, material science and the mechanical engineering disciplines of fluid mechanics and heat transfer interact to influence fire behavior. In other words, Fire Dynamics is the study of how fires start, spread and develop. But what exactly is a fire? Defining Fire.
How does a firefighter control the flow of O 2?
By closing the door at least two-thirds of the way, you can control and reduce the flow of O 2 entering the structure. A firefighter stays at the door and opens it fully once water is applied to the seat of the fire. Another method for staying safe is to rapidly cool the fire room.
Is it dangerous to operate in the flow path?
In the past, with the traditional furnishings, operating in the flow path wasn’t as dangerous as it is today. With the incomplete combustion of today’s fuel sources, you must recognize that smoke is actually fuel. When you are operating in the flow path, you are operating in an area that is looking for the correct concentration of O 2 to ignite.