Ventilation-The Most Important Aspect Of Firefighting?

[x635 4,066]

I was thinking today while driving. Dangerous habit. Anyways,

Our core goal is to save lives and preserve property, while protecting ourselves while doing so.

Sure, a search team could find a missing person. A crew with a handline can extinguish the fire. A Truck company can open the door for those teams to do so. That's us serving the public.

But isn't ventilation really for us? Quickly ventilating a building can make it A LOT easier for those inside, is well duh! thing. How accesible are your saws? Do you, or will you, have a crew to complete this task ASAP?

What do you think? Do you think some IC's put this off? What is a reasonable time for ventilation for a typical two story garden style OMD?

[16fire5 693]

"Quickly ventilating a building can make it A LOT easier for those inside"

Or kill them. The statements you made were and incredible over simplification of a very complicated topic.

There is a lot of reasearch being done on the topic. Some of the findings fly in the face of what we have done all along.

I encourage everyone to take a look at the following presentaton.

http://www.ul.com/global/eng/pages/offerings/industries/buildingmaterials/fire/fireservice/ventilation/

Edited January 21, 2012 by 16fire5

[antiquefirelt 994]

One certainly could say the ventilation is one of, if not the most important aspect of fire control. Given that nearly every action we take causes some sort of ventilation or effects ventilation, we must understand how our actions affect the fire.

[TimesUp 148]

When I first got on I was told that " if it gets too hot to take a window" Well that doesn't always work too well. If you take the wrong window you can get somebody killed. Maybe yourself. Taking the wrong window can spread the fire. If your venting from the outside and start taking the wrong windows you can kill somebody inside or spread the fire vertically or horizontally. Anyway its not as simple as saying " if it gets too hot take a window. I've seen the results of what happens and what it turns into. But when done right with some coordination it can save lives and get everybody back to the firehouse sooner and safer. Go to 3min 30 sec

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZzQibzeWtY

Edited January 21, 2012 by ltrob

[firefighter-70 27]

I too have seen this up close and personal. A firefighter with another Company on the stairs behind us broke out the window behind us on the landing which brought the fire over our heads within seconds. We were attempting to get control of the door to the fire apartment when the fun started. Coordinated effort is a must to keep all firefighters safe, freelancing puts us all more at risk!

When I first got on I was told that " if it gets too hot to take a window" Well that doesn't always work too well. If you take the wrong window you can get somebody killed. Maybe yourself. Taking the wrong window can spread the fire. If your venting from the outside and start taking the wrong windows you can kill somebody inside or spread the fire vertically or horizontally. Anyway its not as simple as saying " if it gets too hot take a window. I've seen the results of what happens and what it turns into. But when done right with some coordination it can save lives and get everybody back to the firehouse sooner and safer. Go to 3min 30 sec

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZzQibzeWtY

[Guest alsfirefighter]

Timely, coordinated horizontal ventilation can be our best friend..and as said take away the first 2 words of this sentence and it can be our biggest enemy. There has been much more discussion in numerous FD venues about how vertical ventilation is falling down the priority scale. Much has to do with the improvements of our PPE, use of hoods and better GPM flows with hoselines that allows us to make better pushes. I can even attest on how many roofs I've vented with an engine company below me (crying about a little plater or sheetrock falling on them) or venting the by products of extinguishment. This was often said in those dicusssions about the time taken to vertically ventilate often is finished. Vertical ventilation is still a great option and even if extinguished is beneficial but many industry leaders are seeing personnel initially on scene used for higher priority operations.