Firefighting Tactics

NIST is trying to change the firefighting tactics and strategy in order to make the job safer for firefighters, and also to decrease victim’s mortality rate. The idea is by cooling the house on fire by throwing water on it, either from inside or outside, by doing so, it’ll also decrease the toxic gases inside the house. When a building in on fire, two things will help put the fire out, adding water to the fire and by having a proper ventilation.
It is undeniable that has been changes in the residential fire environment over the decades. Nowadays the homes are made with different construction materials, they are larger, with different geometries, they also carry more synthetic fuel loads. Because of these changes flashover will occur much faster and the failure time of walls, windows and interiors doors have decreased as well, all this holds a major impact on fire growth, and if it affects fire growth it should also affect firefighting tactics and strategy.
Having an understanding on fire behavior in residential structures, is the first step on saving life’s, knowing that the fire ground has changed due to the changes that have taken place in several components of residential fire dynamics such as size of the houses, construction types, materials and also the furniture. All these changes
combine are a real danger for everyone involved, because it means faster fire spread, flashover will occur faster, leaving shorter escape time, and a much faster collapse time. The deficiency on fire behavior training are important factors that are adding to firefighters and civilian’s deaths. House furniture has changed dramatically over the years, they are made of flammable synthetic materials, such as plastic and textiles. Unfortunately, home furniture and appliances went from being made of natural materials, to mostly synthetic materials such as polyurethane foam, that replaced cotton as the padding found in furniture.

Ventilation is indispensable procedure in mostly firefighting operation.
The capability to remove smoke, heat and fire gases from a structure fire can seriously contribute with the ability to find victims. It generates an environment more survivable for those victims, decreases the environmental impact on firefighters that have to operate in and will quicken your ability to ease fire control and extinguishment. Nevertheless, inadequate ventilation or adequate ventilation delivered at an wrong time can significantly increase the amount of work required to complete fireground tasks by spreading fire and increasing heat, and could contribute to the injury or death of
firefighters.
Before starting to vent, there are a few questions firefighters should be concerned with, such as; will the ventilation create a flashover or backdraft? will the ventilation push the fire away or towards the victims and firefighters? Firefighters must always know the answer to these question prior to venting.
Positive-pressure ventilation is one of the main approaches used by the fire service today. When used appropriately, it is a great problem solver. Effectively, when air is forced into a structure through an opening, it will seek the path of least resistance to find its way out of structure. It is essential that there be only one entrance for the ventilation unit and only on exit for the removal of smoke and heat. This exit needs to be smaller than the opening or there will be no build-up of positive pressure to pull the byproducts of the fire.
Vertical ventilation is one of the riskiest tasks accomplished on the fireground and should only be used when can be completed safely. The key to success in delivering a good ventilation are having two means of egress, limit the total time of work on roof and not let the ventilation hole get between you and your means of egress.