Firefighters basic and professional knowledge
Firefighters play a crucial role in society. Fire accidents occur more often in every setting. In most cases, a normal layman technique can easily extinguish a fire and prevent losses that are bound to occur. In some cases, the fire accident might call upon the involvement of a specialized team, firefighters, to bring it into control. Firefighters must, therefore, have basic and professional knowledge concerning fires and firefighting to perform their duties effectively.
There are six classes of fires, A, B, C, D E and F (Extinguishers, 2020). This classification is based on the National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA) standards. NFPA is a global l, a non-profit organization that promotes safety standards, education, training, and advocacy on fire and electrical-related hazards(“Classes of Fires & Fire Extinguishers – Environmental Health & Safety – Los Angeles, CA”, 2020). According to NFPA classification, class A fires usually involve wood, paper, cloth, and other ordinary materials. Class B fires usually involve flammable liquids such as gasoline and oil, whereas class D fires involve fires related to live electricity. Class E fires involve combustible metals and metal alloys.
There are five types of fire extinguishers: Water, Foam, Dry Powder, CO2 and Wet Chemical. Each type of extinguisher has specific classes of fire; it is capable of extinguishing. It is crucial for a firefighter first to determine the fire class they are fighting and choose the appropriate type of extinguisher; otherwise, it may lead to more injuries and other hazards (Fennelly et al., n.d.). The fire extinguishers are often labelled with the fires they can effectively extinguish. Multipurpose fire extinguishers can work on more than one class of fire. An example of a multipurpose fire extinguisher is the ABC fire extinguisher. This extinguisher is made up of pale powder and can put off A, B and C classes of fires.
The water-based fire extinguisher is the most common and cheapest. This extinguisher can put out class A fires because these fires mostly involve solids. Therefore, this system can get used to extinguish fires involving paper, dust, wood, and other flammable solids (Extinguishers, 2020). However, this type of extinguisher may prove to be effective in other types of fires. For instance, water is denser than most flammable liquids. Using a water-based extinguisher to fight liquid based fires may not work because the water will go beneath the liquid. Water-based extinguishers are also not suitable for fires involving electricity for two reasons. First, water conducts electricity. Using water near live electricity may pose dangers of electric shocks. Secondly, electricity splits water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen. The hydrogen is highly flammable.
Foam extinguishers Use a simple concept; they seal the flammable material’s surface, preventing oxygen from entering. In this way, the fires go out by lacking oxygen. The foam fire extinguishers can work on class A and class B fires. This reason makes foam fire extinguishers suitable in fighting liquid and solid fires.
Powder extinguishers are the most effective in fire fighting. They can put out class A, B and C fires. Powder fire extinguishers use the same concept used in form extinguishers only that non-flammable powder gets used instead of foam. Apart from their appropriateness in fighting solid and liquid flames, powder extinguishers can also work in fires involving electricity.
Carbon IV oxide is the most common gas-based fire extinguisher. Unlike the other types of fire extinguishers, the gas-based extinguishers use a non-combustible gas such as carbon IV oxide to reduce the oxygen concentration near the fire. These extinguishers work perfectly in places where there are a lot of electrical appliances. These extinguishers are the most recommended in fighting class D fires that involve electricity.
Wet chemical extinguishers are most effective in fighting fires involving oils and fats. Apart from cooling the oils, the wet chemical reacts with the oils to form a non-combustible soap-like substance. These extinguishers, through the reactions, rapidly knock out the flame.
Every firefighter must gain basic knowledge on classes of fires, types of fire extinguishers and the overall fire fighting industry. In-depth knowledge of these concepts will make fire fighting easier and prevent the eruption of more hazardous accidents and prevent loss of lives and property.