Background

Firefighters, during fire suppression activities, may be exposed to rapid fire progression phenomena, such as backdraft and flashover.

Concerns/hazards

Rapid fire progression events are extremely dangerous and can quickly lead to life-threatening situations. Firefighters must be able to recognize these types of events so that they can respond appropriately to the hazard.

Actions for employers

Employers should:

  • provide theoretical and practical fire dynamics training for suppression personnel
  • review and update training regularly in light of current knowledge and best practices

Fire dynamics (fire science) training

The following statement was made by Daniel Madrzykowski, Fire Protection Engineer, National Institute of Standards and Technology:

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.

Consider the following topics, as part of fire dynamics training:

  • combustibility of modern contents and how they can impact compartment fire behavior and rapid fire progression events
  • identifying ventilation flow paths and understanding how fire suppression activities can influence a flow path that could result in rapid fire progression
  • critical differences between fuel-limited and ventilation-limited fires, and correspondingly, different hazards
  • the greatest hazard to fire suppression personnel is present during ventilation-limited compartment fires, which could lead to roll-over, flash over, back draft or any rapid fire progression event
  • theoretical (in class) and practical (experiential/hands-on) training components

Applicable regulations and acts

Read:

  • Occupational Health and Safety Act
    • clause 25(2)(a) for providing information and instruction to a worker
    • clause 25(2)(d) for making workers aware of hazards
    • clause 25(2)(h) for taking every precaution reasonable in the circumstances to protect workers

Related

For a research paper on the science behind fire, read Fire dynamics: The science of fire fighting by Daniel Madrzykowski, Fire Protection Engineer, National Institute of Standards and Technology, 2012

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Guidance note 7-4 Firefighter survival and self-rescue training

This resource does not replace the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) and its regulations and should not be used as or considered legal advice. Health and safety inspectors apply and enforce these laws based on the facts they find in the workplace.

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