REPORT FIRE SIMULATION The Push-button Inferno Most firefighters are familiar with live fire training in burn containers or burn buildings. But what the firefighter academy in Vire in the northwestern French department of Calvados has to offer isn’t a building, it’s an entire city – and the LARGEST FIRE SIMULAtiON FACILitY in the world. D-31178-2009 The simulation is so realistic that the firefighters at times feel as if they were on a live call. 20 DRÄGER REVIEW 100 | JUNE 2010 Only realistic training prepares you for the genu- ine experience. That’s why the cafeteria looks as if you could sit down and order a café au lait – but fire in the bar counter is only the push of the button away. D-31042-2009 fire has broken out in a single- would have meant that it had evaporated scenario” enables rescue crews and fire- family home. To combat it, an at- due to the high temperature. And that fighters to train together, practicing such Atack squad wearing respiratory would have been dangerous. The burn- things as combined exterior and interior protection advances into the rooms of ing bed is dealt with first, and the fire it- attacks, going into action for example on the building. The two young firefighters self has been extinguished a short time an aerial ladder. bring a size C nozzle with three lengths later. “Great, that looked really good!” On the fourth floor, a French Dräger of hose and a hollow stream nozzle tip calls a voice. technician is preparing the next train- into position. Smoke billows through the Joël Bucher of Dräger France is ing situation, in which the grease in a corridor. One of the men takes the nozzle standing in the corridor holding a re- deep fryer is burning in a kitchen. The and squats down on the right side of the mote control in his hand. That puts him man points to the exhaust hood. “That door next to the hinges while the other in a position of control and ultimately can burn, too. It ignites passively if it’s stands in front of the door handle, takes decides whether the fire will be suc- exposed long enough to the flames.” It off his glove and tests the temperature cessfully extinguished and if complica- is very dark in the room. The man uses of the door from bottom to top with the tions will arise. If the room had not been his headlamp to improve the sparse light- back of his hand. It is hot. cooled down first and if the air tempera- ing. “Look here,” he says as he points to Brief eye contact and the two fire- ture had not been checked, a simulated a particular complication. The cover of fighters know what they have to do. A se- flashover could also have been activated the deep fryer is caught on the piece of curing strap is placed around the door at the push of a button. In reality, a flash- steel representing the mounting for the handle; they are ready to go into action over is the nearly simultaneous ignition neon tube and cannot be closed. The fast- on the count of three. The man closest of flammable gases (pyrolysis gases) un- est and safest way to extinguish a grease to the door handle does the counting der the ceiling. “That is something you fire is thus not an option. and then pushes the door open. His col- never want to see in reality,” says one When the two firefighters enter the league with the hose fires three blasts of of the two firefighters. To date, both of kitchen, the deep fryer and the exhaust water into the blazing room. The secur- them have tested all of the 32 fire loca- hood aren’t the only things burning. ing strap pulls the door back closed. The tions at this fire simulation facility. The grease has overflowed and the fire procedure is repeated twice to reduce is spreading rapidly across the kitchen the temperature in the burning room. Fire – from basement to roof floor. The air is scorchingly hot and The next step is to bring the fire under The engineers from Dräger in Lübeck, damp. “The moisture is going to be a control. The door opens one last time. A Germany, spent several months working problem,” says one of the firefighters. shot of water is aimed to the right and to in close collaboration with the customer “One liter of extinguishing water gen- the left, then water is sprayed through- to plan the facility as realistically as pos- erates 1,700 liters of water vapor. If the out the room in the form of a figure of sible down to the last detail. One of the turnout gear soaks through, it no longer eight lying on its side. highlights is the six-story high-rise apart- offers adequate protection against the It’s only now that the two men dare ment building. “Just about everything 100 degree Celsius air that simply pen- to enter the burning bedroom. The man can burn there, from the basement to etrates it.” operating the nozzle kneels down low the roof,” the second firefighter assures and fires a shot of water straight up into us. Just yesterday the two firefighters Safe at all times the air. The water rains down on his worked their way up to the third floor. The two men were never in any actual helmet – a test of the air temperature. If This building can simulate the entire danger, however. “Safety is a key feature the water had not come back down, this spectrum of structured fires. The “hotel during all Dräger fire simulations. Not > DRÄGER REVIEW 100 | JUNE 2010 21 REPORT FIRE SIMULATION Liquid escapes from a silo flange – and suddenly an area of nine square meters is in flames > only do we have the trainer with the re- mote control; an easily accessible emer- gency stop button is also located down low on the door frame in each burn room,” says Bucher reassuringly. All fire simulations are conduced with approxi- mately 90 percent propane gas. “It burns cleanly, makes an impressive flame and generates a lot of heat,” he says. The entire facility is monitored from the control room on the ground floor, where the individual burn scenarios are D-31724-2009 D-32107-2009 also activated. The trainer starts the ig- nition of the respective fire location via a control panel satellite near the burn room. The simulation is then started via the remote control. The temperature at a height of one meter is limited to 250 de- grees Celsius in all burn rooms. In addi- tion, there are sensors on the ceiling that limit the electronically controlled flash- over to 650 degrees Celsius. Not even DIN 14097 specifies such high standards, but they further enhance the safety of the sys- D-32016-2009 tem. Sensors measure the gas concentra- Fire and smoke: In Vire, France, firefighters prepare for a real emergency. tion near the floor for added safety. If a critical value is exceeded here, the fire and the system are shut down immedi- ately. At the same time, the emergency lights come on and the powerful smoke extraction system ventilates the room at an overall rate of up to 71,000 cubic me- ters per hour. Simulating liquid fires with gas There are also a number of training sit- uations for the outdoor area, such as a fire in a gas cylinder storage scenario. D-32217-2009 D-32204-2009 If the gas cylinders lying around are not Control room: The heat is on at the push of a button. And the top priority is safety. cooled down quickly, there is a violent 22 DRÄGER REVIEW 100 | JUNE 2010 D-30803-2009 bang and a loud whistling sound, and Not a department store on the outskirts of town, but a training facility in Vire. a nearly transparent jet of flame shoots with a deafening noise roughly four me- ters into the air. The flange and surface École des Sapeurs-Pompiers Département 14 fire at a hazardous goods truck is no less Located on 25 hectares of grounds just outside the city of Vire in Normandy, France, impressive. Liquid escapes from a silo is the firefighting academy of the department of Calvados, which features Dräger flange. “Whoosh!” and suddenly an area fire simulation facilities, a road for simulating traffic accidents, training rooms, and of nine square meters is in flames. accommodations. Each day, firefighters practice extinguishing fires and rescue and recovery maneuvers. Located on the grounds is a fire station with several tanker Hot, hot, hot trucks, an aerial ladder and a rescue truck. Simulating a liquid fire in a gas simula- A small assortment of junked compact cars is available for practicing rescuing tion is a tricky undertaking. However, people from vehicles. François Fontaine, director of the consortium Défense & Dräger has lots of experience here. For Sécurité, is convinced of the concept of the facility: “We have established optimal example, in Thailand there is an aircraft training conditions here,” he says. “The facility primarily serves the firefighters fire simulation with a spill fire covering from Department 14, but guests from neighboring departments have also trained here 750 square meters. When the firefighters before. In 2009 we conducted 5,000 person-days of training, and we’re expanding conducted their first training session this to 7,000 person-days in 2010.” Fontaine emphasizes that the training facility is there and the large-area fire suddenly also available to privately organized company fire departments.