A Publication of the National Wildfire Coordinating Group TheThe NewNew Sponsored by United States Department of Agriculture Generation United States Generation Department of the Interior National Association of State Foresters FireFire ShelterShelter PMS 411 JanuaryMarch 20032001 NFES 2710 TheThe NewNew GenerationGeneration NWCG Fire Equipment Working Team March 2003 FireFire ShelterShelter Leslie Anderson Project Leader Sponsored for NWCG publication by the NWCG Fire Equipment Working Team, March 2003, in cooperation with the USDA Forest Service Technology and Development Center, Missoula, MT. Questions or comments regarding the contents of this publication should be directed to Leslie Anderson, project leader, USDA Forest Service, Missoula Technology and Development Center, Missoula, MT. Phone: 406–329–3900 Fax: 406–329–3719 E-mail: [email protected] Additional copies of this publication may be ordered by mail/fax from: National Interagency Fire Center, ATTN: Great Basin Cache Supply Office, 3833 South Development Ave., Boise, ID 83705. Fax: 208–387–5573. Order NFES 2710. An electronic copy of this document is available at http://www.nwcg.gov/pms/pubs/pubs.htm The National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) has developed this information for the guidance of its member agencies and is not responsible for the interpretation or use of this information by anyone except the member agencies. The use of trade, firm, or corporation names in this publication is for the information and convenience of the reader and does not constitute an endorsement by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group of any product or service to the exclusion of others that may be suitable. Contents Introduction __________________________________________ 1 Know Your Fire Shelter ________________________________ 2 How the New Generation Fire Shelter Works _______________________ 2 Escape ______________________________________________ 4 Stay Alert ____________________________________________________ 5 Deployment __________________________________________ 6 Selecting Your Deployment Site _________________________________ 6 Deployment Procedures ______________________________________ 13 Get on the Ground ___________________________________________ 17 Water Can Make the Difference ________________________________ 17 Sharing a Shelter ____________________________________________ 17 Group Deployment ___________________________________________ 17 Keep These Items Out of Your Fire Shelter _______________________ 18 Do Not Delay Deployment _____________________________________ 18 During an Entrapment ________________________________ 19 Moving Your Shelter __________________________________________ 19 Conditions Inside the Shelter __________________________________ 19 When to Leave the Shelter _____________________________________ 22 Training ____________________________________________ 23 Training Scenarios ___________________________________________ 23 Practice Fire Shelters ________________________________________ 24 Realistic Training Is Best ______________________________________ 25 Never Train in Live Fire _______________________________________ 25 Visualization ________________________________________________ 25 Inspection and Care __________________________________ 26 Inspection __________________________________________________ 26 Care of the Fire Shelter _______________________________________ 26 Conclusions_________________________________________ 27 Feedback ___________________________________________________ 27 ii Introduction he fire shelter is a entrapments using the old shelter mandatory item of personal can still help firefighters learn how to T protective equipment for all I’m sure we would not have use the new shelter. T survived without them. Federal wildland firefighters and must be carried on the fireline by This booklet is the reference everyone on Federal wildland fires. Entrapment survivor document for fire shelters. It is not State, local, and rural fire intended to stand alone. New and departments may have different experienced firefighters should use policies regarding the fire shelter’s the booklet as part of a use. However, no one who is comprehensive fire shelter training required to carry a fire shelter should program that includes facilitated go on the fireline without reading, • Explains the importance of discussion and hands-on training. understanding, and practicing the training and knowing when and recommendations in this booklet. where to deploy the shelter During training, be sure you understand the following key points: The fire shelter has been required • Tells you what to expect during • Carrying a fire shelter is not an equipment for wildland firefighters an entrapment excuse to take risks on the since 1977. Since that time, shelters • Describes inspection fireline. have saved the lives of more than procedures that will keep worn 300 firefighters and have prevented shelters off the fireline • Your highest priority is to avoid hundreds of serious injuries. A new entrapment. If entrapment is generation of fire shelter now offers What you see in this booklet may be imminent, escape if you can. improved protection from both familiar to you because much of the • During an escape or radiant and convective heat. Even guidance for using shelters is entrapment, protect your lungs so, the shelter will not protect unchanged. Stories related by and airways at all costs. firefighters under all fire situations. firefighters who survived • Drop your gear as soon as you The fire shelter should be used as a realize your escape may be last resort if planned escape routes compromised. Take your fire or safety zones become inadequate shelter and your tool, but drop and entrapment is imminent. Carrying a fire all dangerous flammable Carrying a fire shelter should objects and drop any items never be considered an alternative shelter should that may slow your escape. to safe firefighting. If you are NEVER be • If you are entrapped, get on considering or are asked to take on the ground before the fire a risky assignment because you considered an arrives. have a fire shelter, it is your alternative to obligation to insist that the plans be • Deploy your shelter where changed. Though the new generation safe firefighting. flames will be least likely to fire shelter offers improved contact it. protection, it is still a last resort and • Once you are inside your cannot guarantee your survival. shelter, stay there. Conditions outside the shelter will be far This booklet will help you learn how worse than those inside. to use the new fire shelter. It: • Train with your fire shelter as • Explains how the fire shelter though survival is at stake. protects you 1 Know Your Fire Shelter nderstanding how the fire How the New The outer layer of foil reflects about shelter protects you as Generation Fire 95 percent of the radiant heat that UUwell as the factors that reaches it. Because only 5 percent limit its performance will help you Shelter Works is absorbed into the shelter decide how best to deploy your materials, the temperature of the shelter. The new generation fire shelter material rises slowly. Unlike radiant protects primarily by reflecting heat, convective heat (from flames radiant heat and trapping breathable and hot gases) is easily absorbed by Types of Heat air (figure 1). The new shelter has the fire shelter, allowing the two layers. The outer layer is temperature of the material to rise Radiant Heat: Radiant heat aluminum foil bonded to woven silica rapidly. When the material reaches travels in a straight line through cloth. The foil reflects radiant heat about 500 °F, the glue that bonds the space without heating the space itself. It turns into heat and the silica material slows the layers begins to break down. The when it contacts a cooler passage of heat to the inside of the layers can separate, allowing the foil surface. When you stand close shelter. An inner layer of aluminum to be torn by turbulent winds. Without to a campfire, radiant heat foil laminated to fiberglass prevents the foil, the shelter loses much of its warms you. No air movement heat from reradiating to the person ability to reflect radiant heat. The is required for the transfer of inside the shelter. When these layers silica material will slow heat transfer, radiant heat. are sewn together, the air gap but offers significantly less between them offers further protection without the foil. Convective Heat: Convective insulation. heat requires air movement. Think of it as a blast of hot air. When flames or hot gases move past a surface, the hot air molecules transfer their heat to that surface. The hotter the air and the faster the air movement, the greater the Radiant heat, convective heating. 95 percent reflected Convective heat (from flames and hot gases), 100 percent absorbed Ground Ground cooling cooling Figure 1—The new generation fire shelter reflects radiant heat and absorbs convective heat. 2 Know Your Fire Shelter The right side of my shelter delaminated and the foil flipped over onto the left side. I really started to get burned at that point because the only thing that was on that side of my shelter was the glass mesh. [When] there was still a tremendous amount of radiant heat coming off the surrounding area, a wind blew the shelter half back on to the other side, back to where it belonged, and it was like somebody closing a door on the oven. The radiant heat difference that just that little piece of foil made was absolutely amazing. Entrapment survivor The