LUND UNIVERSITY • SWEDEN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Stefan Svensson DEPARTMENT OF FIRE SAFETY ENGINEERING REPORT LUTVDG/TVBB-1025-SE The Operational Problem The Operational Pr of Fire Control oblem of Fire Control Control oblem of Fire Lund 2002 Stefan Svensson Lund 2002 KFS AB, Lund 2002 The Operational Problem Of Fire Control Stefan Svensson The Operational Problem Of Fire Control The Operational Problem of Fire Control Stefan Svensson Report 1025 ISSN: 14002-3504 ISRN: LUTVDG/TVBB—1025—SE Number of pages: 231 Cover photos by Peter Lundgren, Swedish Rescue Services Agency. Top left: fire attack training in a fire simulator. Top right: kitchen in a burn building. Bottom: commanding officer in front of a burn building. Figure 1 originally by Roy Bäckbom. Figures 2 – 5 originally by Per Hardestam. Keywords: firefighting, procedure, operation, tactics, control Abstract The operational core of firefighting operations was examined. The effects of various firefighting procedures on the fire ground, their impact upon conditions on the fire ground in which decisions by commanding officers are made and the effects of allocating resources in time and space on the fire ground were explored. In addition, various approaches for modelling firefighting operations were discussed. The purpose of the underlying work includes gaining knowledge on how firefighting operations are built-up and how the initiation, execution and coordination of procedures affect the course of events at the scene of a fire. The work was mainly based on experiments with fires in small apartments and with fires in large halls where fire spread is restricted. The firefighting procedures used in the experimental work were restricted to fire suppression and fire ventilation. The main contributions to the development of theory on fire and rescue operations were to bring about a better understanding of the inherent dynamics of firefighting operations, and an approach to modelling of firefighting operations based on the analysis of data from experiments on tactical patterns, was suggested. Suggestions for continued work included investigations of the effects of procedures used by the fire and rescue service, and investigating effects of various tactical patterns. In addition, emphasis should be put on modelling of firefighting operations. Department of Fire Safety Engineering Lund University P.O.Box 118 SE-221 00 Lund Sweden [email protected] http://www.brand.lth.se Telephone: +46 46 222 73 60 Fax: +46 46 222 46 12 2 Preface Preface When I started this work in 1994, my intention was to find methodology in how fire protection design and fire safety measures in buildings can be used as tactical assets during firefighting operations. As the work proceeded, I soon identified a lack of fundamental knowledge on how firefighting operations actually work and how the dynamics of firefighting operations affect the course of events. Questions arose, such as - Why is a specific task chosen during a firefighting operation? - What happens when this task is executed? - What would have happened if some other task were to be executed? - What would have happened if the task were to be executed at some other point in time or space? Also, what is the crux of the matter, - What is it that we are trying to achieve by sending firefighters and commanding officers to the scene of a fire and into buildings on fire, and how do we achieve this? To get answers to such questions, I had to look further into what firefighting operations are, what they are affected by, what triggers different tasks and actions, and especially at how actions taken, allocated in time and space, affect the development of the accident. What I found was thrilling and I believe it opened up a new, but simple, perspective on firefighting operations. I also believe that I have found a way to further advance our view on the work performed by firefighters and commanding officers at the scene of a fire. In other words: now I understand the dynamics of firefighting operations better. When I started writing this thesis, a colleague and a fellow hunter said to me that he believed that a thesis should be a pleasant journey to the reader in the understanding of my world. This is it – so far! 1 The Operational Problem Of Fire Control 2 Table of contents Table of contents Preface.......................................................................................... 1 Table of contents .......................................................................... 3 List of papers ................................................................................ 5 Papers included in the thesis................................................................5 Other related publications not included in the thesis............................6 Summary....................................................................................... 9 Sammanfattning (Summary in Swedish)..................................... 13 Introduction ................................................................................. 17 Background................................................................................. 21 Suppression........................................................................................22 Ventilation...........................................................................................25 Human factors ....................................................................................28 Models ................................................................................................29 Problem ..............................................................................................32 Procedures.................................................................................. 33 Operations .................................................................................. 37 Tactics......................................................................................... 41 Control ........................................................................................ 49 Discussion................................................................................... 57 Conclusions ................................................................................ 65 Continued work ........................................................................... 67 Acknowledgements..................................................................... 69 3 The Operational Problem Of Fire Control References.................................................................................. 71 Paper I: Live fire tests on suppression of post-flashover fires using manually applied high and low pressure water sprays................ 79 Paper II: Fire tests in a large hall, using manually applied high- and low pressure water sprays ................................................... 97 Paper III: Developing a command structure within the fire services - from enlistment to a viable system ......................................... 135 Paper IV: Experimental study of fire ventilation actions during firefighting operations................................................................ 155 Paper V: Experimental study of fire ventilation procedures in a large hall ................................................................................... 183 Paper VI: A study of tactical patterns during firefighting operations .................................................................................................. 201 4 List of papers List of papers This thesis is based on six papers, published, accepted for publication or submitted for publication in international journals or presented at international symposiums. These papers are appended to the thesis, and they are listed below together with other publications related to this work but not included in the thesis. Papers included in the thesis Paper I Live fire tests on suppression of post-flashover fires using manually applied high and low pressure water sprays Stefan Svensson and Sören Lundström Paper presented at Interflam'99, 8th International Fire Science & Engineering Conference, Edinburgh, 29th June – 1st July 1999. Paper II Fire tests in a large hall, using manually applied high- and low pressure water sprays Stefan Svensson and Stefan Särdqvist Fire Science and Technology, vol. 21, No. 1, 2001. Paper III Developing a command structure within the fire services – from enlistment to a viable system Stefan Svensson Jennings, Charles (Ed.). Improving Firefighter Safety: Human Behavior and Organizational Aspects. An International Conference. Alexandria Virginia: Institution of Fire Engineers, United States Branch. 2001. Paper IV Experimental study of fire ventilation actions during firefighting operations Stefan Svensson Fire Technology, vol. 37, No. 1, 2001. 5 The Operational Problem Of Fire Control Paper V Experimental study of fire ventilation procedures in a large hall Stefan Svensson and Per Werling Paper presented at Interflam'01, 9th International Fire Science & Engineering Conference, Edinburgh, 17th – 19th September 2001. Paper VI A Study of Tactical Patterns During Firefighting Operations Stefan Svensson Fire Safety Journal. Vol. 37, no. 7, pp 673 – 695, 2002. Other related publications not included in the thesis Svensson, S. A concept for tactical analysis of firefighting operations. In Proceedings: 3rd International Conference on Emergency Planning and Disaster Management, Lancaster, UK, 2nd – 6th July 1995. Svensson, S. Brandförsök med sprängram samt övertrycksventilation (Live