___________________________________ ___________________________________ FLASHOVER ___________________________________ RECOGNITION ___________________________________ ___________________________________ 1 ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ 3 ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Goals ___________________________________ • To provide the fire service with a safe and secure system of flashover recognition training. ___________________________________ • To teach firefighters to recognize the signs of flashover. • To provide firefighters with techniques to possibly ___________________________________ give them time to escape an impending flashover. • To save firefighters from injury and death from ___________________________________ flashover. 4 ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Dangers ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ 5 ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Dangers of Flashover ___________________________________ • Catches firefighters off guard. ___________________________________ • Develops rapidly with little warning. ___________________________________ • Increases firefighting problems. ___________________________________ • Occupants CANNOT survive. 6 ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Dangers of Flashover ___________________________________ From Aug.1985 to Mar.2010, 113 firefighters were killed in structure fires in the United ___________________________________ States. ___________________________________ 16 of these firefighters died as a result of rapid fire development or ___________________________________ “FLASHOVER” 7 ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Dangers of Flashover ___________________________________ • An additional 7 firefighters were killed by FLASHOVERS during training evolutions. ___________________________________ • Many of the firefighters that died were ___________________________________ trained and experienced ! ___________________________________ 8 ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Dangers of Flashover ___________________________________ • Flashover catches firefighters off guard if ___________________________________ untrained to recognize the warning signs before full flashover occurs. ___________________________________ • Firefighters have been in flashover situations and escaped with only injuries. ___________________________________ 9 ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Dangers of Flashover ___________________________________ • FLASHOVER can develop rapidly and with little warning. ___________________________________ • With the threat of flashover present, firefighting problems increase. ___________________________________ • Firefighting becomes more dangerous and the fire is very difficult to extinguish. ___________________________________ 10 ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Dangers of Flashover ___________________________________ No one can accurately ___________________________________ predict when a flashover will occur !! ___________________________________ ___________________________________ 11 ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Dangers of Flashover ___________________________________ Firefighter exposure to flashover potential has increased over the last several years due to: ___________________________________ Better personal protective clothing. Faster notification of fires. Better insulation in buildings. ___________________________________ Class A fires vs. Class B fires. Polyurethane-12,000 Btu/Lb. ___________________________________ Polystyrene-18,000 Btu/Lb. 12 ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ What is Flashover ? ___________________________________ ___________________________________ 13 ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ What is Flashover? ___________________________________ –National Fire Academy: “The ignition of combustibles in an area heated by ___________________________________ convection or radiation, or a combination of the two. ___________________________________ The combustible substances in a room are heated to their ignition point and almost simultaneous combustion of the material occurs.” ___________________________________ 14 ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ What is Flashover? ___________________________________ –IFSTA: ___________________________________ “The stage of a fire at which all surfaces and objects within a space have been heated to their ignition temperature, and flame breaks out almost ___________________________________ at once over the surface of all the objects within the space”. ___________________________________ 15 ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ What is Flashover? ___________________________________ – Deputy Chief Vincent Dunn, FDNY (ret.): ___________________________________ “The sudden full room involvement in flame. Flashover is caused by thermal radiation feedback. During a fire in a room, the heat is absorbed into the ___________________________________ ceiling and walls and re-radiated downward, gradually heating the combustible gases and contents to their ignition temperatures and the room and its ___________________________________ contents simultaneously ignite.” 16 ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Flashover ___________________________________ Development ___________________________________ ___________________________________ 17 ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Plume Development ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ 18 ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Ceiling Layer Development ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ 19 ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Pre-Flashover Condition ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ 20 ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Flashover ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ 21 ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Post-Flashover ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ 22 ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Backdraft vs. Flashover ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ 23 ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Flashover Compared ___________________________________ to Backdraft –Definition of Backdraft: ___________________________________ “The explosion or rapid burning of heated gases that ___________________________________ occurs when oxygen is introduced into an oxygen deficient atmosphere.” ___________________________________ 24 ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Flashover vs Backdraft ___________________________________ Oxygen Heat Heat ___________________________________ Oxygen Backdraft Flashover ___________________________________ Fuel Fuel • Trigger event for backdraft is Oxygen … ___________________________________ • Trigger event for Flashover is Heat... ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Fire Science ___________________________________