It takes me a pleasure to bring to notice of all the readers that
Aniruddha's Academy of Disaster Management has recently completed training of close to
500 DMVs (Disaster Management Volunteers) from its various local branch centres (Upasana Centre). I felt extremely privileged to be selected for this training. All the DMVs have been t
horoughly trained both theoretically and practically during the practice sessions. The entire programme was supported by Cinemax India Ltd. who are pioneers as cinema exhibitors in India, which provided its facilities to DMVs to be trained practically. The training programme was overseen by
Respected Swapnilsinh Dattopadhye and conducted by Shri. Pramodsinh Angre, an ex-serviceman who has worked for Indian Navy in Submarine Fire Safety Cadre.
Following are the points that were covered in the theoretical training session. It will help you with all the details all wanted to know about Fire Extinguishers and Fire Fighting:
There are 7 basic points to be learnt in fire fighting:
1) Causes of Fire
2) Basic Chemistry of Fire
3) Classes of Fire
4) Types of Fire Extinguishers
5) Safety Methods of Fire Extinguishing Operations
6) Fire Alarm Systems
7) Evacuation
1) Lets first see the Causes of Fire:
Fire is mainly caused due to three factors
i)
Negligence
ii)
Carelessness
iii)
Sabotage
2) Next lets see Basic Chemistry of FireIn this section we will see what it takes for fire to ignite, sustain and rage. Fire depends on 3 factors for it ignite, sustain and rage
i)
Buring Material OR
Fuel
ii)
Oxygen (Air)
iii)
Heat (
Temperature above 59°C)
These three factors are feature in fire triangle. If any side of this equilateral triangle in broken and taken away i.e. if we take away anyone of these factors from fire then it will not sustain and hence won't rage.
3) Classes of Fire
Fire is classified in 5 categories
i) Class 'A': Solid Fire
This fire results from burning of any solid object like furniture, paper, upholstery, wood, etc.
ii) Class 'B': Liquid Fire
This fire results from burning of liquids like oil, turpentine, spirit, oil paint, alcohol, petrol, diesel, kerosene, etc.
iii) Class 'C': Gas Fire
This fire is sub-divided in further in 2 major sub-categories
a)
LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas)
Fire
b)
CNG (Compressed Natural Gas)
Fire
a)
LPG Fire
The fire which erupts because of LPG generally referred as Cooking Gas used in most of the kitchens these days. LPG has Propane (Sulphur content) and Butane (Lead content) added to composition that makes CNG and hence LPG is more dangerous that CNG. Also addition of propane and butane makes LPG gas heavier and hence unlike CNG which escapes through air LPG stay near ground level.
LPG cylinders blast only when empty or partially filled as it gives room for pressure to increase (which may be because of heat).
Precautions to be Taken:
i) In case regulator on top of the cylinder catches fire then we should put water on cylinder not the regulator as putting water on cylinder would control the temperature from rising. This way the fire would gradually stop when the burning material is exhausted without the spreading of fire.
ii) We should put thick wet cloth on regulatory so that fire will be suffocated of oxygen and this will also keep temperature under control.
iii) We should avoid crowding of things around the cylinder in general where we store our cylinder.
iv) We should also take care that that we are not storing any items above our gas stove / cooking range. This care is to be taken as this will avoid our clothes (especially loose and long clothes like
chunnis and
dupattas) from catching fire unknowingly.
v) We should avoid serving food while it is on stove / cooking range. This care is to be taken as while serving the food may fall on on the rubber pipes that carry cooking gas from cylinder to stove / cooking range. The dropped food attracts rats and other rodents which can damage these pipes by their nibbling which may result in gas leak and ultimately fire.
vi) Daily we should turn-off regulator of the gas before going to sleep so as to avoid accidental gas leakage.
vii) We should strictly avoid any kind of usage of electric appliances if we smell LPG gas leak as the spark that is generated everytime we switch-on electric appliances is enough to cause a huge explosion which can rip apart atleast 4 - 5 flats on your floor along with our own house.
viii) We should open doors, windows and curtains of our house to allow the gas to escape easily.
ix) We should strictly avoid opening of refrigerators in our houses.
x) We should immediately turn-off Electrical Mains of our house.
xi) We should also inform our neighbours about the gas leak immediately so that the above precautions can also be taken by them.
v) Class 'D': Metallic OR Industrial Fire
This fire results from burning of components used in industries like potassium, magnesium, zinc, sodium, etc.
v) Class 'E': Electric Fire
This fire results from electrical short-circuits.
Precautions to be Taken:
i) Always use a 3 plug pin as this pin has earthing in it.
ii) Insulation tapes which are used in sealing the electrical wires have a life of only 6 months which may be maximum used for 9 months. Hence we should take care to replace these tapes regularly as and when then expiry date in reached.
iii) We should use
Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker. (For more details about this devices refer this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_leakage_circuit_breaker OR
http://www.ehow.com/how-does_5017259_earth-leakage-circuit-breakers-work.html
iv) We can also use
Main Circuit Breaker (For more details about this devices refer this link::
http://electrical.about.com/od/panelsdistribution/a/mainbreakers.htm) in place of Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker but Main Circuit Breaker is expensive than arth Leakage Circuit Breaker and hence not preferred. Though technically it is more safer.
v) We should avoid using all the heavy appliances in our house like washing machines, geysers, heaters, air-conditioners, etc. together so as to avoid over loading.
The fact that most of the people are unaware about is that victims that get killed in fire incidences are not because of fire directly but because of suffocation arising out of Carbon Monoxide emission from burning material.
4) Types of Fire Extinguishers
As like fire, fire extinguishers are also classified in 5 categories respective to the fires.
We should take utmost care that a particular class fire extinguisher is used only for the corresponding class of fire. Inter (wrong) usage of the extinguisher may result in major accident which in few cases can be fatal or cause disability.
The type of fire extinguisher is always mentioned on the container.
i) Class 'A' Fire Extinguishers: For Solid Fire
These are used in cases of solid fire (resulting from burning of any solid object like furniture, paper, upholstery, wood, etc.)
The extinguisher cylinder contains 9 litres of water which is sprayed on fire with pressure-driven force. It has a
CO2 or Carbon Dioxide cartridge at the mouth of the cylinder to build pressure for spraying of water with force.
We should change water in this cylinder every 3 months which prevents the water from corroding.
We should not keep this (Class A Fire Extinguisher) near electric boards and in kitchens as under panic it may be used in cases of fire which may result in accident because of wrong use. These are generally used stores and warehouses.
This extinguisher cannot be reused as it exhausts all the contents in it once it is opened at one go.
ii) Class 'BC' Fire Extinguishers: For Solid, Liquid, Metallic and Electric Fire
These are called Dry Chemical Powder (DCP) Fire Extinguishers.
These are used in cases of liquid and gas. This fire results from burning of liquids like oil, turpentine, spirit, oil paint, alcohol, petrol, diesel, kerosene, etc. or Gas fires. It can also be used in cases of solid fires but only in case the burning object is heavy in nature e.g. furniture (It should not be used on in case the burning material is light weighted like paper, cloth etc).
This
fire extinguisher is composed of Potassium Bicarbonate or Sodium Phosphate.
The powder which is sprayed through this extinguisher has leaves and sticky trail behind which is not washable and hence is generally not used on electrical appliances as it causes renders the appliances useless. It has a
CO2 or Carbon Dioxide cartridge at the mouth of the cylinder to build pressure for spraying of powder with force.
This extinguisher can be reused as it doesn't exhaust all the contents in it once it is opened i.e its flow can be stopped once the fire is doused.
We should avoid using DCP extinguisher at place where we store food items or in kitchen as t may lead to food wastage. In these situations
CO2 extinguisher is preferred.
iii) Class 'ABC' Fire Extinguishers: For Solid, Liquid and Gas Fire
These are used in cases of solid fire (resulting from burning of any solid object like furniture, paper, upholstery, wood, etc.) or burning of liquids like oil, turpentine, spirit, oil paint, alcohol, petrol, diesel, kerosene, etc. or Gas fires or even in case of metallic fires (fire resulting from burning of components used in industries like potassium, magnesium, zinc, sodium, etc.) or electric fires.
It is composed of Mono-Ammonium Phosphate or Map 90. It has a pressure gauge at the very top of the cylinder which should be periodically calibrated and its pressure pointer should always be seen in the green range of the meter. As like the once we have seen earlier this extinguisher contains Pressure Gauge rather than cartridge for building pressure to spray with force. The pressure indicated by the pressure gauge would be proportional to the powder contained in the extinguisher.
This extinguisher can be reused as it doesn't exhaust all the contents in it once it is opened i.e its flow can be stopped once the fire is doused.
We should always tie a handkerchief on our mouth while using this extinguishers as it may cause throat irritation or in few cases choking.
iv) CO2 Fire Extinguishers: For Solid, Liquid, Gas, Metallic and Electric Fire:
This fire extinguisher is charged and filled with
CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) at -17°C. At such low temperature the gas when inside the cylinder is in solid state.
The most important care the handler has to take while using this extinguisher is to hold the extinguisher only by its grip-pins. As the temperature is so low the when we actually use the extinguisher and in case if we place our hand at any other area other than grip-pins we would end up suffering from Cold Burn which would permanently disable our hand as it would have to be operated upon. This may happen even if we hold the extinguisher at wrong area for 6 - 7 seconds. To avoid this problem handler may use gloves but it is not a practical solution considering the spontaneity with which any fire mishap strikes.
We should avoid using DCP extinguisher at place where we store food items or in kitchen as t may lead to food wastage. In these situations
CO2 extinguisher is preferred.
iv) HCFC (Hydro Chloro Fluoro Carbon) Fire Extinguishers: For Solid, Liquid, Gas, Metallic and Electric Fire (All Fires)
This fire extinguisher is also called Clean Agent. It can be used on any type of fire. It also as very vey high shelf life period i.e. it needs refilling in only once in 5 years. But the major problem about this fire extinguisher is its cost. a 2 kgs extinguisher costs around INR 15, 000/- which is very high and hence this extinguisher is seldom used.
Types of Fire Sprinklers
A fire sprinkler is the part of a fire sprinkler system that discharges water when the effects of a fire have been detected, such as when a predetermined temperature has been reached.
To know more about
fire sprinklers please click on the following link: (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_sprinkler)
There are 5-6 main types of fire sprinklers which are known by the colour of their glass bulbs. Every sprinklers has a different temperature at which they discharge water. Following are the details of it:
a)
Red Color - 68 °C
b)
Pink Color - 57 °C
c)
Purple Color - 98 °C
d)
Dark Blue Color - 138 °C
e)
Black - 350 °C
Smoke Detectors
A smoke detector is a device that detects smoke, typically as an indicator of fire. Commercial, industrial, and mass residential devices issue a signal to a fire alarm system, while household detectors, known as smoke alarms, generally issue a local audible and/or visual alarm from the detector itself. To know more about
smoke detectors please click on the following link: (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoke_detector).
Smoke detectors run on supply of 24 volts and are connected to central control panel. When they detect any fumes or smoke they raise a loud alarm. Hence to silence them there is a silent switch. They detect any fumes or smoke in the radius of 3 meters. A functional smoke detector always continuously blinks.
Heat Detectors
A heat detector is a fire alarm device designed to respond when the convected thermal energy of a fire increases the temperature of a heat sensitive element. The thermal mass and conductivity of the element regulate the rate flow of heat into the element. All heat detectors have this thermal lag. Heat detectors have two main classifications of operation, "rate-of-rise" and "fixed temperature." To know more about
heat detectors please click on the following link: (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_detector)
These are generally used in kitchen or pantries. They can sense heat in the range of 3 - 3.5 meters. This is connected to fire panel with hooter.
7) Evacuation
Evacuation is the final and the most important part of fire fighting. It involves relocating people who are stuck because of fire and are already affected or may get affect in near future.
The most important thing that we have to keep in mind is to avoid using lift when we are evacuating ourselves or others because when the fire brigade personnel arrive they first disconnect the mains and hence there is a grave danger of we getting trapped in lift. But we can use escalators, The evacuation should be carried out taking the charting of escape routes of any place into consideration. As far as possible we should alaways prefer crawling in cases of accumulation of condensed smoke.
But the single most important aspect of evacuation is to assure people that you are with them till the end and that all would be out of this problem, safely i.e. installing confidence in the masses and assuring them of your help and involvement till the end.
The fact that most of the people are unaware about is that victims that get killed in fire incidences are not because of fire directly but because of suffocation arising out of Carbon Monoxide emission from burning material.
All the DMVs were also trained practically on use of fire hose at various locations of Cinemax.
A
fire hose is a high-pressure hose used to carry water or other fire retardant (such as foam) to a fire to extinguish it. Outdoors, it is attached either to a fire engine or a fire hydrant. Indoors, it can be permanently attached to a building's standpipe or plumbing system. It was invented by Hero of Alexandria in the basis of Ctesibius' double action piston pump. To know more about fire hose
please click on the following link: (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_hose)
