Fire
This afternoon, I saw a burning building ; people milled around it. As the children ran around in panic, the men and women were doing their best to arrest the fire.
It was an electric fire. It reportedly started after a fuse ignited on restoration of power.
In an attempt to put out the fire, they were pouring water on the house. But the fire didn't die out. Instead, it was increasing.
This made me realize how uninformed a lot of people are about fire and how you can distinctly extinguish them in the absence of the fire service.
What is fire?
What do you understand by fire?
Fire is said to be an exothermic chemical reaction that gives out light and heat.
I personally prefer to see it - like most people - as that harmless orange flame that cook our meal and keep us warm. I like to see it as that dependable friend.
But that's only a side of the coin. On the other side is a vicious enemy.
Like all former friends, fire is a ruthless enemy. When it spirals out of control, it hardly listens.
To understand fire, you must understand what causes it.
You must understand the chemistry of fire and the ingredients that must be present for a fire to form.
You must understand the principle of extinction of fire.
Only this knowledge would help you in an event of a fire outbreak.
Fire accidents are caused by a variety of factors . Some of them are :
Electrical Equipments
Friction between moving objects
Open flames
Smoking
Arson
Chemical reaction
Spontaneous ignition
Hot surfaces and more.
Some are caused by humans while others are natural.
For a fire to start there are three conditions that must be satisfied before fire is formed:
The first is Presence of Oxygen.
Oxidizing agents (air) have to be present for fire to take place.
The Second is Presence Of Fuel.
I like to describe fuel as anything that burns. These include : books, clothes, grass, plastics, oil and gas etc.
The third is Heat.
Heat is the last link in the fire triangle. Anything that can generate heat can cause fire.
The presence of these elements in an appropriate mixture causes a chain reaction that we know and describe as fire.
As soon as one of these elements is removed or blocked in significant amount, the fire stops. This can happen via :
a. Cooling (Removal of heat)
b. Smouldering (Removal of Oxygen) and...
c. Starvation (The removal of Fuel)
Classes of Fire : There are five major classes of fire. These include :
Class A :
These are the type of fire involving solid materials like clothes, wood , plastics etc. Most household fire usually fall under this category.
They can be extinguished with ordinary water, water mixed with soap and wet chemical.
Class B :
All flammable liquids like PMS , AGO and oil fall under this category.
Foam extinguishers are best used for this kind of fire as they have the ability to envelope the burning surface, denying them of enough oxygen to continue burning. C02 , dry sand and powder can also be used.
Water should not be used as it will only aggravate the fire.
Persons caught in the inferno should be wrapped round with a fire blanket to put out the flame.
Type C :
Type C fire covers flammable gases like butane , propane and methane.
Only dry powdered chemical should be used for this kind of fire.
Type D:
Some metals can burn. Metals like lithium and potassium fall under this category.
Type D Fire extinguishers, Will keep the fire away.
Electric Fire
Electric fire , for convenience, called Type E fire ; is a term used to describe fires bordering on electrical appliances and circuits.
They are one of the most dangerous forms of fire as they spread fiercely and are hard to control.
Efforts should be made to disconnect power from the burning house.
CO2 fire extinguishers should be used.
Water is greatly discouraged, but in the absence of options, detergents should be added to water and worked into lather to help quell the fire.
Type F Fire :
Type F fire involves cooking oil and fats.
While cooking, we sometimes overheat our cooking oil making them ignite.
We can quickly arrest this by covering the pot with a lid, putting out the fire source or covering the pot with a fire blanket.
The absence of enough oxygen will make the fire go out.
These , I believe , can help you make a better decision when confronted by fire.
You can share your thoughts in the comment section
Fire Triangle image credits:
I thought I was in a workplace safety course. Fire is one of the biggest disasters that can happen to us. The effect is huge. It can destroy the past and the future in an instant.