What can happen to your home in 3 mins

[justintime2]

This is from a fire in March of this year. The couch in the living room is on fire. The 5 photo's are from start of fire to 3 minutes. Get sprinklers in your home, they save people more often than we do. By the time you woke up for this kind of fire you would be cooked. This beast excellerates at an amazing speed, which is a statement we can all appreciate!

<!--EDIT|justintime2
Reason for Edit: None given...|1116249241 -->

 

[justintime2]

<!--EDIT|justintime2
Reason for Edit: None given...|1116249146 -->

 

[justintime2]

 

[justintime2]

 

[justintime2]

 

[UR IT!]

Was this a test fire? Or did you just not want to go back in and save the cat?

 

[nitrousjunkie]

Dayuuum!

 

[pure_ego]

geez.. how does it spread that quickly?

 

[justintime2]

Was this a test fire? Or did you just not want to go back in and save the cat?

This was a house burn for training. The house to the right of it we lit fires in all day and did interior fire fighting operations. We were very nervous after the speed of the other one though and put them down quickly. No accelerants were used, just lit a piece of paper and dropped on the couch. Think about that next time your smoking.  

<!--EDIT|justintime2
Reason for Edit: None given...|1116250380 -->

 

[justintime2]

geez.. how does it spread that quickly?

It's called "flashover". This is when the temperature in an environment reaches a certain level and everything in the room spontaneously ignites from the floor to the ceiling. This includes our bunker gear we wear, it will ignite as well when a flashover occurs. There are alot of warning signs along the way that should be telling to get out before that happens though. The temps get high enough when doing interior operations that the heat turns your sweat into steam and gives you knarly burns, usually starting on your head which you can't reach though your helmet.

<!--EDIT|justintime2
Reason for Edit: None given...|1116250557 -->

 

[UR IT!]

Was this a test fire? Or did you just not want to go back in and save the cat?

This was a house burn for practice. The house to the right of it we lit fires in all day and did interior fire fighting practice. We were very nervous after the speed of the other one and put them down quickly. No accelerants were used, just lit a piece of paper and dropped on the couch. Think about that next time your smoking.  

I don't smoke......of course unless I'm thinking really hard about something

 

[BigBSBusa]

Wow! The difference from pic 2 to pic 3 is amazing! My hats off to all the firefighters out there because that is some tough sh$t!

 

[shenoyp]

...

 

[justintime2]

Wow!  The difference from pic 2 to pic 3 is amazing!  My hats off to all the firefighters out there because that is some tough sh$t!

THANKS! Pic 3 is where the flashover occurs at about 2mins. Now consider the callout timeline for us to get there and alot of times there is nothing we can do.
1. someone has to notice it
2. they call 911 and dispatch collects the info
3. dispatch sends tones out to us for a response
4. we get bunker'd up and go in route
5. in route time to get there, hopefully without other drivers doing stupid things when they see/hear the sirens and lights delaying us even further
6. on-scene, give a size-up to other incoming aparatus and dispatch center
7. do a 360 degree walk around size-up of the structure so we don't miss anything dangerous that can change the dynamics, ie - propane tanks, o2 tanks, etc.
8. establish command and accountability system for our FF's
9. establish offensive or defensive tactics and execute them
10. continual size-up to adjust for what is working and what isn't

Now you can see by the above response timeline that these things have a big jump on us before we can attack it. The pic below is from a trailer fire. We faught the fully involved right 60% of the trailer while trying to get to her in the left side by cutting through the wall. She died on the other side of that wall, on her 40th birthday.

 

[BusaAdmirer]

 

[busahaya]

 

[pure_ego]

i've always heard that trailers.. especially older one go up like a styrofoam cup when they catch fire... one minute it's there, the next it's basically gone..


i'll keep my pile of bricks, and concrete thanks anyway..

I bet a person could put sprinklers in a one story house pretty easily... and cheap too assuming the little sprinkler thingies are outrageously priced.

can't imagine it would take much more than a average understanding of pluming.. hmm.

Would be basically one big loop around the house with good ole pvc pipe.. connected to a main somewhere with a shut off valve..

a few holes in da' roof for the sprinkler and yer done.

or is there some big comlex stuff ya hafta do?

hehe.. I happen to have about 60 feet of 1/2 inch pvc sitting in the basement with no place to go.. an easily accessible attic.. and basic plumbin' skilllzzzz haha.

cheap insurance for yer family sounds like to me.

 

[mjn]

I have the utmost respect for you guys.

My cousin is a firefighter/paramedic here in town, and man, the stories.....

Thanks for doing what you do.

Be safe...

 

[geenius]

my dad's a fire captain, so i get stories like this (with pics) all the time. have you been in the paper for delivering a baby yet? our local rag ran a piece of my dad going to some twins's quiencienera or however you spell it (the mexican girls big day) of who he delivered in the middle of some big emergency.

 

[Charlesbusa]