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AIM(PART ONE)FIRE HAZARDFIRE CAUSE ANALYSIS OF HAZARDS AND CAUSE

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GROUPS OF HAZARDS (PART TWO)

OCCUPANCY HAZARD

a. COMMON &

b. PERSONAL

SPECIAL HAZARDS

TARGET HAZARD

EXPOSURE HAZARD

CONFLAGRATION HAZARD

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At the end of this session fire prevention inspectors should be able to clearly identify fire hazards and fire cause, and intelligently discuss conditions of a property with the owner or occupant in a manner that will help them understand the existing condition.

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The fire prevention inspector must be able to recognize fire hazards, determine fire cause, judge the fire load, classify building construction, estimate fire load, and evaluate private fire protection.

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A fire hazard may be defined as any material, condition, or act that will contribute to the start of fire or will increase the extent and severity of a fire. In order to prevent a situation from being hazardous, an inspector must eliminate one of the three components of the fire triangle.

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It should always be borne in mind that very little control can be maintained over the oxygen supply except in special cases.

Fuel supply hazard and heat source hazard are more readily controlled. If heat sources are kept separated from fuel supplies, the condition will be safe indefinitely.

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A fire cause involve three controllable conditions. These are:

1. the fuel supply;

2. the heat source; and

3. the hazardous act.

A fire is caused when the fuel supply and the heat source are brought together.

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Fires are often reported erroneously because the reporter fails to consider all of these factors.

For example, a spark from a welding torch ignites an open container of gasoline.

One fire officer might report this fire as being caused by welding while another would report it as being caused by an open container of flammable liquids.

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A cigarette, carelessly discarded, which ignites a pile of trash could be reported as a cigarette fire in one instance and a rubbish fire in another. In attempting to determine the cause of a fire, one should consider the fuel supply, the heat source, and the hazardous act that brought them together.

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Some fuel supplies, heat sources, and hazardous acts that frequently interact to cause a fire are shown in the following analysis.

Fire hazards are a cause-effect phenomenon. There are three basic causes of all fire hazards which are violations of and deviations from sound fire prevention practices plus inherent occupational problems.

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Likewise, there are three basic effects with varying degrees of consequences.

The probable effect of the hazard, measured in incident/loss consequences, establishes the priority of the corrective action.

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VIOLATION

Through:

Ignorance, Criminal neglect, Apathy

CAUSEDDEVIATION

BY Resulting from:

Environmental accessity

Production requirements

Economic factors

FIREINHERENT PROBLEMS

HAZARD Caused by:

Occupancy process

Location

Improper standards

PRODUCTION CAPABILITY

EFFECTS LIFE LOSS INCIDENT LOSS UPON CONSEQUENCES

PROPERTY LOSS Imminent

Probable

Possible

Fire-fighters are trained to recognise fire hazards and, in like manner, they must be trained to determine the fire cause.

Therefore, the prime purpose of fire prevention and fire inspection are to locate the hazard, determine the cause, predict the probable effect, and correct the fault.

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In The Three Es of Fire Prevention Activities it is noted that engineering, education, and enforcement are all directed towards the elimination of the hazardous act that could bring together the fuel supply and heat source to cause a fire. All fire hazard are a cause-effect phenomenon.

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FUEL SUPPLYHEAT SOURCEHAZARDOUS ACTFlammable LiquidsOpen Flames Torches, matches, cigarettes, ovens, heaters, (including open element electric heaters)Improper smoking habits and disposal of smoking materials. Careless handling of flame.Compressed Gas Heating and cooking equipment Air-conditioning and ventilating systemsImproper installation, use, and maintenance of tools and equipment.Flammable/ Combustible Solids and DustsFriction-hot bearings, rubbing, belts, grinding, shreading, polishing, cutting, and drillingDo-it-yourself projects Improper wiring, circuitry, and protective devices.ExplosivesElectrical arcing and sparking Lightening, staticImproper storage and handling of flammable liquids, gases, andOxidizing MaterialsChemical reactions and processes Spontaneous Ignitioncombustible solids, Failure to properly protect and process stored items.

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Any attempt to compile an exhaustive of the many types of hazards would be a fruitless effort. Therefore, for this reason , types of hazards have been separated into groups and are discussed from this standpoint.

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GROUPS OF HAZARDS

GROUPS OF HAZARDS (PART TWO)

OCCUPANCY HAZARD

a. COMMON &

b. PERSONAL

SPECIAL HAZARDS

TARGET HAZARD

EXPOSURE HAZARD

CONFLAGRATION HAZARD

One classification of fire hazards, in the type of category, is influenced by the occupancy class and directly associated with the processing activities that are conducted. Occupancy, therefore, has to do with two factors, people and things.

People cause a hazardous act and things cause a hazardous condition.

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A common hazard is a condition which is likely to be found in almost all occupancies and is not generally associated with any specific occupancy, process, or activity.

Common fire hazards are listed in contrast to the types of hazards which are usually peculiar to a given industry, facility, process or area.

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Some examples of common hazards are:

Heating & cooking equipment

Smoking and matches

Housekeeping (environmental control)

Electrical power & equipment

Fumigation & insecticides

Air-conditioning & venting system

Cleaning agents, compounds & equipment

Storage incompatibility

Personal hazards are probably the most serious of all occupancy hazards and they usually offer the greatest problem to a fire inspector. The term personal hazard covers all of the individual traits, habits, and personalities of the people who supervise, work in, live in, or visit the property or building in question.

The following hypothetical fire loss case points out some personal hazards.

An industrial property burns because someone carelessly threw a cigarette into a pile of trash. The fire extinguishers were found inoperative and the standpipe fire hose leaked so badly that it was worthless.

It is difficult to determine which individual factor was responsible for the hypothetical loss.

The man was smoking in a section of the building where smoking was prohibited.

Carelessness and lack of personal responsibility - certainly. But, did the management give consideration to the employees and provide him with a suitable place and opportunity to smoke?

If not, then management was negligent.

Was the pile of trash a result of an incompetent janitor, or did management fail to provide a place or a means to dispose of trash?

A personal hazard may first be considered as a rather intangible one.

It is at the same time a most interesting and important hazard, for it has to do with human beings.

The personal hazard is always present and must be given consideration by the fire prevention officer.

A special fire hazard may be defined as a fire hazard arising from the process or operations that are peculiar to the individual occupancy.

Some materials and processes that constitute a special hazard occupancy include:

PaintingFlammable liquids

WeldingExplosive

ChemicalsGases

AcidsDust

The wide spread use of flammable liquids in dip tanks, ovens, driers, mixing, coating, spraying and de-greasing processes involves a variety of special hazards.

Flammable gases are commonly used as fuel or for special purposes, such as cutting and welding.

Processing certain materials, such as metal, rubber, cork, fertilizer and drugs, produces flammable dust which presents problems in preventing explosions and spontaneous ignition of the finely divided materials.

Combustible fibers and chemical processes also prevent a problem.

Some of these processes and hazardous features will occasionally be found in occupancies which are normally relatively free of special hazards.

A hotel, for example, may contain a private laundry, a woodworking and upholstering shop, or an implement warehouse which may have a small section equipped for repairing and painting.

A target hazard may be defined as a condition, facility, or process which could produce or stimulate a fire that would involve a possible large life loss, a possible large fire loss, a large concentration of material that would burn rapidly, or a concentration of materials of high monetary value.

Some examples of target hazards are:

Lumber yards

Public assembly buildings

Area shopping centres

Rows of frame tenements

Flammable liquid bulk storage

Fur storage vaults

Hospitals

Schools

An exposure hazard may be defined as property that may endanger other property or structures by fire which may extend from the exposure hazard.

When inspecting a building, all nearby buildings, trash burning devices, or other similar items must be evaluated to determine the degree to which they may be exposure hazards.

The location of the building being inspected is a major factor. If it is in a highly built up area, the exposure hazard would naturally be greater than if it were located in open, widely spaced areas.

Although a building may be isolated it may still have wood trim, combustible roofs, or other combustible materials which may easily be ignited from an exposure fire.

The primary consideration in exposure studies is the effect of radiant heat. Factors which will affect minimum distance and protection criteria are:

1.Construction, both the number of stories and the combustibility of the material involved;

2.occupancy; and

3.area, square feet of space per floor.

Occupancies are classified as LIGHT, ORDINARY, or EXTRA HAZARD based on the concentration of combustible storage, the process involved, and the number of occupancies.

From a fire protection standpoint, the term conflagration applies to sweeping fires that spread beyond control over a considerable area, crossing natural or prepared barriers and destroying many buildings.

A conflagration hazard, therefore, may be defined as a condition in which a considerable number of buildings are so located that their involvement in fire would constitute conflagration.

Conflagration creates severe updrafts as a result of the rising heated air and gases.

Air is drawn in so rapidly from all sides of the burning area that the updraft is sometimes mistaken for a high wind.

Conflagration actually create a wind towards their centre.

Large pieces of burning material are sometimes carried aloft in different directions, and heated gases have been known to travel considerable distances before bursting into flame.

Radiated heat often raises the temperature of exposed buildings to their ignition point before any fire directly reaches them.

Conflagration generally fall into one of the following categories:

1.Fires started in hazardous occupancies in congested sections which spread in one or more directions before effective resistance is organized to bring them under control.

2.Fires occurring in primarily residential sections which spread beyond control due to closely built combustible construction and wooden shingle roofs.

3. Conflagrations resulting from extensive forest and bush fires entering a municipality over a wide front.

4.Conflagration are caused bay a combination of factors. Some of the principal factors which have contributed to the creation and development of conflagration include:

Lack of exposure protection

Inadequate public fire protection

Inadequate water

Distribution Wooden shingle roof

High wind

Climate conditions

Reference; International Fire Service Training Association (ifsta 110)

Fire Prevention and inspection Practices

Fourth Edition