Tuesday, 20 December 2011

Firefighting training method

Engineers design “training” buildings for fires with various materials, including masonry, concrete and metal. The walls and ceilings of the building are covered with water-resistant bricks, integrated with sensors to monitor the intensity of the fire and also have fire gear and personal protective equipment for safety. The roof contains "cutting boards" made of wood, which give students the opportunity to learn how to properly ventilate a burning house and deal with the main fire in the main building structure. When the training team deploys agents to fight the fire, the building has sensors that tell that someone is making attempts to fight the fire (of course with fire gear and personal protective equipment) and whether it was or was not performed properly. The sensors tell the computer how to respond to the main method of the team. If a team is applying an agent improperly, it will simulate a real answer.

Specialized firefighters, such as airport firefighters also use this technology for training proposals. For example, a team of firemen from the airport can fight fire from a section of the fuselage of an airplane resting on gravel. According to its purpose, the computer controls a gas pipeline system that is directed to the bottom of the fuselage. It should be remembered that under all circumstances the personnel remain protected by personal protective equipment and fire gear.

The simulated structural fire in buildings is the safest and most resistant of the three options for building fires. Performing live fire training in an acquired structure can be risky because there is no guarantee on how long the construction will hold. It is common to schedule training in an acquired structure to perform them only in part. The training structures and buildings purchased for traditional fire also can be dangerous and more laborious. If the fire goes out, the team stops the training exercise; again ignites the fire and goes through a laborious process of keeping it under wraps because irrespective of the fire gear and personal safety equipment, a traditional fire could be dangerous, especially if the building is an old one. And regardless of the durability of materials used in traditional fires, the fire could go beyond bounds and sometimes the structure collapses and becomes unusable.

If done properly, a simulated structural fire can last indefinitely. In addition, its durability results not only in better trained firefighters but more of them, which is a significant advantage in contrast to other primitive methods. When fire gear and personal protective equipment instructors do not have to fire again they can spend time shopping and preparing new structures, they are free to device new training methods also. Other advantages include greatly reduced air pollution, making it easier to conduct training in populated communities.

But some critics argue that the constructions with fire simulators do not simulate at high temperatures and probable magnitudes, giving students a false sense of real fires. Although they are extremely limited in scope and dangerous, simulation structures provide the most realistic training experience possible at the moment.

Firefighting training: A detailed overview

Let's take a look at the most exciting and dangerous aspect of the training of firefighters.

To survive, a firefighter must think critically and objectively and solve problems quickly, under extreme pressure. This can be difficult especially in a real fire (more specifically those big infernos that make it to fire news), so the training instructors conduct fire drills: they purposely set fire to buildings to provide students with opportunities to develop these skills. The overall goal of behavioral firefighter training is to instill good habits in students through repeated exposure, so they can someday make fire news headlines. The fire drill is held in burning buildings; structures that are built or bought intentionally for the training of firefighters. Let's see what happens in a session of live fire training, according to the NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) fire news.

A senior firefighter provides a summary of the day's activities and the students wear their high-tech, multi-layered clothes. These clothes can withstand temperatures up to 648 ° C. In addition, each firefighter uses an SCBA, which adds another 15 kg at the laundry.

Next, the students enter the burning building. Students stand on the same side of the hose and are at a distance of one arm from each other. Other students, who will not run the hose, are preparing to move the hose to the front, as the team enters the building. The team crouches to enter the area of ​​the fire, making sure to keep the hose line between them and the flames. As students approach the area that they will fight, they take their places on the line: one operates the nozzle and the support system.

The instructor allows the students to open the nozzle, for fighting the flames. Under the command of the instructor, the team closes the nozzle and positions their bodies to prevent burns on exposed skin. Then the students switch positions. The operator goes to the nozzle end of the line and all take a step forward. The team repeats this process until everyone has operated the nozzle. When one puts out the fire, the team leaves the structure quickly but safely, leaving only the operator of the nozzle and a member of the support team back. They remain in place to make sure that the fire will not restart. When they are sure that the fire has been extinguished permanently, the team works together to collect the hose line structure.

After the training exercise, the instructor gives the students feedback on performance and also check for injury. After all have been evaluated and counted, the instructor reviews the activity and provides constructive feedback.

We get to hear about a lot of incidents in the fire news everyday and little do we realize that all the heroic deeds that we get to read on fire news has its roots into some serious training and hard ,work! The job of a firefighter is very difficult and had it not been for the training institutes, we wouldn’t have been able to sleep without worries!