8 Backdraft Magazine | A Volunteer Fire Service Publication | Volume 5 | Issue 1 | www.thebackdraftmagazine.com
Fire Behavior
A Fresh Look At An Old Enemy
By Mike Bucy
Today's fire academies have to teach a wide array of skills
in a relatively short amount of time. The one topic that only
gets a quick nod before unfortunately moving on is that of
fire behavior. Fire behavior is the most important class that a
recruit can have--it is the foundation for all that we teach. It
is also becoming the focus of many NIOSH Fatality reports.
Years after recruit school, how many firefighters are re-
introduced to the topic in a formal setting? Not many. Yet
as these NIOSH reports are starting to highlight, there
is an inherent ignorance to fire behavior that is leading to
firefighter injury and death.
There are many reasons for this--most firefighters incorrectly
believe that fire behavior has nothing new to add to their
knowledge base. Some believe that is an "academy only"
or "rookie" skill.
The following scenario highlights the problem of fire behavior
knowledge in today's fire service:
You respond to a house that the occupant says is filling with
gas. You arrive and confirm this to be true. What is your next
move?
When recently polled in a classroom setting, over 90% of
150 participants said they would not enter the home and
they would also attempt to eliminate the source before
entering. They would then attempt to ventilate the house
before entering.
Here is the problem--this scenario depicts a house filled with
smoke, not natural gas. The firefighters assumed natural
gas and deemed it a "hazardous materials" environment and
would not enter for fear of an explosion.
Yet, when confronted with the scenario of a house fire, they
did not balk at entering the home.
There is where we need to re-educate the fire service
veterans and properly educate the new recruits.
For too many years, firefighters have been depicted as
superheroes--running through burning flames (and too little
smoke)--saving citizens left and right. We make T-shirts
and cartoon images of how immortal firefighters appear to
be. We engrave memorial stones with the words "Sacrificed
Their Own Safety" on them.
The fire service culture has taught our old and new firefighters
alike that we are impervious to the perils of firefighting. This
culture tells us we rescue our citizens from burning rooms
and fully involved structures.
This just is not the case. Most of our rescues come from
the floors above or below the fire--or at the opposite end
of the building from where the fire is burning. These are still
rescues, and great ones at that--but it is extremely rare that
we pull a living, breathing victim from the fire room.
The images of today's TV shows and movies depict firefighters
bounding into burning rooms and pulling out children left and
right. Remember the movie poster for "Backdraft?" That is