1 / 93

Ground Cover

Ground Cover. References IFSTA Essentials of Fire Fighting Fifth Edition IFSTA Essentials of Fire Fighting Fifth Edition Fire Fighter I & II Presentations Delmar Firefighters Handbook Essentials of Firefighting and Emergency Response National Wildfire Coordinating Group

Télécharger la présentation

Ground Cover

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Ground Cover • References • IFSTA Essentials of Fire Fighting FifthEdition • IFSTA Essentials of Fire Fighting FifthEdition Fire Fighter I & II Presentations • Delmar Firefighters Handbook Essentials of Firefighting and Emergency Response • National Wildfire Coordinating Group • National Wildfire Coordination Group, Nation Interagency Fire Center

  2. Wildland Fires Require Full PPE !!!

  3. Standard Firefighting Orders • 1. Keep informed on fire weather conditions and forecast. • 2. Know what your fire is doing at all times. • 3. Base all actions on current and expected behavior of the fire. • 4. Identify escape routes and safety zones, and make them known.

  4. Standard Firefighting Orders • 5. Post lookouts when there is possible danger. • 6. Be alert. Keep calm. Think clearly. Act decisively. • 7. Maintain proper communications with your forces, your supervisor and adjoining forces.

  5. Standard Firefighting Orders • 8. Give clear instructions and insure they are understood. • 9. Maintain control of your forces at all times. • 10. Fight fire aggressively, having provided for all safety first.

  6. The firefighter shall correctly define wildfire terms as used as in the fire service: • (a.) Mop – up • (b.) Direct attack • (c.) Indirect attack • (d.) Fuel • (e.) Backfire/Burnout • (f.) Barrier • (g.) Topography • (h.) Suppression • (i.) Fire behavior • (j.) Incident commander • (k.) Incendiary fire • (l.) Mutual aid • (m.) Fire season • (n.) Convection column • (o.) Tools used in ground cover fires

  7. Defined Wildfire Terms • MOP – UP: All measures taken to make a fire “safe” after it has been controlled; includes trenching, felling snags, and patrolling control line.

  8. Defined Wildfire Terms • DIRECT ATTACK: To attack the fire directly at or close to the burning edge. • INDIRECT ATTACK: Controlling the fire by having the control line some distance from the approaching fire.

  9. Defined Wildfire Terms • WILDLAND FIRES:include fires in weeds, grass, field crops, brush, forest, and similar vegetation. • FUELS: are generally classified by grouping together fuels with similar burning characteristics. This method classifies ground cover fuels as ground, surface, and crown fuels.

  10. Defined Wildfire Terms • GROUND FUELS: (Duff) Small twigs, leaves, and needles that are decomposing on the ground. • SURFACE FUELS: Living surface vegetation includes grass, brush, and other low vegetation. Nonliving surface vegetation includes downed logs, heavy limbs, etc.

  11. Defined Wildfire Terms • CROWN FUELS:Suspended and upright fuels physically separated from the ground fuels to the extent that air can circulate freely around the fuels causing them to burn more rapidly.

  12. Defined Wildfire Terms • BACKFIRING: A technique used in the indirect attack method. Intentionally setting a fire between the control line and the advancing fire.The intent is for the backfire to meet the advancing fire some distance from the control line. • BURNING OUT: Intentionally setting fire to fuels inside the control line to widen the line. Used as a direct attack technique.

  13. Defined Wildfire Terms • BARRIER: Natural terrain as in; streams, cleared fields, swamps, burned areas, and roads typically an area or strip devoid of combustible fuel. • TOPOGRAPHY: Refers to the slope of the land and has a decided effect upon fire behavior, and influence on air movements.

  14. Defined Wildfire Terms • SLOPE ASPECTS:The direction the slopes faces. Full southern exposure (north of the equator) receive more of the sun’s direct rays and therefore receive more heat. Wildland fires typically burn faster on the southern exposures.

  15. Defined Wildfire Terms • LOCAL TERRIAN FEATURES:Directly affect air movements. Obstructions, such as ridges, trees, and even large rock outcroppings, may alter air flow and cause turbulence or eddies resulting in erratic fire behavior.

  16. Defined Wildfire Terms • CANYONS: Results in increased wind velocity. Wind movement can be critical in chutes of steep “V” drainages. These terrain features create turbulent updrafts causing a chimney effect. Fires in these chutes or drainages can spread at an extremely fast rate and are very dangerous.

  17. Defined Wildfire Terms • SUPPRESSION: Is attacking and extinguishing the fire. All personal and equipment and their activities in the field on the fire line are part of this activity. • FIRE BEHAVIOR: All fires are the result of a chemical process that occurs when a fuel becomes surrounded with adequate heat & air and manner in which a fire reacts to the variables of fuel, weather, and topography.

  18. Defined Wildfire Terms • INCIDENT COMMANDER: A person that encompasses the operation level, and overall charge of suppressing a ground fire. • INCENDIARY FIRE: Chemical agents that are used to start fires. Flammable and combustible liquids; Drip torch. Also flares, chemical oxidizers may be used.

  19. Defined Wildfire Terms • MUTUAL AID: A operation when two or more fire departments operate together, moving apparatus and firefighters in one community to another for the purpose of fire suppression under incident command. • Direct assistance from one fire agency to another during an emergency based upon a prearranged between agencies involved and generally made upon the request of the receiving agency.

  20. Defined Wildfire Terms • FIRE SEASON: Time of year when ground cover fires are most likely to happen and occur with spread, and the damage wildland values are sufficient to warrant organized fire suppression.

  21. Defined Wildfire Terms • CONVECTION COLUMN: Rising column of heated air or gases above a continuing heat or fire source. These violent convection columns fire storms, often with tornado like whirls, caused by large, continuous fires. Also caused by uneven terrain.

  22. Defined Wildfire Terms • TOOLS USED IN GROUND COVER FIRES: Shovels, Pulaski, fire rakes, hoes, saws, water pump cans, brush hooks, torches, McLeods, swatters, brooms, axes, combination tools, and support equipment.

  23. Fire Suppression • The successful attack and control of ground cover fire can best be achieved if the fire problem is fully evaluated by by pre-fire planning and size up. • Size up begins with the first report of the fire.

  24. Fire Suppression • The firefighter should begin to evaluate the problem with the facts at hand: The areas reference points and landmarks, the time of year, and the time of day.

  25. Fire Suppression • The smoke can usually be seen from a distance. This can tell you what type fuel load may be burning. What the wind direction is, and what road or route to take to head off the fire.

  26. Fire Suppression • The first several minutes are the most important for the success of initial attack because the firefighter must decide at that point whether additional forces are needed.

  27. Size Up • It may be obvious that the initial attack force will be able to suppress the fire in a reasonable length of time. • There may be some question of weather the initial attack force will be able to suppress the fire without reinforcement.

  28. Size Up • The fire may be a burning building that is totally involved, the fire threatening heavy grass and brush land. • The initial attack force should ignore the building and attempt to prevent or suppress ground cover fire.

  29. Size Up • It may be obvious that the initial attack forces can’t stop the fire. Call for reinforcements on all sides. • Establish a strategic point such as a road or cleared field where the line may be anchored so the efforts of the crew will not be lost or outflanked.

  30. Size Up • It may be observed that valuable improvements in the path of the flames are threatened. Take measures to protect them and begin to suppress the spreading fire.

  31. Size Up is a continuous process • A ground cover fire is ever changing and size up should be continuous even after initial attack is made. Factors that become involved during a fire:

  32. Size Up is a continuous process • The location of the head or heads • Type of fuel • Size of fire • Special hazards • Exposures • Natural barriers • Access roads • Water source • Line of retreat

  33. Planning the Attack • After size up, an overall attack method must be decided upon and put into operation. • Determining the attack method should be based knowledge of fire behavior, the personal and equipment available, and potential economic effect of the fire. Other factors to consider are:

  34. Planning the Attack • Where to attack • Location of control lines • Estimated completion time of line construction • Estimated spread and behavior of the fire • Determine possible danger spots

  35. Direct Attack • Direct attack techniques cool, drown, smother, beat out, starve, or otherwise suppress the flame. • The control line is established along or directly on the edge of the fire.

  36. Direct Attack • The direct attack is most often used on light running fires in grass, leaves, small brush, field crops, and on the flanks and rear of large, intense fires. • Some of the more pertinent questions that deserve answers when considering the use of direct attack are:

  37. Direct Attack • Will there be to much heat and smoke for the firefighters to work at the edge of the fire? • Is there adequate protective breathing equipment available for fire fighters? • Will firefighters be relatively safe at the fire’s edge so they can escape? • Will trucks, hose lines, and equipment be exposed excessive risk of burning?

  38. Direct Attack • Will it be worth the effort to construct a fire line close to a natural barrier in a unburned area? • Will direct attack at a specific point avoid a probable in an area that might threaten exposures of economic value? • Are firefighters in physical shape to work effectively in a direct attack?

  39. Direct Attack • Advantages • The fire is stopped with little further spread • No costly or dangerous backfiring is used • Full advantage is taken of burned-out areas along control line • No need for standby personal to watch unburned areas

  40. Direct Attack • Disadvantages • Attack is hampered by heat, smoke, and flames • Control line is long, irregular, and must follow the fire edge • Does not always take advantage of natural fire barriers • Greater danger from breakovers, hot spots, and wind changes • More mop-up and closer patrol required

  41. Indirect Attack • The indirect attack consists of controlling a ground cover fire by constructing a continuous line to bare soil, in unburned fuels at a considerable distance in front of the fire, and then backfiring.

  42. Indirect Attack • It is most effective against large fires during periods of high fire danger where there is intense burning, a high rate of spread, and when working conditions are extremely hazardous to firefighters.

  43. Drip Torch Fuses Back Burning Pulaski

  44. Indirect Attack • Advantages • Permits easier work for crew because less smoke, heat, and flame contact • Reduces length of fire edge and shortens control time • Permits crews to take advantage of natural barriers • Less danger of breakover from sparks

  45. Indirect Attack • Disadvantages • Sacrifice in acreage burned • Backfiring can get out of control • Requires a close watch along fire line to prevent flare up behind it • Fire can suddenly change direction because of wind conditions • Fire can outflank and put crew in jeopardy

  46. Fire Line Location & Construction • A fire line established for an indirect attack serves as a safety strip to prevent further spread of the fire once it has been brought under control. • The success of depends upon how skillfully the fire line is located and constructed, and how the backfire is used to contain the head of the fire.

  47. Fire Line Location & Construction • A fire line must be wide enough to prevent oncoming flame from jumping over to the fuel on the other side. • A fire line must be built far enough ahead of the fire before it can reach it.

  48. Fire Line Location & Construction • Take advantage of natural barriers • Avoid thick dense fuel • Do not construct more line than crews can supervise • Anchor the line to safe fire barrier

More Related