Overall, three quarters (74%) said that the fire was quickly extinguished. Twenty eight percent of the fires caused damage to property estimated at greater than £50.
Publicity and Education
Over 70% of all questioned remembered seeing or hearing information about fires in the home. Most of these were from television, but others also mentioned newspapers, leaflets and fire brigade visits. Almost 90% still said that they would like more information on dealing with fires, the majority suggesting television as the most suitable media.
PRACTICAL FIRE TESTS
Practical fire tests were conducted to establish the most effective, practical method of extinguishing domestic fires. The fires were fought by staff who had not been trained in firefighting with a range of firefighting equipment likely to be found in the home.
Fire engineering and emergency planning 86
Domestic Fire Scenarios
A series of practical fire tests were conducted involving typical domestic fire scenarios:
* electrical appliances such as irons and televisions,
* chip and grill pan fires,
* clothes and material on a clothes horse,
* fires in a mattress and sofa, and
* fires in a waste bin.
These fires were fought using a variety of techniques and equipment including:
* various amounts of water applied at different stages in the fire,
* smothering with a damp cloth,
* fire blankets, and
* dry powder fire extinguishers.
The fires were confined to a single source and the possible spread of the fire was not considered. Each type of fire was first allowed to burn freely in a room. The levels of smoke, air temperature and thermal radiation were assessed in the enclosed environment.
This gave an indication of the environment that would be encountered by a householder discovering a fire.
Application of Water
For most categories of fire other than hot fat fires and electrical fires, applying water was found to be the quickest and cheapest option to extinguish the fire. In the tests, applying a small amount of water quickly controlled the fire even if it was not completely extinguished immediately. In a domestic scenario, this controlling action would allow the householder sufficient time for further, safer firefighting.
The tests highlighted that a small amount of water applied at an early stage in the fire controlled the potentially hazardous situation more effectively than applying a larger amount of water at a later stage. Once water had been applied to a fire, any unburned fire load was difficult to reignite and any burning areas were cooled.
Smothering with a Damp Cloth
For hot fat fires the Home Office advice for tackling chip pan fires is to use a damp tea towel. During the tests, this method proved to be the most effective method of tackling the fire in terms of safety, availability and ease of use. If the initial application was unsuccessful the first tea towel could be left in position, controlling the fire sufficientfy to enable the application of another damp tea towel in relative safety.
Dry Powder Extinguishers
Multi purpose dry powder extinguishers successfully extinguished all fires except those involving hot fat. The dry powder extinguishers did however prove to be both messy and
Domestic 'first aid' firefighting 87
expensive and therefore were considered unlikely to be suitable for the domestic environment. Additionally, during the tests on hot fat fires, the extinguisher forced the hot fat out of its container, effectively adding to the hazard from the fire. The extinguishers’ contents did not cool the fat sufficiently to prevent re-ignition.
Fire Blankets
The fire blankets used during the tests were found to have four main drawbacks for fighting domestic fires:
1. The material construction of the blankets meant that they were too rigid to form a seal around the fire.
2. The blankets were too big to apply easily to small fires that were not contained.
3. It was found to be very difficult to assess the state of the fire when a blanket had been placed over it.
4 The blankets did not cool the materials in and around the fire and therefore did not prevent re-ignition of the fire when the blanket was removed.
SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS The findings of the study provide the following conclusions:
1. Concern about fire in the home is relatively high amongst the general public despite its low incidence.
2. The publicity campaigns for smoke alarms have been very successful.
3. The majority of fires were discovered within a minute of starting and the average time taken to tackle a fire was 2.5 minutes. This indicates that the both the discovery and fighting of fire is very quick, giving little time for thought.
4. Seventy three percent of the fires in this survey had flames less than one foot at worst and 81% of those questioned described the fire as “small and easy to put out”. This indicates that most people will try to fight fires less than a foot in height.
5. Most fires were extinguished using a damp cloth or water, and few people used a fire extinguisher or fire blanket. This indicates that using items readily to hand was a more instinctive reaction than using specific firefighting equipment.
6. Six out of ten people reported that since the fire they had become more aware of the danger of fire and had changed their home or lifestyle accordingly.
7. Almost 90% of those surveyed said that they would like more information on dealing with fires, the majority suggesting television as the most suitable media.
8. For most categories of fire other than hot fat fires and electrical fires, applying water was found to be the quickest and cheapest option. A small amount of water applied at an early stage in the fire controlled the potentially hazardous situation more effectively than applying a larger amount of water at a later stage.
9. For hot fat fires, application of a damp cloth to test fires proved to be the most effective method of tackling the fire in terms of safety, availability and ease of use.
Fire engineering and emergency planning 88
10. Multi purpose dry powder extinguishers successfully fought all fires except those involving hot fat. They did, however, prove to be both messy and expensive and consequently were considered unlikely to be suitable for the domestic environment.
11. The fire blankets used during the tests were found to have four main drawbacks for fighting domestic fires: they were too rigid and bulky, they obscured the progress of the fire and did not prevent re-ignition.
Domestic 'first aid' firefighting 89