Have you done any fire fighting?

1) SWMBO succesfully put out electrical fire on a tractor with 1kg powder

2) I failed to suppress wheelie bin fire with 1 kg powder, but a bigger one might have worked as fire was not all that advanced, and the 1kg was having quite a good effect until it ran out.

3) Successfully suppressed engine fire (electrics again) on neighbours car with 1kg powder poked under nearly closed bonnet. Fire Brigade arrived to take over as we thought it might re light.

4) Drunken student released 1kg powder in daughters car "for a laugh"...........need I say more........:rolleyes:

Putting foam/Fairy liquid into fountains costs thousands to rectify as water lubricates the pumps. Foam doesn't and the pump bearings cook.

Tim
 
penfold said:
Those Fearnaught suits are a bit warm aren't they?



1st degree and not 3rd degree I hope! That's now called Full Depth burn these days and is identifiable by the charred or waxy white appearance, this is as serious as burns get and you would have spent a long stay in Hospital with it. 1st degree = superficial and 2nd degree = partial depth.
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I may be wrong but I think it was third degree.The good thing was that it was very localized.It didn't hurt at all which I think is one of the symptoms as the nerves are destroyed.It took months to heal and got infected very easily.But I can't be sure.
 
Though I was trained in firefighting by theb RN many moons ago I have never had to do it for real, though I did once watch the whole of Kent fire brigade squeeze into the nuclear area in Chatham Dockyard when Valiant had a fire in the reactor access module. The fire was put out by the duty watch with a couple of hand held CO2 extinguishers. Aparently fire engines were moving up 100 miles away as the LFB moved south to cover kent.

On the boat we have 2 small foams one by the galley and passage past the engine room and one in the aft cabin, a large halon replacement in the engine room, a large foam in the cockpit (engine is under the cockpit) a dry powder in the front of the saloon and in the fore cabin and a blanket by the galley.

We had a fire in the factory I worked in some years ago in the flow solder flux bath and that was a wonderful demonstration of just how effective sprinkler systems are, despite the intensity the fire damage radius was about 6 feet, the water damage radious was a lot more, but we were in full production within 6 hours.
 
Never use dry powder in an eng comp fire .If the engine is running you will have the cost of a new engine too .
 
When the engine of my works LPG Vauxhall Combo van burst into flames outside the workshops they used about 6 no 5kg (I think) dry powder extinguishers on it to no avail, then the fire brigade arrived but just let it burn out because it was gas.

It was a horrible van to drive anyway:p
 
My first week as a regular soldier after training was spent at raf catterick, on a green goddess doing firefighting drills at the back of the airfield on old cars and old aircraft, then a couple of weeks at blyth ta unit, getting called out to numerous fires during the firemans strike during late 1977, first one was a fire at the pub where the landlady had a new fire fitted and the fire had set the floor alight and we had to dismantle the fire to get to smoldering wood, then we found the gas pipe, bent over and hammered flat.

Then early in the morning blyth docks cafe had gone up, the main problem was the large gas storage tank which was close by, we spent hours and hours keeping that cool, whilst another team tried to put out the cafe fire, it was a smoldering wreck by the time it was all over.

For me it was a great couple of months over the christmas period, the locals were really good to us, 10% off any goods we bought in the shops, and all the clubs we were invited to. A great beginning to my career in the army.
 
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6 years in the fire service for me, also took part in a ship firefighting drill up at the Fire Service Colleage a few years back in their concrete ship. Now I'm off the trucks due to a promotion and working in HQ but still get to cover a day a month on a truck so I can maintain my operational compentance !

CHeers

Stu
 
I used to be with British Aerospace, who ( in the 1970's at least ) trained all us apprentices in fire fighting, in this case at Dunsfold Aerodrome, Surrey - home of the Harrier and Hawk aircraft, now where Jeremy Clarkson and co. play with expensive cars on 'Top Gear'.

Contrary to popular belief, jet fuel is not at all volatile, one can throw the proverbial lighted match into a tray full of it, and the match will simply go out.

'Avgas' high octane petrol for piston engined aircraft is a very different matter and great care must be taken !

However any decently equipped aircraft hangar has an array of colour-coded extinguishers, from 'water, don't use on electrics' through ' safe to use on alloy' to ' this is getting serious, who cares if it damages alloy ' !

I have been involved with one fire at sea, and seen another.

The one I saw; I was a 10 year old near novice, sailing my 10' Caricraft gunter rigged dinghy with my father; just to make things awkward I was the instructor.

We heard a loud bang, looked around but there was only a 20'-ish powerboat in sight, the type with a small cabin under the streamlined foredeck.

I looked back again say a minute later, and huge flames were issuing from this boat, maybe 50 feet high with a lot of black smoke.

We tacked and made best speed towards it, as we got closer I feared what we'd find, as there was a black object near the transom.

Luckily this turned out to be the Z-drive, but the heat was so intense I was worried it would melt our terylene sails as we closed to make sure no-one was still aboard.

It turned out the 2 crew had jumped overboard and swam for it ( a few yards ) when the gas cooker had caught fire; this was the boat's first and only trip, and it was uninsured.

It took less than 5 minutes to go from complete vessel to a molten lump of GRP...

The fire I was actually involved in; we were just offshore of the Eddystone, going from Dartmouth to Fowey, in late September 1988 grabbing a last cruise, in the Carter 30 I had at the time.

I went below to check the chart, and put the kettle on at the same time.

Shortly after I looked around from the chart table to see a vertical jet of flame coming from the armoured flexible hose on the back of the cooker.

The second word I yelled to my chum in the cockpit was 'Fire' , he scabbled for the turn-off valve ( we had to ignore the theories about blow-backs, no choice ) while I was busy with a dry powder extinguisher.

In fact the extinguisher did far more cosmetic damage than the fire, I didn't know the stuff is very corrosive on varnished woodwork.

We would have been very poorly placed if the fire had been worse, the inflatable was stowed in a quarter berth and I doubt the electric 'High Speed Inflator' could have been much help; we didn't have a liferaft.

The Fowey Harbourmaster was a Star, when he saw the debris in the cockpit he called on VHF and organised a hot meal in a local pub, as well as taking our line to a handy mooring.

The big lesson from all this was I will never put up with armoured gas hose again, one cannot see if it's ruptured; I use the black hose from caravan shops ( half the price of chandleries ) with the expiry date printed - and unsurprisingly I change it every winter !

In my current boat I have 2 x auto extinguishers above the 2-stroke fuel tank, large extinguishers by companionway, galley, midships & forehatch + a fire blanket by the galley.

I may post this as a separate thread, but I've sometimes wondered if a dinghy may be inflated with extinguishers in an emergency ?
 
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Seajet said:
I may post this as a separate thread, but I've sometimes wondered if a dinghy may be inflated with extinguishers in an emergency ?
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Not sure how pertinent this is, but I saw on one of those 'Brainiac' clones on the idiot box a poltroon presenter attempt to inflate a cheap PVC inflatable mattress with a CO2 extinguisher; it blew up a bit then shattered into a zillion shards as the CO2 reduced the plastic to -57C. If you want a rapid inflation device, perhaps a disposable welding gas cylinder and regulator could be experimented with?
 
Searush said:
Blue dragon I think it was asked on teh Lidl Extinguisher thread if any one had experience of fighting fire on a boat & thought it might make a decent thread - so here is that thread! :D

I've not fought a fire in a boat, but I did put out an oven fire in a clubhouse once, using a Dry Powder unit. It certainly dealt with the fire quite quickly, but the white powder was EVERYWHERE! I was glad I wasn't required to clean it up afterwards.
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galley fire on a mirage 28
One of those imitation bone handles knives caught fire having stuck partially over the hob.
Within seconds flames were licking the headlining which was starting to go. Very very fast and really frightening.
Grabbed extinguisher, it had a button on the top, with a protective collar underneath which you had to rip off. Pulled the ring to rip the collar off and it snapped. Repeatedly hit the collar on the table but couldn't budge it.
Fire blanket was used by someone who descended from the cockpit having heard the shout of fire. This put out the knife and the other things like plastic plates that were by now burning. The headlining self extinguished once the heat from below was removed, albeit rather charred.

The biggest lesson was the lack of clarity in my thinking. The blanket was the best solution from the start. I just didn't think of it.
 
Penfold,

Thanks, I had a nasty feeling nothing is that simple !

I'd be more than a little sheepish ( and probably duffed up by the crew ) if my boat was on fire and I then destroyed my best PLAN B by freezing and shattering it.

The snag is finding a plentiful supply of proper but cheap inflatable dinghies to experiment with...

Seajet
 
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Seajet said:
Penfold,

Thanks, I had a nasty feeling nothing is that simple !

I'd be more than a little sheepish ( and probably duffed up by the crew ) if my boat was on fire and I then destroyed my best PLAN B by freezing and shattering it.

The snag is finding a plentiful supply of proper but cheap inflatable dinghies to experiment with...

Seajet
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Of course the 'proper' way of doing it is to retrieve the inflator from an expired liferaft and graft it onto your dinghy, along with pressure relief valves from chamber to chamber and finally to atmosphere that can flow as fast as the inflator inflates. Not easy, but an achievable and interesting project; a bell has gone off in my head, did Tinker dinghys not have a inflator mechanism fitted?
 
Penfold,

Yes, Tinker Tramps had a liferaft option, sailing ability too for even more cost, but they were

A, Very expensive,

B, Had a daft low bow which never made sense to me.

I have a 1-man liferaft from a Harrier ejection seat, but I suppose I'd have to arm wrestle the crew for who got to have a go ( in reality carried on holiday cruises for 'something to hang on to ' while pondering ).

There seems to be a gap in the market for an inflation kit either with a moderately priced dinghy or as an add-on, but it would have to be less cost and weight ( ie possible to inflate normally the rest of the time ) compared to a liferaft...

This would of course not replace a serious liferaft in bad conditions, but might be handier in the event of say a fire on a summer cruise, it would be a lot more manouverable with the possibility of rowing or motoring but obviously without the shelter and sea anchors of a raft.
 
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The internal volume of an Avon Redstart's tubes is approximately 2800 litres; to inflate that to the recommended 0.3 bar you would need a 12 litre bottle @300bar or a 15 litre bottle @232bar. Alternatively source 7.2kg of liquid CO2 in a 10 litre bottle and an appropriate regulator. You weren't that far away with your extinguisher, you just need the right reg.
 
penfold said:
The internal volume of an Avon Redstart's tubes is approximately 2800 litres; to inflate that to the recommended 0.3 bar you would need a 12 litre bottle @300bar or a 15 litre bottle @232bar. Alternatively source 7.2kg of liquid CO2 in a 10 litre bottle and an appropriate regulator. You weren't that far away with your extinguisher, you just need the right reg.
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The alternative is the system the SBS used to use for rapid inflation of dinghies where the HP air was used to suck air through venturis into the valves rather than trying to put the HP air itself in. No need for relief valves, and can be made to operate on all inflation valves simultaneously. Inflated a Gemini size in about a minute from one divers bottle.
 
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