Firefighting is the act of extinguishing destructive fires. A firefighter fights these fires to prevent destruction of life, property and the environment. Firefighting is a highly technical profession which requires years of training and education in order to become proficient.
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Firefighting is the act of extinguishing destructive fires. A firefighter fights these fires to prevent destruction of life, property and the environment. Firefighting is a highly technical profession which requires years of training and education in order to become proficient.
Firefighters' duties
Fire Fighters in most countries are required to respond quickly and at anytime of day or night. Firefighters' goals are to save life, property and the environment. A fire can rapidly spread and endanger many lives; however, with modern firefighting techniques, catastrophe is usually, but not always, avoided. To prevent fires from starting, a firefighter's duties include public education and conducting fire inspections.
Because firefighters are often the first responders to people in critical conditions, firefighters provide many other valuable services to the community they serve, such as:
- Emergency medical services, as emergency medical technicians or as licensed paramedics, staffing ambulances.
- Hazardous materials mitigation (HAZMAT)
- Heavy rescue
- Search and rescue
- Community disaster support
In addition, firefighters also service in specialized fields, such as:
- Aircraft/airport rescue
- Wildland fire suppression
- Shipboard and military fire and rescue
- Tactical paramedic support ("SWAT medics")
In the US, firefighters also serve the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as Urban search and rescue (USAR) team members.
Hazards caused by fire
The primary risk to people in a fire is smoke inhalation (breathing in smoke; most of those killed in fires die from this, not from burns). The risks of smoke include:
- suffocation due to the fire consuming or displacing all the oxygen from the air;
- poisonous gases produced by the fire;
- aspirating heated smoke that can burn the inside of the lungs.
As an example, plastics inside a car can generate 200,000 m3 of smoke at a rate of 20-30 m3/sec.Fact: date=February 2007. Firefighters carry self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) (an open-circuit positive pressure compressed air system) to prevent smoke inhalation. These are not oxygen tanks. They carry compressed air.
Obvious risks stem from the effects of heat. Even without contact with the flames (conduction), there are a number of comparably serious risks: burns from radiated heat, contact with a hot object, hot gases (e.g., air), steam and hot and/or toxic smoke. Firefighters are equipped with personal protective equipment (PPE) that includes fire-resistant clothing (nomex or polybenzimidazole fiber (PBI)) and helmets that limit the transmission of heat towards the body.
