Fire Science
What are the 3 elements of the Fire Triangle
Fuel, Heat and Oxygen
What are the 3 main factors to determine Fire Behaviour.
Fuel, Weather and Topography.
If there's a strong wind from the NW, in which direction is the fire heading?
Furthermore a wind change from the SW is forecast to hit shortly. Now what direction will the fire travel.
The initial fire will be heading in a SE direction before the SW wind change. After that the Fire will head in NE direction.
True/False: Contour lines on a map represent the terrains height above sea level in meters?
On a Spatial Vision map, what colour are the contour lines?
True. They are a faded light brown line.
During the day noticed fluffy clouds, clear skies and some whirl winds. What weather condition is affecting the area and how does this effect the fire?
The atmospheric stability has become unstable which will allow for rapid column growth. Fire's will be more intense and erratic in unstable atmospheres compared to those in stable atmospheres.
Name a method that could be used for extinguishing each of the Fire Triangle elements.
Water - removes heat
Mineral Earth Break - removes Fuel
Smoother - removes oxygen
Use of Class A foam - removes all elements
Fuel (5), Weather (4) and Topography (3) each have their characteristics. Name and briefly explain them!
Fuel: Type, Size, Arrangement, quantity and moisture content
Weather: Wind speed and direction, temp, humidity and atmospheric stability.
Topography: Slope, gullies and valley's and aspect.
You arrive at a fire in a stubble paddock. The biggest Flame heights are approximately 1-1.5mtr tall and the paddock is flat and accessible Describe the attack method you would employ.
IF SAFE TO DO SO - These conditions would generally favour an "offensive - direct attack - head attack" whereby Tankers would enter the paddock, proceed to the head and proceed to extinguish from the head to the heal in order to primarily prevent further fire spread and secondly secure the flanks.
There are 3 types of radio's in use with CFA. What are they and which one is the most powerful.
Handheld Portable radio - least powerful
Mobile radio - found in vehicles and medium range
Base radio - found at fire stations - most powerful and range.
What does the term LACES stand for and describe each sections.
Lookout - make sure we always have someone visulise the fire.
Awareness - now what fire activity is occurring and where you are
Comms - who are you talking to and on what channel
Escape route - 2 X routes identified and tested
Safety zones - if escape route are used, where are going to
What the 3 forms of heat transference?
Define the difference between a fine and coarse/heavy fuel and why is it important for wildfire development.
<6mm = fine fueld
>6mm = coarse/heavy fuel
Fine fuels and their condition determine the fire's size and intensity as they are the most effected by the variations in RH, temp and are generally arranged in a way that is more suitable for fire i.e. long grass.
Each fire may have 7 part to them. Can you name each part?
Head, flank, heal, fingers, spots, unburnt island and point of origin.
True/false: Is a 1:50,000 scale map the same as 1cm on the map = 1k?
False. 1:100,000 would = 1cm = 1k
What does SPA-DRA stand for and explain each step.
Safe Person Approach - an undertaking from members and the organisation will make safety the primary concern. It means I won't sacrifice mine or you safety for the event.
Dynamic Risk Assessment:
Evaluate - what job do we have
Select - how am i going to deal with it
Assess - is how I am going to do deal it safe
Decide - does the risk v reward stack up
Modify - can change the method to a safer one. If yes return to Assess and start from there.
Proceed - begin task and monitor to ensure mitigations are working and no other hazards ahve been missed.
Any material subjected to heat will begin to break down and emit a vapour. What is this vapour called and is it combustible?
This process is referred to as Pyrolysis and the vapour that is released is referred to as Pyrolytic gases. Every material that is subjected to heat will produce a level of Pyrolysis. Some products will off gas more than others at the same temperature i.e. plastic's v's metal's. The greater the heat the greater the vapour release. The vapour/gas is combustible and is what provides the fuel to produce an exothermic reaction......fire!
You are at a fire that is travelling at 2.5kph along a flat paddock. The fire then starts to travel up a 20 degree hill. What will happen to the fire's rate of spread.
It will increase from 2.5kph to 10kph as fire ROS doubles for every 10 degree upslope.
I.e. 2.5 x 2 = 5 x 2 = 10
There are 3 types of fires that we may come across. Name each type and describe them and how you deal with them.
Ground - organic materials burning beneath the surface - isolate the burning area's, have them dug up and wet down.
Surface - burning materials on the surface, near surface and some elevated fuels. Most common type of fire we attend and offensive methods generally work.
Crown - burning materials from surface to tops of tree's - very destructive and fought by defensive methods i.e indirect attack.
There are 5 mandatory radio calls that must be made to firecom. Name each call.
Double points if you can rehearse a turnout and wordback call.
Turnout, on-scene, wordback, returning and in station. Depending on the job there might be Sitreps and messages.
"Firecom Robinvale Tanker turning out to grass fire Tol Tol Rd Robinvale, code 1"
"Firecom Robinvale CTRL Wordback"...."Wordback from FF Smith of a G&S fire stop Tol Tol Rd Robinvale"
You respond to fire in a bush reserve. On arrival you observe flame heights of 3-5mtrs and there is little to no access into the bush block. Describe your attack method for this fire.
The conditions of this fire may be best dealt with a parallel attack where crews build a containment line ahead of the fire front and burnout the unburnt fuel between the control line and fire front. Crews shouldn't be too far ahead or far out from the back burn or fire front.
Any material subjected to heat will begin to break down and emit a vapour. What is this vapour called and is it combustible?
This process is referred to as Pyrolysis and the vapour that is released is referred to as Pyrolytic gases. Every material that is subjected to heat will produce a level of Pyrolysis. Some products will off gas more than others at the same temperature i.e. plastic's v's metal's. The greater the heat the greater the vapour release. The vapour/gas is combustible and is what provides the fuel to produce an exothermic reaction......fire!
Explain the 2 main reasons high winds will promote greater fire spread.
The oxygen that is consumed by fire is more readily replaced and the convection columns that are produced by these fires are pushed over further pre-heating fuels ahead of the fire front.
Which bark will spot the greatest distance. Ribbon of stringy bark? and what conditions will increase spotting activity at a fire?
Ribbon bark has the tendancy to spot the furthest - up to 30k's but is generally light to moderate in nature.
Stringy bark is intense short distance spotting and is generally limited to <1k.
The hotter, drier the fuel and certain fuel types will increase spotting activity.
Refer to the SVNW map of Robinvale and locate the caravan park East of the Murray Valley Highway bridge. Provide the correct map details including a 6 figure map refence.
SVNW ed7 - Map ?? - alphnumeric grid - 6 figure
soz, didnt have access to ed7 map.
Define the term "Anchor Point" and demonstrate your knowledge by drawing example on the white board where you find the Anchor point on a fire ground.
An advantageous location from where a fire line can be constructed to minimise the chance of being outflanked by a fire whilst the line is being constructed.
Refer to the Green Wildfire manual for an image that represents this question.