Essays on Fire Safety

Abstract

Firefighters coupled with other emergency responders are evidenced by numerous dangers within their daily operations. As such, the various firefighters are exposed to smoke, extremely deadly temperatures stress within the operative environment coupled with issues entailing the personal protective gear. Despite the notion that the varied fatalities reported are associated with burn and smoke inhalation, recent studies have shown increased deaths as a result of cardiovascular events. Studies within the firefighting frontier have revealed that cardiac related issues have accounted for the highest number of non-incident firefighter deaths. United states fire administration (USFA) coupled with the National fire protection Continue reading...

Introduction

Fire accidents cause a lot of damages including loss lives and property. Fires can be prevented through improving the building process, and through preventive measures. One Meridian Plaza fire is one of the most significant fires that have affected Highrise buildings in the United States’ history. The fire caused a loss of three firefighters, destroyed eight floors of a 38-storey building, and loss of property worth hundreds of millions of US dollars. This paper will focus on the causes of the fire, and the issues that were not taken into consideration while the building was constructed. By considering these Continue reading...

Introduction

On the evening of February 23, 1991, the Philadelphia Fire Department received a call reporting a fire on the 22nd floor of the One Meridian Plaza. The fire department responded immediately but were faced with various challenges that made the fire unmanageable. The fire lasted for nineteen hours and spread to eight floors above the 22nd floor in the 38 story building. Firefighters were able to contain the fire when it spread to the 30th floor. The incident led to three casualties, all firefighters from the local Philadelphia Fire Department, and injuries to 24 others. For this task, we Continue reading...

The City of Warrensburg Fire Department provides fire fighting, rescue, first responder, fire prevention, and emergency management services to the citizens of Warrensburg, MO. With a population was 18,838 and is the county seat of Johnson County and the home to the University of Central Missouri. The department operates three full time shifts on a 24 hour on duty, 48 hour off duty rotation.  Each shift is managed by a Battalion Chief and two Engine Companies, which consists of a Captain and two firefighters. Since 1996, 36 students from the University of Central Missouri have participated in a Continue reading...

- Introduction:
Traditional conceptions refrained women from fighting fire and developed a theory that men should be the ones handling the job. But, the roles have transformed with the passage of time and the entrance of women in this and other mainstream businesses.
The prohibition on the entrance of women into firefighting business was later removed in 1964, after the end of Civil Rights Act. This was not an easy way out as there were multiple issues involved, ranging from behavior of male colleagues, outcaste status at the office and ill equipped machineries. Although these many challenges outlined the Continue reading...

A fire shelter is a safety device. This device is used by fire fighters particularly when they are stuck in wildfires. It is designed in a manner that it reflects radiant heat while protecting the firefighter from heat. The fire shelter can also trap fresh breathable air to be used by the wild firefighters. This is crucial because it preserves their life by protecting them from hot gases. Over time, materials which have been used to manufacture fire shelters are not environment-friendly. These materials are silica fiberglass and foil. Foil is a reflective material while fiberglass and silica act Continue reading...

Report on the ‘Ambassador’ and how to improve it

In contemporary times, there are several available nozzles, designed differently for firefighters use. However, getting the best design that would be effective in combating fire incidences is very significant to save lives and properties. The ‘Ambassador’ is a specialty fabricated automatic machine with hybrid capability to perform as an automatic pressure or a fixed gallonage nozzle. It is a very handy machine for firefighters in battling incidences of blaze outbreaks. The machine is fortified to automatically regulate flows in order to maintain on frequent basis tip pressure. This enables fire fighters handling the equipment to have effective range for Continue reading...

The article by Bryan Hoskins who has a Ph. D. in Fire Protection Engineering dwells on the importance of structurally sound tall buildings in the context of possible disasters caused by fires or explosions which destroy the buildings in question. There is also substantial guidance on how to design an egress system in a tall building whilst also taking into account the Life safety Code.
The main thrust of the article is also based on calculating how people will behave when a tall building is evacuated. This will assist the engineer to design an egress system which has to Continue reading...

Introduction

Volunteer Fire Department refers to a fire department that comprises of volunteers charged with the responsibility of performing fire suppression as well as other emergency services related to this purpose with a local and urban jurisdiction. As opposed to the career fire departments, the volunteer firefighters are not fully compensated for the services they offer to the local and urban community, but they are recruited and work only voluntary basis. However, some members of the volunteer firefighters multitask as both full time compensated career firefighters as well as volunteers. According to a recent report released by the National Fire Continue reading...

The role of using personal protective equipment (PPE) for fire-fighters to reduce injuries during confrontation incidents in Saudi Civil Defense

Introduction
The invention of fire by man was one of the greatest inventions that have stood the test of time. Fire has been used by man from time in memorial in his daily activities that included cooking his food, warming his body during the cold season and more in scaring wild animals during the Stone Age era. As time went by man learnt to use fire to clear bushes for farming and then the Iron Age started and he used fire to melt metals and make tools out of it. Today fire continues to be a major player in Continue reading...

Article 1: “Lost in Arizona Fire, an Elite Crew That Rushed In”

In the article entitled “Lost in Arizona Fire, an Elite Crew That Rushed In” written by Santos (2013) and published online in The New York Times on July 1, 2013, the author presented relevant information regarding the wilderness fire that ensued in Yarnell Hill in the mountains of Arizona. The firefighters who were deployed on the scene were known as the Granite Mountain Hotshots, which was reported to be part of the Prescott Fire Department. Apparently, the fire allegedly started from a lightning that struck on June 28, Friday, and caused a fire to spark due to intense dry Continue reading...

Question One

According to this broadcast, the fire which occurred in the Station Night Club was so dangerous. The explanations given depict that it was as a result of breakdown in the power supply system. I am strongly convinced that there was a problem with the ignition source.
Many people were not able to evacuate in a safe manner as a result of poor design of the building and inadequate supply of fire extinguishing equipments.

Question Two

The unfortunate incident at the Station Night Club was an eye opener in Rhode Island. It led to radical changes in fire safety. More importantly, it Continue reading...

John Leonard Orr was born in April 26, 1949. He was an investigator and worked for the Glendale Fire Department in Sothern California. He also worked as a fire captain. Orr had a passion of being a police officer ever since he was a young person. His dreams did not come true after he failed the entrance exam. He decided to become a dedicated fire investigator and he committed himself to further his fire career. The work of a firefighter investigator is to do investigation in the causes of fire. The firefighters reported the cause and origin of the Continue reading...

Introduction

The job of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is to diminish the international load of fire as well as other risks on the ones life’s quality of by offering and supporting systematically based consent codes and principles, research, education and training than any other fire protection agency.

Discussion

The NFPA is one of the leading fire protection agency engaged in the improvement of standards and codes for the prevention of fire and save business. The standards are formed throughout scientific agency that devise a planned document with effort from producers with an attention in the manufacturing industry together Continue reading...

1-NFPA-National Fire Protection Association

2- Its role in fire safety is to publish consensus codes and standards for building, processing, design, service and installation not only in the US but worldwide.
3-Internet web address: www.nfpa.org.
1- USFA- U.S. Fire Administration
2- The main purpose of the USFA is “to provide national leadership to foster a solid foundation for our fire and emergency services stakeholders in prevention, preparedness, and response”.
3-Internet web address: http://www.usfa.fema.gov/.

1- NIOSH- National Institute of Occupational Health

2- Aim is “to generate new knowledge in the field of occupational safety and health and to transfer that knowledge into practice for the betterment of workers”.  This includes information Continue reading...

Essential Elements of the Fire Program, Hot Work Permits, AND Fire Plan Requirements

Essential features of a fire program
The essential features of a fire program include the following:
Passive fire safety
A passive fire safety program is one which takes into account fire safety measures inside a premise. For this reason, a passive program provides for fire preventive and response measures inside a premise which includes such features as fire exits, improved access in the premises and emergency exits (Wilson 4).

Active fire safety

An active fire program takes into account specific systems which should be either activated or deactivated in instances of fire outbreaks. Some of these systems include electricity supply and alarms ( Continue reading...

The racial divide in the fire department has presented discrimination issues and has resulted to some of the minority groups’ firefighters missing opportunities for career growth. According to the case study, most minority firefighters will decline opportunities or seniority rights that may advance their careers simply because they may not feel welcome (City Firehouses 4). Secondly, another important fact to note is that most of the diversity gains that have resulted from the US Court decree that has lasted for over 30 years are beginning to disappear. This has been attributed to the court decision to end the consent Continue reading...

A number of fires get triggered when the users of certain electrical appliances do not know the precautions and management strategies of such items. As such, it occurs fundamental to note the detailed measures of management and precaution before purchasing certain electrical devices. The oven’s fire protection system appears as one of the basic items that help in preventing unsuspected fires. It possesses the BPCS that helps in controlling its normal processes in its working state. However, in the event of an electrical mishap that may result into a fire, the SIS provides a safe backup for shutting Continue reading...

PRINCIPLES OF FIRE BEHAVIOR

Emergency response and preparedness have invited all walks of people to be aware and participate in cases of emergency. Initially most respondents involved the police force and firefighters or those they authorized and appointed to participate. As a project coordinator in the building department operating in tandem with the fire department, my experience here became my main source in understanding how emergency models are used. Even more so than just contacting essential services, keeping in mind the roles of various agencies and promptly reporting to them in detail the type of emergency, determined Continue reading...

When it comes to fire protection, it is important to know and understand the advantages and disadvantages of the many different types of fire protection agents. Dry chemical fire extinguishers are a very popular fire protection agent used in personal, professional, and commercial settings. Dry chemical fire protection agents have both advantages and disadvantages. These types of extinguishers work by “coating a burning surface, separating the fuel of the fire from its oxygen supply” which then puts out the fire (Ace Fire Equipment). By spraying this chemical agent on the fire, it can quickly and efficiently put out the Continue reading...

Mitigation responsibilities

Introduction
Many Southwestern communities of the United States are facing a very serious and also a growing risk of wildfires. Climatic changes, rising numbers of outdoor recreationists, ecosystem and climatic changes, rapid growth of the population and development in the wildland urban interface area are increasing the risks of wildfires and their impacts. The communities from rural area often have limited resources to deal with unforeseen severe wildfires. They have no structural fire protection and are ignorant of this status of wildfires. The local rural fire protection agencies, federal and the state are very much struggling to keep up Continue reading...

Fire spread in trade building

Undeniably, the intensity of fire spread in buildings is significantly determined by fire behaviour, which involves but is not limited to stage of fire development, behaviour of fully developed fires inclusive of the temperature development, role of ventilation as well as duration. Moreover, burning behaviour of materials such as energy release rates and mass loss is another fire behaviour that influences spread of fires (Siu, 2008). Upon ignition of a material, fire spreads across it until it becomes completely involved. The rate at which the flame spreads are dependent on the combustion rate of the material, surface area exposed Continue reading...

Chapter 1: Introduction

Since time immemorial cases of fire outbreak from the basement f buildings has been a common phenomena. Such fire usually razes down the building as such fire outbreaks are usually realized when it is too late to salvage the situation. The focus of this research was a study on fire safety with a specific outlook on the safety measures that can be implemented within the basement areas of buildings. The study explores the causes of the fire outbreaks. It describes the various processes by which fire can spread from one point in the building to ravage whole building. The Continue reading...

Basements are enclosed places of a building below the ground level. Living in basements presents challenges when dealing with flood and fire situations. The Nayef Building fire case exposed loopholes in dealing with basement fires. Several mistakes were committed in dealing with the fire, and it resulted in the death of two firemen after they inhaled poisonous gases coming from the basement (Case Study). There are several solutions that can be implemented to improve the fire protection and response measures in basements.

Increased fire detection and prevention measures can be executed to increase overall protection against fires in basements. Continue reading...

1. Code 10.8 states that any person shall not tamper with the fire extinguisher system or fire warning system. The systems will not be made inaccessible by any person unless there’s an emergency and directive to make the fire protection system or device inoperative is issued by incident commander. Only the person authorized by AHJ can remove, destroy, unlock, or tamper with the door, tag, signage, symbol, barricade, or enclosure placed under the code 10.8 by AHJ. During emergency, the fire protection devices which are necessary to make inoperative would only be made inoperative. During maintenance, drills, alterations, Continue reading...

The International Association of Fire Fighters is a century-old labor union that seeks to protect the interests of firefighters in both America and Canada. There are nearly 300,000 members in the union, spreading across all states of both countries. The members of this union - professional firefighters - are responsible for fire protection coverage of 15% of the population of the United States. Their goal is to make sure that firefighters are looked after, in terms of their safety, their financial well-being, and the resources to combat fires in a safe and effective manner. Bringing public attention to Continue reading...

Arguably, America as a nation has been formed by the events and people who were leaders in the past. Fire in the triangle shirtwaist company is one of the disastrous events that had major negative consequences in American history. As a matter of fact the fire at the triangle factory became an important event which led to changes in the policies formed by American government on safety of fire (Broyles, 2004). Additionally, it became a catalyst for the numerous labor reforms in America. It was on 25 March 1911, a horrible catastrophe struck the city of New York, fire Continue reading...

Fire Safety Codes

Fire safety codes can be described as cautions that are adopted in a bid to minimize the occurrence of fire that may cause demise or destruction of property, raise an alarm in a building in case of a fire breakout, in a better way; make those injured by fire to survive or minimize the destruction that fire may cause. Safety measures regarding fire involve those that are observed while a structure is being constructed or observed to a structure which has already been constructed (Davletshina, 1998). The safety measure should be observed at all Continue reading...

A fire protection specialist is trained in handling fire scenarios. He or she is in charge of planning and organizing several activities in handling fire protection. He analyses the causes of fire, possible trends and problems. He comes up with corrective solutions in fire protection. He works with organizations and offers advice and guidance to the staff. He ensures a health and safety manual or guide is set in place. In the laws of a country there are health and safety guidelines that are mandatory for an organization to Continue reading...

The construction industry in the United States has undergone major changes in the recent past. There have been major improvements in the construction of modern buildings which has provided international architectural designs  and strong construction materials that could assist buildings withstand fire hazards. The responsibility of ensuring safety in buildings and especially sky scrappers that have become the symbols of modern urban landscape lies squarely on engineers and architects. Continue reading...

The fire service has experienced several depression and suicide victims over the past decades. There have been suicide clusters and depression patterns in large fire fighting departments worldwide. The patterns are similar in that in many of the reported cases; the victims showed signs of depression before they eventually attempted or committed suicide. However, cases of attempted suicide supersede those of reported deaths in the fire fighting service. The rising cases have ignited a tremendous increase in concerns for comprehending the incidences of death in firefighters. Concerns are also mounting to find out the factors that seem to be Continue reading...

The world’s population is tremendously growing especially in the developing countries and, as a result, such countries experience enormous problems due to the expanding needs of the people. The growth of population has affected the government’s ability to predict and generate policies that would serve the various needs of its population. Numerous problems arise as the government budgeted expenditure is stretched, and the level of poverty continues to increase. In fact, majority of persons in the developed countries live under deplorable conditions as a result of poverty, and this increases the vulnerability to diseases and other infections ( Continue reading...

Fire protection systems are designed to save lives of the people as well as protect the property. These systems are installed to avoid or lessen the unnecessary effects of fire. Depending on the environmental conditions the fire protection systems are installed, for example, the dry pipe systems are used in cold areas and at places where the assets must be safeguarded against water. The most common fire protection system is the wet fire sprinkler system that ejects water when the fire is detected and the temperature exceeds the preset value. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) provides the application, Continue reading...

Introduction

Fire Fighting or Fire Services in United States date back to 17th century due to conflagrating inferno of 1631 in Boston, a colony of Massachusetts Bay passed legislation for no smoking in public accommodations. In 2012, 1,129,250 firefighters worked in United States, 31% of them were career fire fighters and 69% of them were volunteers. Currently there are 30,100 Fire Departments in United States alone and these departments have 6,900 aerial apparatus, 66,900 pumpers, 52,650 fire stations and 74,000 suppression vehicles. In 2012, 68% of the responses from fire departments were for Continue reading...

Ricci v. DeStefano, 557 U.S. 557 (2009) was a controversial case that was decided by the United States Supreme court. The case concerned racial discrimination practices by New Haven, Connecticut’s fire department. The department had eighteen employees where seventeen were white, while there was only one Hispanic. The company in 2003 had seven openings for captain and eight positions for lieutenant. The department administered civil service examinations to fill the positions. The test consisted of two segments where one was oral and the other was written. The New Haven Department of Human Resources issued and RFP for the Continue reading...

The Class Name

The 26th of April this year will be marked as the twenty-eighth anniversary of a disaster of a worldwide scale. So much time has passed after it and we still remember that fear of a nightmare of such a nuclear disaster that has changed millions of lives during a couple of days and it changed the nature itself, as well. The topic of our research is the Chernobyl Catastrophe (or “Chernobylska Katastropha” in Ukrainian); we`re going to describe its causes and consequences, the governmental meanings about it and how it changed the territory of Ukraine and the countries Continue reading...

A fire alarm system detects the presence of fire by monitoring the changes associated with combustion. The early response towards a fire attack yields positive results. The fire alarm systems protect loss of lives and property by alerting responsible people to stop the fire. From recorded history, people knew this and there existed ways to alert people to respond to a fire in a place. They used hand bell-ringers, factory steam whistles and church bells to get the attention of the fire brigade. Unfortunately, this equipment did not give much detail and they often directed the fire department to Continue reading...

This paper focuses on the 2009 case on Ricci v. DE Stefano, and the decisions made by the Supreme Court based on the hearings of the case. This case also had a big impact on how employers and employees relate in their work settings. This case’s decision turned out to be a dangerous outcome for employers in terms of testing and hiring of employees. This is in relation with the United States’ anti-discrimination law. This case can be analyzed using two legal theories of civil rights. They include the adverse impact theory and the disparate treatment theory. The Continue reading...

September 11 attacks

September 11 attacks, also referred to as 9/11, is a series of commercial airplanes hijacking and suicide attack committed by 19 terrorists associated with the Islamic extremist group, Al-Qaeda against the United States (Pandya, 2013). The planes were carrying 11, 4000 gallons of jet fuel, which experts claim that the objective of the militants was to take control of the planes once they were airborne and turn them into weapons of mass destruction (Pandya, 2013). The attack targeting the U.S. was one of the deadliest terrorist attacks on the American soil in the history of the world. The attacks Continue reading...

English

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND IMMIGRATION REFORMS
INTRODUCTION
On November 20 2014, President Obama spoke on immigration and stated, “We were strangers once, too. And whether our forebears were strangers who crossed the Atlantic, or the Pacific, or the Rio Grande, we are here only because this country welcomed them in, and taught them that to be an American is about something more than what we look like, or what our last names are, or how we worship”. The United States of America has existed as a country with many immigrants originating from those who initially crossed the bridge that connected Continue reading...