- Author
- Hagan, R. D. | Bernhard, R. D. | Jacobs, K. A. | Farley, J. P. | Ramirez, L. R. | Feith, S. J. | Hodgdon, J. A.
- Title
- Offensive Fog Water Attack Reduces Firefighting Time and Heat Strain During Shipboard Firefighitng. Technical Report.
- Coporate
- Naval Health Research Center, San Diego, CA
- Sponsor
- National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, MD
- Report
- NHRC-96-22, September 1996, 17 p.
- Distribution
- Available from National Technical Information Service
- Keywords
- fire fighting | fog | water | shipboard fires | females | males
- Identifiers
- heat strain
- Abstract
- The purpose of this study was to compare two firefighting methods, direct (DIR) and fog (FOG), on personnel heat strain. eight males and four females (31 ± 4 yr) served as subjects. Subjects wore Navy firefighting ensemble and respired from an A-4 OBA. Measures included heart rate, rectal, chest, arm, hand, finger, thigh, foot, and big toe temperatures. During DIR, the hose team attempted to apply water as a straight stream to the fire. During FOG, the team entered the fire space, placed a medium angle spray (short bursts) upwards onto the overhead gases, and then applied a straight strem of water on the fire. Upper air temperatures at time of entry averaged (±SD) 591 ± 43 deg C. During DIR, the attack team was unable to control the fire, and was forced to leave the space and conduct further attacks from the doorway. During FOG, the attack team was able to put out the fire quickly with all personnel inside the fire space. Firefighting time was less (p < .05) for FOG (9.1 ± 0.6 min) compared to DIR (10.9 ± 0.6 min).