Fire Triangle

Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the exothermal chemical process of

combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. This diagram below
demonstrates the fire triangle.

Figure 1. Fire Triangle is an illustration to help us understand the three important

elements needed to start and sustain fire. Right amount of these elements will let fire
occur naturally.

1. Fuel
is any material that can be burned such as solid, liquid, or gas. Combustion takes place when fuel
is converted into gaseous state as moisture is removed. This happens when vapor is escaping
from any combustible material.

2. Heat
is an energy that flows through object. Enough amount of heat would free the vapor from solid
and liquid forms of fuel. The lowest temperature needed to form an ignitable mixture in air near
the surface of the liquid is called the flash point. The higher the flashpoint, the more difficult it is
to ignite the material. The ignition of fire to solid and liquid fuels varies. Most solid combustible
materials ignite immediately. Other solid combustible materials take time to ignite due to its
density.

3. Oxygen
is an element, estimated 21% of it can be found in the air. During combustion process chemical
reaction takes place. Oxygen is released and serves as an oxidizing agent for combustible
materials. Without an oxidizing agent like oxygen there will be no fire even if heat and fuel are
present.

The theory of fire extinguishment is based on removing any of the elements in the fire triangle to
suppress the fire.
1. REMOVING THE HEAT.
The goal here is to lower the temperature which is usually accomplished by adding water as an
extinguishing agent. Other extinguishing agents include chemical and mechanical foams.

2. REMOVING THE FUEL.

In most cases, removing the fuel from the fire is not a practical way of extinguishing fire except
when dealing with flammable liquid fires, valves can be shut off and storage vessels pumped to
safe areas to help eliminate the supply of fuel to the fire.

3. REMOVE THE OXYGEN.

Air is mainly 21% oxygen and this is sufficient to support combustion in most fire situations.
Removal of the air or oxygen can be accomplished by separating it from the fuel source or by
displacing it with other gases like carbon dioxide, nitrogen and steam. Examples of separation
would be foam on a flammable liquid fire, a wet blanket on a trash fire, or a tight fitting lid on a
skillet fire. Foam does not only lower temperature but also remove oxygen.
Fire Hazards: Concept and Causes

Fire may start due to natural cause or human-made incidents.

I. Natural causes of fire such as:

A. Lightning that strikes any combustible material which can set trees on fire that might
eventually result to forest fire or wildfire. This is the most common natural cause of fire.

B. Volcanic activities could also cause fire. During volcanic activity, it spews hot gases, ash and
lava and when these hot materials get in contact with flammable materials it might start a
wildfire.

C. Spontaneous combustion is another natural cause of fire. This happens when a hydrocarbon
substance unexpectedly create fire without apparent cause. Pyrophoric substances ignite
spontaneously in air at or below 54 ̊C or within 5 minutes after getting into contact with air.
Examples of pyrophoric substances are iron sulfide, plutonium and uranium.

Sometimes, it is also due to combustion of dry fuel such as sawdust, dried leaves and grasses.
Spontaneous combustion can arise in the presence of substances with low ignition temperature
(requires a not too high temperature to be ignited) like hay, straw and other types of grasses.
When these dried grasses stacked together, it releases heat and in the presence of oxygen and
moisture or even bacterial fermentation will spontaneously produce fire.

II. Human-made causes of fire are those products of human errors or machine failures.
Wildfires or forest fires caused by human activities such as machinery sparks when cutting logs
in the forest, cast-away cigarette butts in dried grasses and sometimes due to kaingin or even
arson (human inflicted fire by directly setting the area to burn).

Housefire is a fire incident that is generally caused by human and machine error. The following
are common causes of housefire:

1. Cooking equipment. Pots and pans can be overheated when a person gets distracted while
cooking or leaves cooking unattended. This is the most common cause of housefire.

2. Heaters. Portable heaters can cause fire when it is placed near objects that can easily burn like
curtains and laundry clothes.

3. Smoking in bedrooms. A cigarette that is not put out properly can cause fire as the cigarette
butts can continuously burn in a few hours. It can also immediately cause fire when get in
contact with flammable materials.

4. Candles. It is not actually a hazard but when left unattended it can easily burst into flames and
cause fire.
5. Curious children. Kids can sometimes cause fire out of curiosity, so they wanted to see what
would happen if they set fire to an object.
6. Faulty wiring. Homes with insufficient wiring can cause fires from electrical hazard. Signs
that you can observe if you have faulty wirings are: lights dim if you use another appliance; for
an appliance to work, you have to disconnect another; and fuse blow or trip the circuit breaker
frequently.

7. Barbeques. This is a great outdoor activity or one of the famous street foods in the Philippines.
Avoid doing this activity near tablecloths, trees or even plants.

8. Flammable liquids. Petrol, kerosene or other methylated substances are the most common
flammable liquids found at home that can cause fire if not properly stored. Always store in cool,
dry place.

9. Lighting. Lamp shades and light fittings can build heat if they are very close to light bulbs.
Too much heat can eventually ignite the materials and result to
fire incident.
Phases of Fire Emergency

The National Governor’s Association designed a phase of disaster model to help emergency
managers prepare for and respond to a disaster, also known as the ‘life cycle’ of comprehensive
emergency management.

Mitigation
Mitigation involves steps to reduce vulnerability to disaster impacts such as injuries and loss of
life and property. This might involve changes in local building codes to fortify buildings; revised
zoning and land use management; strengthening of public infrastructure; and other efforts to
make the community more resilient to a catastrophic event.

Preparedness
Preparedness focuses on understanding how a disaster might impact the community and how
education, outreach and training can build capacity to respond to and recover from a disaster.
This may include engaging the business community, pre-disaster strategic planning, and other
logistical readiness activities. The disaster preparedness activities guide provides more
information on how to better prepare an organization and the business community for a disaster.

Response
Response addresses immediate threats presented by the disaster, including saving lives, meeting
humanitarian needs (food, shelter, clothing, public health and safety), cleanup, damage
assessment, and the start of resource distribution. As the response period progresses, focus shifts
from dealing with immediate emergency issues to conducting repairs, restoring utilities,
establishing operations for public services (including permitting), and finishing the cleanup
process.

Recovery
Recovery is the fourth phase of disaster and is the restoration of all aspects of the disaster’s
impact on a community and the return of the local economy to some sense of normalcy. By this
time, the impacted region has achieved a degree of physical, environmental, economic and social
stability.

The recovery phase of disaster can be broken into two periods. The short-term phase typically
lasts from six months to at least one year and involves delivering immediate services to
businesses. The long-term phase, which can range up to decades, requires thoughtful strategic
planning and action to address more serious or permanent impacts of a disaster. Investment in
economic development capacity building becomes essential to foster economic diversification,
attain new resources, build new partnerships and implement effective recovery strategies and
tactics. Communities must access and deploy a range of public and private resources to enable
long-term economic recovery.