UL Report on Fire Attack at House Fires

By Jerry Knapp

Underwriters Laboratories is finalizing a report on fire attack at house fires based on a $1.5 million grant that included 27 live fire tests in a one-story ranch house. The report will be released in late October 2017 and will contain tactical recommendations that are important to search and fire attack operations at house fires and especially firefighter safety and fireground efficiency.

I am a member of the technical panel that assisted in designing the test building, the fire attack and nozzle procedures tested, and the final report format and contents. The technical panel is made up of 25 fire service leaders from across the United States (New York City, Houston, Kansas, Los Angeles, New Mexico, Oakland, Pittsburgh, and Washington, D.C.), as well as Australia, Germany, and Ireland. It is responsible for guiding the research, establishing firm goals, and contributing to the final report. The last technical panel meeting was held in Baltimore, Md. on September 6-7, 2017.

The report will contain not only recommendations for tactical fire attack choices at house fires, but also data on the following critical factors in house fires – temperature, heat flux, pressure (air flow), moisture content, and gas levels of oxygen, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide from numerous parts of the live burn homes. Additionally, victim packages were used in each burn to determine the impact of both interior and exterior fire attack methods. This is data that has never before been available. There were 16 video views, including several thermal imaging camera views, of the fire attack and its effects at each live burn.

Generally, the study supports the fact that most of our tactics at house fires are correct; however, some need significant adjustment. Some of the new fire attack tactics tested are extremely valuable in low manpower situations, when initial entry is delayed, and to rapidly prevent flashover of involved rooms to protect victims in other parts of the home. The study also examined the effect of hose streams on victim survival. Encourage your officers, safety officers, and members to at least read the executive summary and tactical recommendations.

Many other free training programs based on research at house fires are available from UL online here. The ventilation study is especially important to safety and fireground efficiency at house fires.