Fire Behavior and Tactical Considerations

Dan Madrzykowski, NIST Fire Protection Engineer Steve Kerber, UL Firefighter Safety Research Institute Director Fire fighting is hazardous. In 2010, the fire departments in the United States responded to more than 480,000 structure fires. These fires resulted in approximately 3,120 civilian fatalities, 17,720 injuries and property losses in excess of $12 billion dollars. In addition, almost 33,000 fire fighters were injured on the fire ground. Currently, the NIST FRD is conducting a project that will demonstrate, through the use of measurement science, the dynamics of fire behavior in a structure and provide guidance on non-traditional means to mitigate the fire hazard in the structure in a manner that provides optimum safety and effectiveness for the fire fighter. The project has three key focus areas; ventilation, suppression and technology transfer to the fire service.