Pg.no. 116
31. Emergency fire tools
1. Introduction
Fires are the accidents which occur most frequently,
whose causes are the most diverse and which
require intervention methods and techniques
adapted to the conditions and needs of each
incident.
Depending on the type of fire (nature of the
material ablaze), meteorological conditions (wind)
and the effectiveness of the intervention, material damage can be limited (a single car,
building or production or storage warehouse installation), or affect wide areas (forest or
agricultural fires, hydrocarbons, gas or other highly flammable products, storage or piping
installations, harbor installations and rail or marine transport equipment). Explosions are in a
different category.
Each type of fire is the object of specific technical prescriptions as regards prevention,
intervention and the behavior of the population affected. It is also relevant to note that many
fires have a criminal origin and that in times of armed conflict or crisis as well as of indirect
wars (sabotage) human intervention also provokes major accidents.
For practical reasons it is best to refer to technical documentation, which should be known or
available to all security and fire-fighting services, and to national and regional disaster alarm
and information centre.
This is especially the case for rescue and fire extinction on motorways, buildings designed to
be used by a great number of people (hospitals, hotels, cinemas, high-rise buildings,
department stores, etc...); fires affecting chimneys, attires, cotton (bales, loose, explosive
dust), fodder (fermentation), fires in high warehouses, silos or underground garages as well
as forest fires.
2. Preventive and protective measures
Fires can spread more or less rapidly depending on their causes, the nature of the material
and goods alight, the fire prevention installations (automatic sprinklers), meteorological
conditions, the ways the population is informed and the initiative it shows, as well as the
speed and efficiency of the intervening services and of their fire-fighting equipment.