Well hello, stranger
I believe we have all had nightmares about fires, explosions and dark clouds of smoke… No? Okay, perhaps just me. I’m not one to dwell on the negative or everything that can go wrong, but every wither I have this tiny fear that I won’t tighten the gas enough and burn down our house… I double-check each and every time…
Our University was due for a health and safety training session. These sessions are completed every five years. Buildings get checked for safety, emergency exits, first aid kits and responders, fire extinguishers and evacuation plans… the list goes on… you know, everything we need for safety, but we push it aside since it so much to remember… How many of us are guilty of that??
The University is in need of five groups for health and safety, General health and safety, First aid, Evacuation team, Firefighters, and Building inspections. A number of staff was nominated for each category, to ensure every building has at least one member in every category. I was nominated for firefighting training… It sounded way more intense than it turned out to be.
So this morning I made my way to the venue with one of my colleagues, not knowing what to expect. Our first surprise was the number of people at the venue. We were aware that a lot of people were nominated, but we didn’t expect everyone to attend. It’s nearing the end of the year, most of us are swamped with work, and students are lining up for extra marks or assistance. I think many people agreed to the training just to get away from all their responsibilities.
All of us waited patiently for the instructor to start the day ahead of us. We had no idea what we were going to learn and most of us have never been to any safety training. This is semi-concerning since our University has a lot of laboratories that make use of highly flammable gasses every day.
The goal of this training was to make sure we can identify different types of fires, understand, explain and practice fire prevention, operate basic firefighting equipment and perform basic firefighting procedures. In other words, we did Basic Fire Fighting Training. The training does not mean that we are now responsible for taking care of the fire, but rather we are there to help prevent one, make sure everyone is evacuated and put out small-scale fires if necessary.
The first part of the training was pretty simple. What is FIRE? This and that of FIRE!**
Fire is rapid, self-sustaining oxidation accompanied by heat and light of varying intensities. This means that fire needs oxygen to burn and the amount of heat will determine the size of the fire. Fire can be fueled by flammable gasses, flammable liquids and flammable solids. We can have electrical heat fires and chemical heat fires.
Source: Made with Canva.
There are different ways to put out a fire: By reducing the temperature since the heat helps it grow. Removing the fuel source. Taking away oxygen.
Source: https://slideplayer.com/slide/9343847/
We also looked at how fires spread, why they start (mostly due to human error), how to keep people calm in the case of a fire, and when to back out and leave it for professional firefighters.
We were informed about the different class fires, what each class indicates, what is burning and how to put it out. Certain fire extinguishers are used for certain classes, the markings on the fire extinguisher will inform you on what type of fires it will put out. We looked at Dry Chemical Powder and Carbon Dioxide fire extinguishers.
Source:www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/safety_haz/fire_extinguishers.html
Dry Chemical Powder are effective on Class A-B-C fires and/or Class B-C fires. Carbon Dioxide is effective on Class B and Class C fires. Sand can be used to put out fires caused by combustible metal.
FUN FACT: Inflammable and flammable has the same meaning. Non-flammable refers to goods that won’t catch fire, where Inflammable and flammable refers to goods that will catch fire.
The fun part!
I think we need to move on to the fun part… We were in that room for nearly 3 hours, since our instructor kept telling us stories from his days as a real firefighter (you know not to like us weak links). So we all made our way outside for a practical demonstration.
From how all the men gathered one would assume we were preparing for a braai.
The professionals prepared a little fire for us to put out as part of our training. Petrol and Diesel were wasted today. For all my fellow South African I do apologise, I know this stuff is expressive at the moment.
We got a demonstration of what to do. Step 1: remove the tag. Step 2: Remove the safety pin without squeezing the handle. Step 3: Handel in dominant hand nozzle in “stupid hand” (yes this was our instructions). Step 4: Stay 4 steps away from the fire (with the wind to your back if you are outside). Step 5: Thumb on the nozzle, squeeze the handle, aim for the base of the fire and make quick sweeping motions. Be consistent and make sure it is out before you walk away!
Now that we saw what we had to do it was finally time to put our stupid hands to good use.
Here is one of our Chemical Professors attempting to put out the fire. After seeing that it was not as stressful everyone fell in line and had a chance to put out a tiny controlled fire.
By the end we emptied eight fire extinguishers… But we all felt more comfortable with using a fire extinguisher if the situation ever pops up.
Naturally the professionals wanted to show off and made an even bigger fire. And they left it for a while to grow and heat up. The temperature of the fire makes it more difficult to put it out. Nevertheless, they did manage to put it out in seconds, seeing that they do know what they are doing.
We were left with a few final words: Never wait to call the fire department, you risk the serious spread of the fire. Make sure to give the correct address, contact info and any other info, such as the type of fire, if there are hazardous chemicals, and if lives are in danger. Never place yourself in danger, make sure everyone is evacuating and stay outside if things get out of hand. When fighting a fire in a building ensure that you are between the exit and the fire. Remember the limitations of the fire extinguisher. If you are unable to extinguish the fire, close all doors on your way out to assist with the prevention of fire spread.
And lastly: Never underestimate fire!
Thanks for coming along for today's adventures. It's not something I ever thought I would do, but after the class, I realised just how fragile we are. You never know when a fire might start, either at work or at home. We need to start taking action and preparing for such situations. Install smoke detectors, get a fire extinguisher, have a plan, and put emergency numbers in your phone and on the fridge. Just be aware that these things can happen.
