FIR201 Assignment 3A
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Eastern Gateway Community College *
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Feb 20, 2024
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Freeman’s Formula in Fire Service
Bobby Roseberry Fire Science Department, Eastern Gateway Community College
FIR 201 Fire Service Hydraulics
Professor Mansfield November 12, 2023
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Freeman’s Formula in Fire Service
Water flow in the fire service is a main component of being able to carry out fire suppression tasks. It can be water flow from a fire nozzle, pump on a fire truck, fire hydrant, or relaying water from one truck to another. Gallons per minute is how someone will mostly hear water flow referred to. The purpose of this paper is to discuss Freeman’s Formula in the fire service. Items that will be discussed in the paper will be Freeman’s Formula defined, an example
will be given of where you might find Freeman’s Formula in the fire service and how it was applied in the given example, Freeman’s Formula used to determine gallons per minute, and the importance of determining gallons per minute as it relates to the fire service. Literature Review
Freeman’s Formula was developed in 1988 by John Freeman who was a civil engineer, hydraulician, and a pioneering expert in fire prevention and control (Bush, n.d.). Freeman’s Formula is a simplified formula that is used to determine gallons per minute that is being flowed through an opening in the nozzle. When looking at an example that includes Freeman’s Formula would be at an active fire scene when flowing water through a nozzle for fire suppression operations. Firefighters on the scene will use Freeman’s Formula to determine the gallons per minute being flowed, to make sure they are applying enough pump pressure and that the gallons per minute is enough to accomplish the fire suppression operations. Anytime water is being applied for fire suppression operations gallons per minute will be one of the most important items that can be determined to make sure fire suppression can be accomplished. When determining gallons per minute the Freeman’s original formula that will be used is gpm= 29.71 ×
D
2
×
√
❑
(Crapo, 2017). Next using Freeman's original formula to determine the gallons per minute flow for a 2.5” smooth bore nozzle with a 1.125” tip and with 50 psi nozzle pressure. Enter 1.125 for D and 50 for P the formula will be:
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gpm = 29.71 ×
1.125
2
×
√
❑
. gpm = 29.71 ×
1.27 ×
7.07
gpm = 266.763 rounded to the nearest whole number = 267 gallons per minute.
Most people that are not in the fire service may ask why determining gallons per minute is important to firefighters and may think that it is a waste of time, however determining gallons per minute is a necessity to firefighters on determining if they are flowing enough gallons per minute to have an effective fire suppression attack. If there is not enough water being applied to the fire, then it may not effectively extinguish the fire and may let it continue to burn and spread freely. Conclusion When arriving on the scene of a working structure fire or motor vehicle fire, firefighter’s adrenaline can be through the rough and may not even think about gallons per minute needed to effectively extinguish the fire. It's very important for the Incident commander and the pump operator to stay calm and make sure that they use the formula to determine the gallons per minute that is being provided to make sure it is enough to extinguish the fire effectively. By not figuring out the gallons per minute then it may allow the fire to spread freely and cause more property damage and can even trap firefighters and/or occupants in the structure and may cause injuries up to death.
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References
Bush, V. (n.d.). Biographical Memoir of John Ripley Freeman 1855-1932. National Academy of Science. https://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-
memoirs/memoir-pdfs/freeman-john.pdf
Crapo, W. F. (2017). Fire protection hydraulics and water supply (3rd ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
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