FIR121 Assignment #12
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Eastern Gateway Community College *
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121
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English
Date
Dec 6, 2023
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docx
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Uploaded by BRoseberry5445
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Fire Smoke Exposures
Bobby Roseberry
Fire Science Department, Eastern Gateway Community College
FIR 121 Combustion Process and Fire Behavior
Professor Gulya
July 16, 2022
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Fire Smoke Exposures
Every type of fire will put off some type of smoke, the smoke will differ in the type of
hazards associated with it due to the type of materials or chemicals that are burning. Firefighters
may also respond to some incidents that have smoke present and no fire, this can be caused by a
chemical reaction or smoldering. The purpose of this paper is to look at the different types of
smoke exposures and the hazards that can affect firefighters and civilians, and to discuss the role
that smoke exposures play in deaths that are associated with unwanted incidences of fire.
Literature Review
When a fire breaks out in a building with occupants still inside, they are faced with
several hazards that can be caused from smoke exposure. When occupants are exposed to smoke
it can hinder their vision, breathing and may make them pass out. In the worst case they may
even parish in the fire due to a high level of smoke exposure. There are three main types of
smoke exposure hazards that affect firefighters and civilians. The three main types are acute
effects, post-exposure effects and chronic effects. Acute effects are experienced at the time of the
fire and result from smoke exposure in a single fire. An example of this would be an occupant
stuck in a burning building and passing out from inhalation of smoke. Post-exposure effects can
affect building occupants after they have been exposed to a single smoke exposure and left the
fire scene. An example of post-exposure effect can be after a building occupant has been cleared
and went to a home of a family member or a hotel and started having difficulty breathing. The
last hazard can be associated with affecting firefighters over time. Chronic effects result from
accumulated damage from multiple smoke exposures. An example of this is a current firefighter
or retired firefighter developing a lung disease (Gann & Friedman, 2015).
Most of the time when
there is a death caused by a fire, the normal thinking is they got
burnt up when in fact smoke exposure causes more deaths than burns do (NFPA - Reporter’s
Guide: The Consequences of Fire, n.d.). When a fire takes place the smoke from the fire will
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generally use up all the available oxygen in the area, when this happens it can incapacitate
anyone in the area at a quick rate. When this happens the victims can become confused, have
difficulty breathing, and have a loss of vision due to the eyes being irritated. This can make it
very difficult for the occupants to find an emergency exit and cause them to become trapped and
inhaling all the toxic smoke causing death.
Conclusion
Smoke exposure is something that firefighters deal with at every type of fire. Wearing a
self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) is very important on all fires to help cut down on the
exposure to toxic smoke and help lower the risk of developing chronic lung disease from long
term exposure. SCBAs need to be worn during all operations of a fire scene, whether it be a
building fire or a vehicle fire. Its would be a very good training topic for every fire department to
go over at least once a year and have a standing operation order laying out the mandatory
wearing of the SCBA .
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References
Gann, R. G., & Friedman, R. (2015).
Principles of fire behavior and combustion
(Fourth).
Jones & Bartlett Learning.
NFPA - Reporter’s Guide: The consequences of fire
. (n.d.). Www.nfpa.org.
https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Publications-and-media/Press-
Room/Reporters-Guide-to-Fire-and-NFPA/Consequences-of-
fire#:~:text=continues%20to%20increase.-