Fire Suppression October 26, 2005

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Fire SuppressionOctober 26, 2005
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Types of Fire

• Wildfire
• Prescribed Fire
• Escaped Fire

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Types of Fire

• Wildfire
• An unwanted fire, control necessary
• Prescribed fire
• A fire that meets management objectives, promoted
• Escaped fire
• Transition between prescribed fire and wildfire

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Fire Triangle
HEAT
OXYGEN
FUEL
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Fire Triangle

• Oxygen
• In the air
• Heat
• Source of ignition
• Fuel
• Combustible materials

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Breaking the Fire Triangle

• Oxygen
• Suffocate fire with dirt or water to eliminate
  oxygen
• Heat
• Cool fire by applying water, dirt, retardant,
  etc.
• Fuel
• Separate the fuel to prevent combustion or remove
  fuel during fireline construction

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Types of Control

• Direct control
• Suppression leads to complete extinguishment
• Perimeter control (contain)
• Surround a fire with a fireline (or natural
  barriers)
• Prescription control (confine)
• Fire burns within specific geographic boundaries
  identified in the prescription plan, monitoring
  necessary

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Fireline (Perimeter Control)

• Fireline
• Break in fuel continuity (scrape or dig to soil)
• Rule of thumb 1.5 x flame height
• Anchor point secure location (fire barrier)
  from which to start fireline construction
• Types of Fireline
• -Hotline -Catline/Tractorline/Plowline
• -Wetline -Retardant line/Foam line
• -Coldtrail -Handline
• -Blackline

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Attacking a Fire
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Burning out
Backfiring
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Fire Suppression MethodsTTYP

• Sizeup
• Scout
• Safety zone
• Escape route
• Mopup
• Demobilization

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Fire Suppression Methods

• Sizeup
• Evaluate fire behavior match suppression
  resources
• Scout
• To observe and assess current situation of a fire
• Safety zone
• Burned areas, lake, marsh, road, etc.

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Methods (cont.)

• Escape route
• Plan for leaving fire and reaching the safety
  zone
• Mopup
• Going over burned area to put out spot fires
• Demobilization
• Reducing the amount of suppression forces
• Begins before control is complete (costs,
  reassignment)

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Tactics vs. Strategies

• Tactics
• Techniques used to control a fire (fireline,
  explosives, engines, hotshot crews, helicopter,
  air tanker, etc.)
• Strategy
• All the components that form part of the approach
  to control a fire (direct vs. perimeter/indirect
  control, sizeup, firing operations, ground crews,
  hotspotting, mopup, etc.)