Firefighter
From the Quicksilver Metaweb.
Firefighters are persons who are trained and equipped to put out fires, rescue people and in some areas provide emergency medical services. The fire service, also known as the fire brigade or fire department in some countries, is one of the emergency services.
Firefighting is the process and profession of extinguishing fires. Firefighting is important in urban areas where firefighters are on constant standby; in wildland areas, and on board ship.
Fire-fighting Skills
Firefighting has several basic skills: prevention, self-preservation, rescue, preservation of property and fire control. All of these except prevention can be performed at the same time by a skilled fire-fighting team.
Prevention
Prevention attempts to assure that no place simultaneously has heat, fuel and air. Most prevention programs prevent heat. Every building, including residences, should have sprinklers. No life has ever been lost to fire in a residence with sprinklers. With the small rooms typical of a residence, one or two sprinklers can cover most rooms. If this is not possible, then at least have smoke detectors and a fire-extinguisher.
Self Preservation
Never enter a burning building unless you are a trained firefighter equipped with self-contained breathing apparatus (or equivalent).
Self-preservation is critical. A dead fire-fighter is no good to anyone. The basic technique is to know where you are, and avoid hazards. Work in teams. Keep your basic tools with you. Always keep a route out, and preserve it by irrigation. Don't depend on failing structures. Try to understand where the fire is going: Usually up, following fuel and air. Never get above the fire. If you have breathing equipment, use it. Otherwise, stay low, out of the gases. Avoid fuel that can flash-over. When the search is over, or the exit is threatened, if the building can't be saved, get out.
Rescue
Rescue consists of searching, and then removing people that are alive. Animals may also be recovered, if resources and conditions permit. Generally triage and first aid are performed outside. The general form of rescue is to shuffle through the structure with the right hand against the wall, or utilizing a tool. Many fire departments follow a two-in, two-out rule, and in a large room the second person would follow behind the first, usually on their immediate left. This is called a right hand search. There is also a left hand search, which is the same thing except the right and left are reversed. Remember to search beds and cupboards, and identify oneself to victims. Many children are very frightened of fire-fighters in breathing masks.
Rescue may also involve the extrication of victims of motor vehicle accidents. Here firefighters use spreaders, cutters, and rams, tools more commonly known as the Jaws of Life. More technical forms of rescue include subsets such as rope rescue, confined space rescue, and trench rescue. These types of rescue are often extremely hazardous and physically demanding.
Property
Buildings that are made of fuel, such as frame buildings, are different from fire-proof buildings such as concrete high-rises. Generally, the fire in a fire-proof building can be limited to a floor. Other floors can be safe simply by preventing smoke inhalation and damage. A burnable building must be evacuated.
Property preservation is a great help to people. Most fires can be limited to burning only the upper part of a frame structure. If possible, turn off the gas, electricity and water, and during the search, tip all the movable property into the middle of a room, and cover it with a heavy cloth tarp. This reduces damage from water, smoke and burning embers. If the structure doesn't catch, it's very helpful to ventilate it to reduce smoke damage.
Fire Control
Fire control consists of depriving a fire of fuel, oxygen or heat. The standard way is to remove heat by spraying the burning solid fuels with water from a fire-hose. Some fuels float on water, and are actually spread by water (such as gasoline). Some departments can use chemical dust even on large fires. These are preferable because the property damage can be so much less than with water. Petroleum fires are more often smothered with foam. In electrical fires, the crucial thing is to turn off the electricity.
Most fires spread as hot gases move through the structure. Some fires can be controlled or limited by venting these gases to the outside. This can aggravate a fire if it introduces new oxygen, or permits a draft past fuel or structure, so it should be attempted only by veteran fire fighters.
Firefighters are constantly training and updating their skills on equipment. Some of their tools include extrication equipment, ladder trucks, tanker trucks, pumper trucks, and ambulances.
Miscellanea
In popular literature from the United States, firefighters are usually depicted with Dalmatian dogs. The dalmatian is a breed of dog, noted for its white coat with (usually) black spots. "Liver (brown) and lemon (yellow) types also exist, though they are much rarer.
Firehouse Dog
In the USA dalmatians are often known (and portrayed, for example in children's books), as firehouse dogs. This appears to be rooted in the origins of the dalmatian as a carriage dog, that is, a dog whose role was to run along, beside, and sometimes even under horse-drawn carriages (therefore also known as Spotted Coach-dog). This may have transferred to horse-drawn fire engines although it is unclear why this link is made in the USA and not other countries.
- A retired fireman claimed dalmatians were considered mean dogs that would clear the way by biting and snapping at gawkers.
Dalmatians are famed for their loyalty and good memories and their kindly natures. They also have a reputation for greed, and some have a tendency towards deafness -- information from dalmatian clubs will usually address this issue for new owners.
The breed was named in the 18th century after Dalmatia, a region of modern Croatia that was once part of Austria, although it is believed to have existed for some time before it was so named. It is also sometimes, believed to erroneously, named Smaller Danish Dog.