LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA — I can’t say if I would have been terrified at what I saw on Facebook yesterday if I didn’t have extensive training in fighting fires when I was in the military.
Firefighting was the most vital thing for the crew to learn and master on an aircraft carrier, or any other navy vessel. A navy ship cannot be effective in combat if the crew did not have firefighting down to a science.
It’s always “Safety First” on a navy ship, and effective firefighting is fifty percent of that. Ships are a nation’s capital assets, and everything must be done to save them from the threat of onboard fires.
Fires are easily preventable if fire prevention procedure is strictly followed, and shortcuts are never resorted to. We were taught, and were always reminded that safety rules and procedure are written in blood!
Knowing that, let’s take first things first. You cannot be effective at fighting fires without knowing the elements of a fire.
For starters, there is the fire triangle with each side representing the elements that give life to fires. Those three elements are Heat, Fuel, and Oxygen. When all three are present, a fire can occur.
In combustible materials, self-combustion can occur even without any external ignition source, as long as the minimum ignition temperature for a particular substance is reached.
A rag, for instance, soaked in certain greases or oils, could self-heat, and spontaneously ignite, especially if left in a hot environment. If it ever reached anywhere between 300-400 degrees Fahrenheit, it could start burning your house while you’re out enjoying a nice day with your family.
Remember, preventing a fire is so much easier than fighting it. Fire, without proper intervention, ceases to be a hazard only when it has burned through everything and all that’s left are the ashes. Ashes can’t burn anymore.
So yesterday, a video was posted on Facebook showing a burning transformer on a post.I immediately thought it was in Dumaguete because a building looked familiar. Indeed, it was in Dumaguete, as I learned later on from the Bureau of Fire Protection, specifically at the corner of Cervantes and Pinili Streets, right in front of an auto parts store.
There were two transformers perched on that post but only one seemed to be burning. I could hear people in the video saying that the Fire Department was taking a long time (to get to the scene). Finally, toward the end of the footage, a firetruck arrived, and the firemen hurriedly set up their equipment.
The next thing I saw was a fireman training his hose upward at the burning transformer, pulsing his stream.
Immediately, I knew he was spraying water at the transformer because why else would he pulse his stream? What he was doing was perhaps hoping that by pulsing the water, he was “breaking” an otherwise-uninterrupted path for electricity to take from the transformer back to him.
This was what terrified me—a professional firefighter, fighting a Class “C” (electrical) fire with water.
I can only wonder if he knew that water is never used to fight such a fire because of the danger of electrocution—water is an excellent conductor of electricity.
The only firefighting agents that should be used in “C” fires are non-conducting dry chemical agents such as Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and Purple K Power (PKP). CO2 naturally displaces oxygen, one of the elements of a fire, and because it is extremely cold, it also addresses the heat equation of a fire.
PKP, on the other hand, suspends particles within the fire, interrupting the chemical reaction that sustains it, and also brings the temperature down. Both agents do not create a path of conductivity for the current to flow.
How fast is electricity? It is as fast as light. To give you some perspective, light can circle the earth in 0.1337 seconds, or 7.5 times in one second.
Remember that firefighter who was pulsing his hose? Well, if his nozzle’s bale handle should get stuck open, even for a split second, he could be electrocuted.
That is why it is universal knowledge that water should never be used to fight Class “C” fires, even if the system is verified to be de-energized!
Not a firefighting school on earth teaches otherwise!
My concern was so great that I called the BFP in Dumaguete just to confirm what I thought. A lady firefighter, with a rank of Fire Officer 3, answered the phone.
After the initial talk, I asked why they used water on the burning transformer. At first, she tried to tell me there is a “technique” to using water to fight electrical fires. Then she stopped insisting as soon as she realized I knew what I was talking about, and that she was terribly wrong.
Then she admitted they do not having anything else (dry chemicals) to use on the burning transformer, and that it is “common practice” within the Bureau of Fire Prevention (in the entire country) to use water for lack of the appropriate materials.
Shocking! is all I can say about that! I asked to speak with the Fire Chief who was, of course, not available. Seeing the futility of trying to speak with anyone who might have more to say on the matter, I felt it was hopeless to try to talk to her any further.
I simply told the lady fireman that the fact the hose-wielding firefighter was not electrocuted was simply due to luck, and had nothing to do with “technique”.
It is only a matter of time before one of the fire personnel runs out of luck, and gets killed, or worse, a member of the public.
After our talk, I called a City official to inform someone in the local government unit about the dangers that the Bureau of Fire Prevention is exposing the public to. I hope something will be done about this most unsafe practice.
Interestingly, if you Googled “Does the Philippine Bureau of Fire Protection teach the use of water on electrical fires,” the answer is “No, the Philippine Bureau of Fire Protection does not teach the use of water on electrical fires.” Hmmm?
From the looks of the present Bureau of Fire Prevention compared to the old Fire Department, I have been under the impression that the personnel are now highly-trained and well-equipped to face the ever-increasing challenges of firefighting in a City that has grown exponentially in infrastructure and population over the years.
I was also hoping that as professional firemen, they would know that they should never do unsafe and unsanctioned acts that endanger themselves and the public. Their officers, especially their Chief (shame on them!) should be the first ones to know better.
From what the FO3 told me, they’ve been tolerating this, and undoubtedly other unsafe acts, as far as she can remember.
There is one admirable thing about them, though—they look physically fit.
But even that will be for naught if they keep flirting with disaster! I would hate to think about how they might fight Class “B” or Class “K” fires.
With the way it is, they seem to be equipped to fight only Class “A” fires.
I urge everyone to at least know what A, B, C, D, K classes of fires are. Knowing them might just come in handy in the future.
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Author’s email: bjplug@gmail.com
