Enclosure fires

FREE FULL BOOK DOWNLOAD IN PDF: The aim of this book is to help provide a deeper understanding of how fire behaves during enclosure fires. It focuses on understanding the processes involved in an enclosure fire.

The main purpose, however, is not to look at how to actually fight this type of fire, by using smoke venting or applying a particular extinguishing medium, for instance, even though appropriate actions like these will be discussed in some sections. When discussing firefighting measures, reference will be made instead to relevant manuals dealing with smoke venting and extinguishing media.

Every year around a hundred people die throughout Sweden as a result of fire, with most dying in house fires. Fire also causes extensive damage to property, with the insurance sec- tor putting an estimated figure of 3.4 billion Swedish kronor (approx. £260 million) on the value of the property destroyed every year.

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This is why it is important to prevent fire. If considerable resources are channelled into fire prevention this can reduce both the number of deaths and the cost. When a fire breaks out it is vital that it can be tackled at an early stage, taking the appropriate action.

For instance, a fire’s behaviour in industrial premises is different, compared to in house fires. This book mainly describes fires in smaller areas such as flats or houses. Firefighters need to have basic knowledge about the factors controlling the behaviour of these types of fire. In this situation, as with other operations, there is a great deal of pressure in terms of taking the right course of action. It is also obviously very important to be familiar with and look out for the warning signs which can be picked up during an operation.

During the last 10 years great strides have been made in the research into these areas. This has led to a change in the approach to compartment fires in certain respects. Some of this research provides the basis for this book, along with the practical experience of the local fire service.

The book is intended to provide the basic material for teaching about fire development in Sweden’s Rescue Services Agency colleges. This is the group which the book is mainly targeted at. It may also be of interest, however, to people in other professions who encounter problems relating to enclosure fires. I hope that the book will manage to serve this purpose, both in terms of being used as a teacher’s guide and as a basic handbook helping to increase the knowledge about fire development.

I am sincerely grateful for all the assistance I received at the various stages in writing this book. There have been contributions from many people, in fact too many for me to name them individually. But I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to them, one and all.

Lars-Göran Bengtsson