Fire fighting and safety in machinery spaces

1. WHAT IS FIRE?

Fire is one of the greatest hazards at sea. It threatens the safety of the vessel and the lives of everyone aboard. Even a very small fire can quickly turn into a major disaster so it is vital that everyone on board is aware of the risks and plays their part in fire prevention.

Fire is a chemical reaction between a flammable material and air which results in the production of heat and light. A fire cannot occur unless three elements are present. To make them easy to remember, they are often shown as the Fire Triangle.

The three elements needed to produce a fire are:

♦ A Source of ignition - HEAT.

♦ Something that will burn - FUEL.

♦ Support for combustion - AIR.

A fire can only sustain itself if all three components are present. Remove one, and you extinguish the fire. This is the simple basic principle of fire prevention.

Therefore extinguishing a fire is achieved as follows:

1) Removal of the combustible material.

2) Reducing or cutting off the supply of oxygen or air.

3) Using a cooling medium to reduce the temperature of the substance to a level at which combustion ceases. Fire fighting techniques use one or a combination of the above methods to extinguish a fire.

Fires are classified according to the types of material which are acting as fuel. Broadly speaking most fires can be divided into four classes:

Дата добавления: 2015-08-26