The UL Firefighter Safety Research Institute (FSRI) has released a new research report, “Study of the Fire Service Training Environment: Safety Fidelity, and Exposure – Acquired Structures” based on the final series of experiments conducted as part of the “Study of the Fire Service Training Environment: Safety, Fidelity, and Exposure.” The project is supported by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate current training methods and fuel packages in several different structures commonly utilized across the fire service to highlight the potential limitations of live-fire training and provide training considerations for departments to increase both safety and fidelity.
This report is focused on the evaluation of live-fire training within acquired structures. A full-scale structure was previously constructed using the same floor plan as in the research projects for horizontal, vertical, and positive pressure ventilation to provide a comparison between the modern fire environment and the training ground. The structure was instrumented which allowed for the quantification of fire behavior, the impact of various ventilation tactics, and provided the ability to directly compare these experiments with the previous research findings.
These experiments were conducted to compare common training fuels to modern furnishings by replicating both fire, ventilation location as well as event timing to previous research. The quantification of the differences between modern furnishings and wood-based training fuel loads and the impact of different fire service ventilation tactics is documented through a detailed comparison to the tactical fireground considerations found during the previous DHS research studies. The comparisons within this report characterize initial fire growth, the propensity for the fire to become ventilation limited, the fire’s response to ventilation, and the peak thermal exposure to students and instructors.
“The modern fire environment responds much differently to ventilation and fire control than once believed. Current firefighter training lacks the data to bridge the gap between current training facilities and the fire behavior that will actually be faced on the fireground,” said Steve Kerber, Director, UL Firefighter Safety Research Institute. “The results from this study will not only enhance the limited hands-on training opportunities that firefighters currently receive, but will also lead to more effective and efficient firefighting.”
Fire service instructors planning to conduct live fire training utilizing acquired structures are encouraged to read this report for information on how to best utilize a structure in accordance with NFPA 1403.
Watch the report release video: https://vimeo.com/317133040
The report is available online: https://ulfirefightersafety.org/posts/ul-fsri-releases-training-acquired-structures-report.html
About the UL Firefighter Safety Research Institute
UL Firefighter Safety Research Institute (FSRI) advances fire research knowledge and develops cutting edge, practical fire service education aimed at helping firefighters stay safe while more effectively protecting people and property. Guided by a global advisory board comprised of fire service personnel, UL FSRI investigates residential, commercial, and industrial fires through full-scale testing, field-testing, and modeling to replicate actual fires faced by firefighters. Research results are shared through interactive training courses that have reached hundreds of thousands of firefighters globally. To learn more, visit ULFirefighterSafety.org.
