1. DAMAGE LIMITATION - FIRE MODULE Flashcards
When carrying out a triage, categorise & identify:
- Items in need of urgent attention to prevent secondary damage.
- Items beyond BER
- Items not at immediate risk of further damage
How do you carry out triage assessments in simple fire damage situations? 3 steps.
WALK AROUND WHOLE PROPERTY & MAKE TRIAGE ASSESSEMENT:
1. Items at risk, note anything at risk of secondary damage - these will require urgent attention.
2. Items or materials not restorable - not urgent, already ruined.
3. Note items you expect to be restorable & will not suffer more damage.
What should be done after your triage assessment?
- Focus on and take action of things likely to suffer secondary damage.
Someone not familiar with fire damage may spend the first hours cleaning total loss of debris, is this the best option?
- No
- Spending time on this at start of job could deflect resources from mitigation of secondary damage elsewhere
What should be considered - debris?
- Can be rich & covered in hydrochloric acid.
- If high chloride levels on metal, it could make debris removal or the removal of salvageable good a higher priority.
- Because hydrochloride acid is being off-gassed, potentially re-contaminating your work.
What should be considered - odours?
- May need to protect initial work from these sources of re-contamination of odour off-gassing from debris & the resetting of airbourn sailing.
How do you identify items at risk of secondary damage?
WET RESIDUES
DRY RESIDUES
CORROSIVE RESIDUES
- WET RESIDUES; eg from oxygen starved slow fires - more likely to contain & have persistent odours.
- DRY RESIDUES; eg from fast burning fat fires - generally easier to deal with
- CORROSIVE RESIDUES; usually revealed by high chloride levels and visible corrosion.
Secondary damage following fires is usually CAUSED by what? 4 points.
- Acid corrosion
- Staining
- Odour absorption
- Humidity/water damage & mould growth.
Items that are at risk of secondary damage are:
- Metallic materials
- Electronic equipment
- Certain plastic materials & unsealed timber
- Fabrics & building materials that may support mould growth
Do all fire residues contain acids and are corrosive?
- No
-Some materials produce huge amounts of acids when they burn, some produce none.
REMEMBER: NOT ALL FIRE RESIDUES CONTAIN ACID, CHLORIDE LEVEL TESTING CAN HELP DECIDE IF THERE IS A CORROSION RISK.
Some fire residues can conduct electricity, examples are:
- Acidic residues
- Carbon deposits (particles of incomplete combustion)
- Not all fire residues conduct electricity
Some fire residues contain acids, electronics are particularly vulnerable to damage from acidic fire residues, what damage is likely?
- Corrosion
- Short circuits
How to prevent damage to valuable electronics?
- Reduce the RH in the property to below 60% to slow corrosion
- Tenting equipment at risk & introducing dry air will enable RH values to be maintained
- Below 30% RH will be an increased risk of static electricity, causing damage to electronic components - protect w water dispersant, specialist knowledge required.
- Prompt decontamination - specialist knowledge required.
What actions can prevent secondary damage? 7 items
- Control humidity
- Carry out water damage limitation if required
- Protect floors & floor coverings & initial cleaning
- Clean items at risk of corrosion or staining damage
- Improving general environment to reduce re-contamination
- Check electrical supply & status of freezers
- Potted plants
If chlorides are detected, what items must be cleaned as a priority and/if cost effective should be removed to a stable environment immediately?
- Electrical equipment
- Machinery and tools
- Metallic items such as door handles (stainless steel)
- Aluminium windows/brass electrical fittings/gilding on picture frames or metal ornaments
- Plastic laminated surfaces on kitchen & cupboard unit/ UPVC windows & doors
