Chapter 6: Calculating Required Fire Flows Flashcards
What is the definition of Required Fire Flow (RFF)?
The amount of water that must be applied to the fire in order to control and/or extinguish it in a reasonable amount of time.
What are the 3 methods of determining required fire flow for manual fire fighting operations?
- The Iowa State Formula;
- The National Fire Academy Formula;
- The Insurance Services Office Formula
Who correctly theorized that if water could be broken up into little drops and discharged across the fire, it would absorb the heat and dilute the burning gases?
Glenn Griswold
Griswold settled on an impinging-stream designed nozzle that created optimally small droplets of water at pressures between _____ and _______ psi?
50 and 275 psi
Griswold founded the:
Fog Nozzle Company
Griswold’s company produced nozzles called the:
Griswold Fognozl (Also called the California Fognozl)
His Coast Guard research involved inserting fog streams via applicator pipes into completely closed rooms (except a small exhaust opening) containing oil fires:
Lloyd Layman
Lloyd Layman’s fire attack method was the:
Indirect attack
Lloyd Layman’s fire attack method does not work well on:
Incipient fires
Floyd Nelson and Keith Royer founded the:
International Society of Fire Service Instructors
What are the 2 fundamental principles was the Iowa State Formula based on?
1) 1 gallon of water will produce, with a margin of safety, 200 cubic feet of steam
2) 1 gallon of water will absorb, with a margin of safety, all of the heat that can be produced with the O2 available in 200 cubic feet of normal air
1 cubic foot of pure O2 combined with ordinary fuels produces ____ BTUs?
535 BTUs
Air contains __% of oxygen?
21%
Flame production stops when O2 levels drop below __%
15%
Only __% of air is available for heat production
7%
The number of BTUs produced by 1 cubic foot of air is:
37 BTUs
1 gallon of water converted to 200 cubic feet of steam absorbs _____ BTUs?
9,330 BTUs
Royer and Nelson concluded that 1 gallon of water can absorb all of the heat produced by _____ cubic feet of air?
200 cu. ft
Nelson and Royer determined that the maximum time required for effective use of the adjustable fog nozzle is:
30 seconds
The National Fire Academy is a:
Federal government agency (Department of Homeland Security)
This “quick calculation” formula can be used as a tactical tool to determine fire flow requirements on scene:
National Fire Academy Formula
The NFA advises that the NFA formula is considered reliable only if __ floors or fewer are on fire:
4 floors
Before exposures or other additions, the NFA formula is:
Square footage of one floor of the structure divided by 3
If more than one floor is involved and before exposures and other additions, the NFA formula is:
Square footage of one floor of the structure divided by 3, multiplied by the number of floors
When using the NFA formula, you should add __% of fire flow for each side of the building with exposures?
25%
In buildings of fire-resistive construction, if other floors are not yet involved but are threatened by possible extension of fire, those floors should be considered an:
Exposure;
Add 25% of fire flow for each exposure
This formula has never been validated by definitive scientific or practical testing:
The NFA Formula
Their mission is to provide useful and reliable risk evaluation info to property insurance companies:
The Insurance Services Office
Fire fighters use this formula to calculate fire flow in manual fire fighting the least?
The Insurance Services Office Formula
This formula was not designed to be used on the fire ground:
The Insurance Services Office Formula
When using this formula to determine fire flow in manual fire fighting, the user has to determine the construction type of the involved structure:
The Insurance Services Office Formula
The Insurance Services Office Formula is not applicable to these structures:
1 and 2 family dwellings not exceeding 2 stories