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WaterLanceä
xPerformance on Basement Fire
I had the opportunity to use the The house that was used for the training fire had a good-sized, partially finished basement, which was partitioned in such a manner that allowed us to create two separate fires. Nearly all of the furnishings were removed from the basement prior to the training exercise so we added scrap wood pallets and pieces of fence board to increase the fuel load available. We started the first fire and allowed it to grow. As the fire became more intense, it rolled along the ceiling and appeared to involve approximately half of the basement. These fires were lit with the only outside basement access open, which allowed air to feed the fire. When the heat became intense enough to break out a window and vent itself, the crew advanced in above the fire and attacked it with the WaterLanceä xthrough a triangular hole cut in the floor with a saw. Using normally accepted hydraulics calculations for 1 ¾" hose with a 1 ½" nozzle, the fire was quickly suppressed. The elapsed time for water application was well less than one minute. We sent a hose team into the basement after the fire attack for mop-up and they reported that the initial attack with the WaterLanceä xhad successfully extinguished the fire. The second fire was set on the opposite side of the basement from the first. It had all of the same conditions and pre-treatments as the first fire. The attack crews used the same WaterLanceä xWand as the first with the same water-flow calculations. This time, we let the fire grow much larger, and allowed the basement to become nearly completely involved with flames. There were flames coming up the outside stairwell of the basement, and the fire soon became intense enough to vent-out two more windows. This time the attack crew was instructed to move in over the fire, insert the nozzle, turn it on, and leave it on. Using this method, the nozzle works like an overhead sprinkler head. It seemed like, in no time at all, all of the active flame in the basement was suppressed. The backup hose team went down into the basement for mop-up, and found that there was very little to do. I was quite impressed by the ability of the WaterLanceä xto quickly and effectively put the fires out, without unnecessarily jeopardizing the safety of any personnel to deploy it!
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