by KYW's Michelle Durham
In "general knowledge" classes, cadets learn about the science of fire.
Fire is actually an oxidation process, the result of a chemical chain reaction. For combustion to occur you need an oxidizing agent (oxygen), fuel, heat, and a self-sustained chemical reaction.
And as lieutenant Girton Allerton (right and above) explains, all fires are not created equal:
"There's nothing I like better than rolling up on a fire and seeing it blow out the windows -- a big, yellow fire. It's a lot easier to get into the seat of the fire -- a lot easier to locate it and extinguish it. It's a lot safer.
"I get a smoldering, nasty, black, billowing job where I've got nothing but smoke pouring out of a building and I get a little tense. Because I don't know where the seat of the fire is.
"I open a wrong door, or a knucklehead breaks the wrong window, and it's like that scene out of 'Backdraft' where you see DeNiro yelling at the guy, wanting to know why he broke the window out while he was standing in a pool in of gasoline -- and something bad goes on."
In her next report, Michelle Durham introduces us to a female paramedic in the Philadelphia Fire Department who is now attending the Fire Academy to make the job leap to firefighter.
Fire Prevention Tips
Donate a Smoke Detector for the Needy
(Photos by Capt. Vince Mulray)
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