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Fire Disaster in New-York.

 It was about 4:45 P.M. on Saturday, March 25, 1911. A fire started in a rag bin on the eighth floor. It spread rapidly through the mix of combustible cloth. One group of workers grabbed the standpipe hoseline and attempted to extinguish the fire. They quickly found that the hose was rotted and the valves frozen shut. The fire soon began to pass through the workers jammed into the loft building. Workers rushed toward the exits with which they were familiar. They were met with a wall of fire racing up the stairs. Others moved toward another exit, but were blocked by a locked door which opened inward. By this time, there were so many people pushing toward the door that the door was jammed shut. Bells in New York fire station began to toll the alarm. The streets were littered with bodies, making apparatus placement difficult. Ladders could not reach the fire or the roof. But once lines were in position, the fire was quickly extinguished. The horrible toll was 146 people who leaped to their deaths or were burned or crushed to death in the panic.

 

UNIT V

What is fire?

Lesson 1

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FIRE TRIANGLE

PART I

 The ancient Greeks believed that fire was one the four basic elements that composed all things in the universe. In the mythology of virtually every culture fire is a sacred substance that gives life or power. Fire is not, in fact, a substance. When you gaze at the leaping flames of a campfire, you are observing not an object, but a process – a chemical reaction. It is the same chemical reaction that occurs when a cut apple left on the counter turns brown, or when silver tarnishes or when an iron nail rusts. That process is oxidation: combining oxygen with another substance. The defining difference between a fire and your half – eaten apple is speed: fire is an oxidation process that happens very fast, so that light, heat and sound are released – often enough force and majesty to justify ancients’ reverence. 

At the beginning the fire has no source of heat except the heat of ignition. The small number of oxidation reactions that occur at this point do not contribute much to the development of a fire. Therefore, this stage is called smoldering or the incipient stage; it gives off smoke but very little heat. Then the fire breaks into the open flame. Now there is a sufficient amount of heat to accelerate the combustion process and the chain reaction begins. This period is often called the open flame production phase. When the fire breaks into open flame the process changes. The fire will begin to spread and the temperature in the area will rise rapidly. As the ignition temperature of almost all ordinary carbonaceous materials is between 40 and 1400 degrees Fahrenheit we may assume that the fire will be generating enough heat to involve all the fuels unless some extinguishing agent interferes. This period is called the critical period or flashover stage. So there are three stages in the development of a fire.

After a fire goes to a flashover stage fire control is a combination of methods to remove the heat and products of combustion, to channel the direction of spread to the smallest possible area of involvement, and to cool off the atmosphere or fuel so that combustion ceases. This requires keen insight into the combustion process.

PART II

Fire or combustion may be defined as a rapid chemical reaction between substances in which heat and light are evolved. It is usual to speak of one of the substances as the combustible and other as the supporter of combustion. In all ordinary fires the supporter of combustion is the oxygen of the atmosphere. In some limited circumstances other gases, e.g. chlorine, may support combustion.

The fire triangle identifies the three needed components of fire: fuel, heat and oxygen. Fuel is something which is capable of combining vigorously with oxygen, or in other words, will burn. Combustion will be fiercer as the more oxygen is supplied. Most materials require the application of heat in one form or another to bring them to the temperature at which they will combine with the oxygen so vigorously that they will ignite (ignition temperature) although some substances, e.g. phosphorous react so at ordinary temperature. All three components must be present to have a fire.

It is not necessary usually to heat all the fuel to its ignition temperature, because as one part of it ignites, the heat of the reaction is sufficient to raise the temperature of the adjoining parts so that they also ignite, and so on until the reaction has spread through the whole fuel.

Fire will burn until one or more of the components are removed. Traditional fire extinguishing methods involve removing the fuel, heat or oxygen. In more recent years a fourth component – the chain reaction has been added to explain fire. Once a fire has started, the resulting chain reaction sustains the fire and allows it to continue until or unless at least one of the elements of the fire is removed. In other words, the chain reaction provides the heat necessary to maintain the fire. The addition of this forth component forms what is called the “fire tetrahedron”.

Words and word combinations:

triangle - треугольник

campfire -костёр

occur  - происходить, случаться, совершаться

oxidation -окисление

oxygen - кислород

production phase - фаза образования продукта

carbonaceous - углеродистый, содержащий углерод

Fahrenheit   - шкала Фаренгейта

assume - принимать, брать на себя, допускать, предполагать

generate - вызывать, порождать

combustion	– горение
supporter of combustion	– вещество, поддерживающее горение
fire	– огонь, пожар
combustible	– горючий
flammable
development	– развитие
fuel	– горючее, топливо
to evolve	– выделять
to give off
to burn	– гореть
to ignite	– зажигать, воспламеняться
ignition	– зажигание, воспламенение
source of ignition	– источник зажигания
spread	– распространение
to spread	– распространяться
sufficient	– достаточный
rate	– скорость
rise	– повышение, подъем
to rise	– возрастать, повышаться
to raise	– поднимать, повышать
to smolder	– тлеть
incipient	– начальный
flame	– пламя
to burst into flames	– вспыхнуть
smoke	– дым
flashover	– полный охват помещения огнем,
fierce	искровой разряд - свирепый, сильный, неистовый
to remove	– удалять
chain	– цепь
chain reaction	– цепная реакция
vigorous	– сильный, бурный, энергичный
to extinguish	– тушить
fire extinguishing method	– метод тушения огня
to cool off	– охлаждать

 

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