MASTER SPRAY STREAM

[Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] I'm Emmett Cox chairman of the exploratory committee on the application of water the photography in this picture is by Milt Parker Carl Clanton John barman Harold Kuhlman Charlie's Scott and Cecil Bias all mixed subcommittee this picture was edited by Carl Blanton of the Kansas inspection Bureau John barman of the Missouri inspection Bureau and Harold Coleman of the Oklahoma Inspection Bureau we have observed many tests on relatively small building fires using fog nozzles these tests prove conclusively the effectiveness of fog application on fires involving buildings the size of an average dwelling you've probably seen the report of these fires in the film using water wisely the committee has long hoped to conduct tests involving large buildings where fires could reach the proportions requiring the use of master streams for control and extinguishment we felt that to conduct such tests with safety the much equipment and manpower should be available and the test building should be well isolated misterfrancis Wornall director of fire Kansas City Missouri arranged for a four-story building that met these requirements and offered to conduct tests which could be observed by the committee the committee and the entire fire service are grateful to brick Wornall Chief Ed grass members of the Kansas City Missouri Fire Department and other city officials for affording us this opportunity it would be impossible to name all of the people who have contributed to this project but you'll probably recognize many of them throughout the picture here is battalion chief grant of the Kansas City Missouri Fire Department and dick Verner manager of the fab prevention department Western actuarial Bureau Chicago also chairman of the fire department instructors conference le Antony manager of the Oklahoma inspection Bureau bill Larkin George our gain Huw Walker and Joe fetters all taking part in these tests many firemen ship instructors and equipment manufacturers representatives are on hand deputy chief Hilson Kansas City Missouri Fire Department and Bob Baris University of Maryland Kuhlman and Hogan from Oklahoma City helped make the pictorial record Charli Scott State Fire Marshal of Ohio there's RJ Douglas from Oklahoma A&M on the back of that pumper Indiana State Fire Marshal Arnold Meister and a fireman from Oklahoma there on the right is Warren Y Kimball editor of NFPA z' fireman magazine long experienced in fog fire fighting temperature recording equipment was furnished and installed by Standard Oil Company there's dick Verner talking to a newspaper reporter and your narrator the basement and all four floors were loaded with almost all kinds of ordinary combustibles the loading was considered comparable to that normally found in a general storage warehouse this heavy loading together with open stairways and elevator shaft represented conditions often existent in warehousing areas each nozzle was supplied by 2 and 1/2 inch lines from a thousand gallon pumper cyma used in to master stream appliances a master spray nozzle is in position at rear basement window and chief grass is making a final check of equipment before the test is started Kansas City Missouri firemen in self-contained masks are standing by ready to start the attack chief grass satisfied that all is ready gives the final okay and the test is begun fire has been ignited in the center part of the basement this coal chute and the two windows in the rear open into the front and rear sections which are separated the area by stone walls with large openings between each section basement temperatures were about 1500 degrees when attack began water was applied through the rear window with a JM 200 novel the stream was directed toward the opening in the partition wall and rotated to cover the greatest area almost at once steam was expelled from all windows both front and rear which you see here open stair and elevator shafts extended from the basement to top floor and permitted both heat and steam to spread throughout the building because water was not applied directly into the hottest section of the basement the temperature was not reduced as rapidly as might be expected but even so the basement temperature was down to 900 degrees after 1 and 1/2 minutes the JNA 200 was then shut down and the basement was entered from the rear with hand lines to guard against a spread of fire to the other floors hand lines cellar and ladder pipes were placed to cover the first and second floors the fire finally did ignite some of the fuel on the first floor and fog was applied on both the first and second floors to cover firemen entering with hand lines for overhauling the effect of these secondary fog applications is indicated by additional volumes of steam temperatures in the basement continued to dropped after the primary fog application was stopped the basement temperatures were never above 450 degrees Overhaulin was a stubborn problem aggravated by helter-skelter piles of fuel which resisted penetration the fire extended upward through cracks in the ordinary wood joist at floor to ignite some of the few piled on the first floor requiring more work by the famine before the fire was completely extinguished and the men could take a breather the local Red Cross chapter had their canteen set to supply refreshments to the famine even test buyers do not always progress according to expectations after the fire in the basement was extinguished our plans call for a fire involving the second floor with four ladder pipes equipped the spray nozzles available for use about the time the fire was started the unexpected began pumpers supplying three nozzles had to be disconnected to relieve a traffic tie-up and permit a railroad switch engine to pass the fire was ignited at about the centre of the second floor and within five minutes had involved the second floor third floor fourth floor and was going through the roof house we had three times as much fire as we had expected and one fourth as many streams ready to attack right now many of the observers thought that the building was lost the chief grass had other ideas he attacked the fire was the only available ladder pipe which was located at the rear of the building controlling the nozzle from the ground he fired short bursts of fog into each window of the fire area although at first there was no visible effect it was not long before the it became apparent that the heat was being absorbed by the fog faster than it was being generated by the fire and the progress of the fire had been checked as has been observed with hand lines this attack demonstrated that the short applications of waterfall get several points are more effective than the continuous application at a single location precise manipulation of the ladder pipe from window to window even though obscured by clouds of steam is evidence of long periods of effective training in the full utilization of the big stick for the first nine minutes this fire continued to be attacked with only the one ladder pipe at the rear of the building if larger volumes of water could have been Clyde at this time as originally planned ease and rapidity of control would have been greatly increased as in smaller fires if water can be applied in enough volume and in the right places to absorb the heat more rapidly than it is being produced by the fire control and extinguishment can be expected this building is about 120 feet long without dividing partitions above the first floor and the heights from floor to ceiling averaged about 14 feet the effective penetration of the building required a narrow fog pattern projected almost horizontally when ladder pipes are controlled from the ground the angle of the pattern cannot be changed and it is difficult to judge the elevation of the stream while it can be seen that maximum penetration was not always obtained nevertheless movement of the nozzle from window to window increased the probability of projecting the water fog into the highly heated areas although the single ladder pipe was controlling the fire additional ladder pipes were placed in service as soon as possible after the traffic had been unsealed and the switch engine had completed its work the second ladder pipe to be placed in service was directed into the center third floor window at the front of the building and then was raised to the fourth floor reaching highly heated spaces which had not been reached from the rear and as could be anticipated the volume of condensing steam was greatly increased also the radiated heat was so reduced that the operator of the ladder pipe could remove his helmet and mask intermittent surges of condensing steam indicate that water fog is being alternately projected into highly heated spaces and relatively cooler spaces are that highly heated spaces are being quickly cooled another indication that fog nozzle should be continuously moved to obtain the maximum heat absorption due to the larger volumes of master fog streams this procedure seemed to be even more important than when using hand lines when it is possible to extend the nozzle into the window greater reach and more stream movement can be obtained when all smoke and flames have been displaced by billowing clouds of condensing steam the attack has been successful and needs only to be continued until the volume of steam discharge decreases appreciably at this time entry should be possible and the MOT that may be started however on tests of this kind where no life or property is imperiled it would be foolhardy to send firemen into the building as long as there is any danger up to this time only two ladder pipes have been used and the fire is definitely under control other ladder pipes were placed in service at front and rear of building to assist in the mop-up operation and final extinguishment but were not factors in the original control the initial attacked was made six minutes after the fuel was ignited and the fire was fought with the single ladder pipe at the rear of the building for nine minutes before the second ladder pipe was placed in service at the front of the building the third and fourth ladder pipes were placed in service shortly thereafter but were not important factors in the control of the fire overhaul of the interior of the building with hand lines were started 17 minutes after the original attack was made the mapa for overhaul may be the most arduous part of the entire firefighting operation and may involve anything from the use of pumpkins to master stream appliances for example extinguishment of this fire in the elevator roof house is a mop-up operation even though the job is being done with a ladder pipe previous tests have clearly indicated that overhaul may require considerably more water and is needed for the initial control of the fire the next tests shown involved the fourth floor before each test the building was carefully examined by our safety committee composed of experienced fire chiefs headed by Bob mcalpine of Oklahoma City they now predicted that since the roof had already suffered considerable damage it would probably collapse during the next fire and very likely would kick out some of the sidewalls they recommend that no firemen be sent into the building but there was started in the center of the building but it gained headway rather slowly because much of the fuel had been wet down during the previous tests even so after about 10 minutes we had plenty of fire to ladder pipes were set to attack from each end of the building one through a fourth floor window and the other covering the roof radiated heat endangered the men and equipment from time to time as the fire was permitted to gain headway progress of the burning was observed and reported by the ladder men while the pyrometers recorded the temperature inside the building the last reading before the fire was attacked showed thirteen hundred and fifty degrees in order to take advantage of the south wind the initial attack was made from the front of the building with a JM 200 Nassau on a ladder pipe almost immediately flames disappeared and condensing steam began to replace the darker colored smoke in this sequence you see the activity at both ends of the building water projected into the front through the highly heated space is being expelled from the rear there's a bow as condensing steam the light south wind helps drive the water and steam through the building it gives the men operating the ladder pipe better visibility and permits closer approach to the building all contributing to more rapid control officers should be alert to take advantage of similar favorable weather conditions where possible even though such advantage may appear to be slight the picture is showing the entire two minutes during which the fire was fought with only one ladder pipe at the front of the building during this two minutes the temperature was reduced from thirteen hundred and fifty to two hundred and fifty degrees and the building could have been entered for final extinguishment by hand lines if it had been saved when the building can be entered ventilation either horizontal or vertical will help famine by providing better visibility and by removing the remaining condensing steam some fire remained around the elevator shaft at the rear so after the nozzle in front was shut down the ladder pipes at the rear were operated to extinguish the remaining fire since the building was considered unsafe to enter after the fire was under control as predicted by the safety committee the roof collapsed and a portion of the walls fell since this is the first large-scale test requiring extensive use of Master spray streams definite conclusions cannot be reached however on these fires it was observed that the principles for effective use of hand spray lines which have been repeatedly verified by tests on smaller fires appear to be equally valid on fires requiring use of master spray streams heat must be absorbed more rapidly than it is being generated short intermittent applications at several locations are most effective the building should be entered as soon as interior temperatures have been sufficiently reduced to permit entry for final extinguishment although there was a lot of firefighting equipment available if needed these test fires were all controlled with use of a small amount of apparatus any fire department he equipped with a single aerial ladder truck and facilities to pump and apply water at the rate of from 1,000 to 1,500 gallons per minute could have controlled these test fires provided it also has the essential training in the use of the equipment and the highly coordinated teamwork which are required for these operations the results of these tests were very encouraging the committee hopes to have opportunities to observe other tests on similar or larger fires to further verify some of our observations [Applause] [Applause]