The UL Firefighter Safety Research Institute (FSRI) was started with the mission to improve the effectiveness and the safety of firefighters. As FSRI has grown, the mission has also grown to include research on fire investigation and public safety. FSRI has developed a fire investigation portal where our research results from NIJ projects and training specific to fire investigation can be accessed. Working with the educational and marketing arms of our parent organization, Underwriters Laboratories Inc., FSRI assisted with the development of XPLORLABS education programs and CRR safety messages such as “Close before you doze.”

The UL Firefighter Safety Research Institute has just completed a project on the impact of fire attack utilizing interior and exterior fire streams on firefighter safety and occupant survival. This session will provide a discussion of tactical considerations for the fire service. The goal of the project was to analyze the interaction of fire service hose streams with the modern fire environment and study the potential impact on both firefighter safety and occupant survivability. This study is the first of its kind focused solely on the various methods of fire suppression and impact to both victims and firefighters alike. A project update was presented at FRI 2017, however, the project is now complete and full results will be shared here.

Local government decision makers often alter fire department resources faster than fire service leaders can evaluate the potential impact. These decisions can leave a community without sufficient resources to respond to emergency calls safely, efficiently, and effectively. The Fire Community Assessment/Response Evaluation System (FireCARES) enables fire departments to add a technical basis to what has historically been an anecdotal discussion regarding community hazards and risks as well as the impact of changes on fire department resource levels. FireCARES provides three scores for each community based on the available data: the Community Risk Score (fire and EMS), the Fire Department Performance Score, and the Safe Grade. These scores are generated from exploiting an expansive, multilayered data set combining fire incidents, outcomes, and community risk characteristics. Fire and EMS incident data are not without flaws, as they primarily rely on firefighters for data entry. Additionally, there is a two-year data lag on the national level. To overcome this obstacle, we have built the National Fire Operations Reporting System (NFORS), a real-time data analysis tool that leverages modern data practices while removing firefighters from data entry. This presentation highlights both projects and provides a live demonstration of each.

Changes in home construction materials, contents, and geometry have resulted in changes on the fire scene. Today, structure fires are predominantly fueled by synthetic fuels and commonly become ventilation-controlled. How and where the fire receives oxygen impacts the fire dynamics and resulting fire patterns. This presentation will include videos, photos, and data from full-scale fire experiments conducted at the UL Large Fire Laboratory. A one-story and a two-story structure were used for the experiments. The test scenarios ranged from room fires with no exterior ventilation, to room fires with flow paths that connected the fires with remote intake and exhaust vents throughout the structures. Elevated fires originating in the kitchens were also examined. This project was supported by a grant from the U.S. DoJ NIJ.

Over the past several years, the UL Firefighter Safety Research Institute has been working with the fire service to examine fire dynamics and firefighting tactics. More than 300 experiments have examined the changes in the fire environment over time, the impact of ventilating ventilation-limited fires, and the implications of flow control and effectiveness in suppression tactics. These experiments were conducted with firefighters from across the country from departments of different types with varying levels of staffing, resources, and operating procedures. The UL studies have produced tactical considerations that have become common themes over several studies that may change the way you view your standard operating guidelines. This presentation will review the Top 20 tactical considerations from the last decade of fire research and discuss how they can be adapted for use in your standard operating guidelines.

More information coming soon...