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.

In this presentation, UL FSRI Director Stephen Kerber will discuss what it means for UL FSRI to do research WITH the fire service and how this partnership is vital to accomplishing the mission.

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.

The focus is on the key points and tactical considerations of the basement fires study by the International Society of Fire Service Instructors (ISFSI) and Underwriters Laboratories (UL) Fire Service Research Institute, funded by a Federal Emergency Management Agency Assistance to Firefighters Grant. Many firefighters have been injured or killed while trying to extinguish a basement fire or a fire on a level below them. Students learn that high heat and unexpected floor collapse are high risks in these fires and that techniques and tools firefighters have traditionally used to determine the structural integrity of the floor do not apply when lightweight construction is present. They will observe how the most effective method for fighting a basement fire in some cases is to begin suppression from the building’s exterior. This ISFSI/UL FSRI basement study went beyond earlier research by increasing the size of the basement; incorporating three types of ventilation; and addressing basements that have no exterior access to the basement, limited exterior access to the basement, and exterior access to the basement. Data and videos from a range of experiments are presented. Questions and discussion are encouraged.

Normally, firefighters enter the front door of a structure to access a fire to extinguish it. This approach, enabled by the personal protective equipment firefighters wear, has provided positive results, especially if the firefighters can easily locate the fire from their point of entry. However, there have been many cases where the firefighters did not find the fire; instead, the fire found them. In fire incidents where firefighters were overtaken by the fire, the “one-size-fits-all” fire attacks were not effective. Unfortunately, there are a number of these incidents where firefighters were killed or injured. In this presentation, the latest Underwriters Laboratories Fire Service Research Institute (UL FSRI) research results, supported by physics, are coupled with examples from fireground incidents to demonstrate why additional options are needed in your tactical toolbox. Size-up, understanding what the fire is showing you, and then deciding the best strategic and tactical approach are key to an effective fire attack. New for this year are tips for teaching the fire dynamics basics to your department, based on UL FSRI Fire Dynamics Bootcamps.

Recent firefighter line-of-duty deaths as a result of rapid fire progression have highlighted a deficiency in firefighters’ understanding of ventilation-controlled fires and the effects of tactics on fire dynamics. One reason for this gap in understanding is the way firefighters conduct live fire training. The typical fuels used for firefighter training, such as pallets, straw, and other wood-based products, produce different fire dynamics than those produced by the synthetic foams and plastics common to contents in modern homes. The results of eight experiments conducted in a concrete live fire training building are discussed from the perspectives of tactics and firefighter safety. Students learn why traditional-style live fire training does not provide the environment for teaching firefighters ventilation-controlled fire behavior and the associated firefighting techniques. Students are given innovative solutions for mitigating some of the limitations of concrete live fire training buildings and a comparison of the fire dynamics found in various types of training props.

The UL Firefighter Safety Research Institute (UL FSRI) has just completed a first-of-its-kind project focused solely on the potential impact of using interior and exterior fire streams on victims and firefighters. There are three main experiment components of the study: air entrainment, water distribution, and full-scale fire. The project culminated with a series of live-fire experiments to determine the interaction of hose streams with the modern fire environment. These studies are guided by a technical panel of firefighters from across the country. The UL FSRI and some technical panel members on the Federal Emergency Management Agency/Assistance to Firefighters Grant-supported fire suppression studies share the highlights from the studies. Bring your questions for the panel. The fire service has been involved in the creation of the research objectives for the project, intended to answer lingering questions. The conclusions to these questions have been crafted into tactical considerations readily adoptable by the fire service.