Influence of Crew Sizes and Arrival Times on Firefighting

A recent study issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) shows that the size of firefighting crews has a substantial effect on the fire service's ability to protect lives and property in residential fires. The report is the first to quantify the effects of crew sizes and arrival times on the fire service's lifesaving and firefighting operations for residential fires. Until now, little scientific data have been available.

The report was funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program and released today in Washington, D.C., before the start of the annual Congressional Fire Services Institute meeting that draws top fire safety officials from across the nation. The Report on Residential Fireground Field Experiments, (NIST Technical Note 1661), can be downloaded here: http://www.nist.gov/cgi-bin/get_pdf.cgi?pub_id=904607.

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Firefighter Tactics Under Wind Driven Conditions is Available

This DVD set includes a video presentation called, Understanding, Surviving, and Fighting Wind Driven Fires, presented by Battalion Chief Jerry Tracy of the Fire Department of New York City, Peter Van Dorpe of the Chicago Fire Department, Stephen Kerber now with Underwriters Laboratories, and Daniel Madrzykowski of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.  It provides an overview of the wind driven research that was conducted and portrays it's findings in a very easy to use, and training ready format.  It includes a video overview, The Firefighting Tactics Under Wind Driven Conditions: Seven Story Building Report, The Firefighting Tactics Under Wind Driven Conditions: Laboratory Experiments Report  (both are also located here), a PowerPoint presentation summarizing the results, training videos, and video documentation of all of the experiments.

 The object of this research was to document the impact of wind on fire spread through a structure and examine the capabilities of positive pressure ventilation (PPV), wind-control devices (WCD), and externally applied water to mitigate the hazard.  This DVD set includes the videos from the 8 lab experiments performed in a simulated apartment at NIST and 14 experiments performed in a 7-story apartment building on Governor's Island, New York.  To request a copy of the dual-disk DVD set please email Dan at madrzy@nist.gov.

NIST Researcher Dan Madrzykowski Named Fire Service Instructor of the Year

Daniel Madrzykowski of the NIST's Fire Fighting Technology Group was named George D. Post Instructor of the Year for 2009 by the International Society of Fire Service Instructors and Fire Engineering. Madrzykowski was recognized for his work to improve firefighter safety through research, education and training. He is a leader in applying science to firefighting operations, specifically his research on the application of fire dynamics tools, and applying this scientific knowledge to save the lives of firefighters. He also studies firefighter line-of-duty deaths to help establish the root causes of an incident in an effort to learn lessons that will improve life safety and prevent future losses.

Madrzykowski was presented the award for transferring his knowledge and experience to the classroom. He has delivered fire dynamics programs across the country and has developed a variety of training discs to put these lessons in the hands of fire company officers and instructors worldwide. Madrzykowski’s newest DVD program is on his recently completed wind driven fire research. See the award video at: www.isfsi.org/fullstory.php?84775.

For more information on Madrzykowski's work with fire service training, see the Training page.

NIST Hosts Fire Dynamics Seminar

On September 3rd NIST Researchers held a fire dynamics conference for 400 fire chiefs and trainers from all over the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan area. Dr. Turner welcomed all of the attendees with highlights of NIST's partnership with the fire service. Dan Madrzykowski and Steve Kerber used videos of their studies to show firefighters how convection, conduction and ventilation including wind, affect a fire. Other topics of discussion included how building geometry, materials, furnishings and firefighting tactics can influence fire growth and spread leading to untenable conditions for firefighters. The attendees left with a copy of the presentation and all of the videos to share with the members of their departments to ultimately increase firefighter safety.