FLAMMABLE OR COMBUSTIBLE LIQUIDS

When working with flammable or combustible liquids, be sure that the area where you are working is well ventilated. If the air is kept moving through the area vapors levels are reduced and are less likely to reach dangerous concentrations. Make sure there are no ignition sources such as electric motors or pilot lights.

Don’t use gasoline for cleaning purposes or for lighting barbecues. Gasoline vaporizes much too fast at room temperature to be safe. It can easily cause a fire or an explosion. It is much safer to use a commercial product designed for cleaning. Don’t apply barbecue starter fluid to hot briquettes, or any fire once it has been lit.

Some materials, under certain conditions, can produce heat by themselves, and will burst into flame. This is commonly called spontaneous combustion. This is the accumulation of heat around a material due to oxidation at a rate sufficiently high to ignite it. Oxidation, which causes the problem, takes place around us all the time.

It’s the process that causes steel to rust or turn paper yellow over a long period of time. Heat is given off in the process of oxidation, but generally at such a low rate that the air currents are able to dissipate it before it raises the temperature of the material that is oxidizing. When heat produced is greater than can be carried away, the material can heat to the point that it reaches it’s own ignition temperature.

Spontaneous heating can be prevented by keeping air away from the material as in a closed container, or by spreading the material out sufficiently that the heat produced by oxidation is carried away by the air. An example of sealing the material would be oily rags kept in a closed metal container. An example of allowing the air to dissipate the heat is spreading cut vegetation around instead of piling it in one place.

Smoke The best way to deal with smoke is to avoid it. A smoke filled hallway can be as dangerous as one filled with flame. Most fire fatalities involve smoke. If you must go through a smoky area, stay low and crawl on your hands and knees. Keep your head down. Some poisonous gases, being heavier than air, accumulate at floor level. The best air is at the height your face will be when you are on your hands and knees. The best choice may be to avoid the smoke and find another way out. If there isn’t another way, then you must use the procedures discussed earlier in this booklet for what to do if you are trapped.

When a person’s clothing is on fire, death or serious injury is only seconds away. Because tissue damage begins immediately, upon contact with flames it is essential to have a response planned which can be used in as wide a range of situations as possible, and still be effective.

The "Stop, Drop and Roll" procedure that is taught in the schools is a good response to most situations. The intent here is not to discourage the use of additional tools and methods to extinguish a person’s clothing, but to give you a place to start.

The purpose of the "Stop" is to keep you from running. Running provides more air moving through the clothing and can increase the amount and speed the fire progresses.

The purpose of the "Drop" is to get you into a horizontal position. Simply being in a vertical position will cause the fire to rapidly move up your body toward your face. In tests conducted by the National Fire Protection Agency on a woman’s cotton dress, it was shown that a fire might travel from the hem to the collar in as little as ten seconds. By getting down in the horizontal position, you’ve changed the direction of the fire. You have stopped the fire’s progress. It is no longer moving up your body toward your face. The most vulnerable portion of your body to heat is your respiratory tract. A single inhalation of flame into the delicate tissue of the lungs can be fatal.

The "Rolling" may smother the fire between your body and the floor surface, but even when this is not completely successful, it often reduces the amount of flame and therefore also slows the fire. If the fire does not go out, grab whatever is handy to help cover and extinguish the fire, or try to remove the burning clothing. 

UPHOLSTERY FIRES

An upholstery fire poses two main dangers. The materials used to make furniture and mattresses allow fire to penetrate deeply and smolder for a long time. The problems most common to this type of fire are toxic gases associated with slowly burning materials, and difficulty in extinguishing. 

Smoke inhalation is the cause of most mattress and upholstery fatalities. One of the gases that effects people early in the fire is carbon monoxide. Since hemoglobin and carbon monoxide are attracted about 200 times more readily than oxygen. The organ most susceptible to a shortage of oxygen is the brain. You may very quickly become disoriented and soon unconscious. One percent of carbon monoxide in your system is considered to be fatal.

Rekindle is another problem with fires in upholstery. Very often people will try to attempt to extinguish a small fire and succeed in eliminating the open flame. This may not be the end of the fire. There may still be fire deep inside the burning material. To be sure that the fire is completely out, it is necessary to cut into the material and remove all of the charred smoldering and discolored stuffing. If even a small piece is missed, the fire can grow again. This is an extremely dangerous situation, particularly at night, because the smell of the first fire hides the smell of the second one. The proper thing to do is to call the Fire Department to check it out. In any case, the burnt upholstery should never be left inside. 

Home fire safety is often a matter of common sense, and a little forethought. Preparation and planning is the key to home fire safety.

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Los Angeles Fire Department
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Los Angeles, California 90012
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