Fire Protection Research Foundation report: "
Evaluation of Fire Service Training Fires"
(PDF, 3 MB)
Author: Chad M. Lannon and James A. Milke, university of Maryland
Date of issue: January 2014
Introduction
Each year thousands of fire fighters are injured during training, and occasionally some are fatally injured. Live fire training evolution is an effective and popular training method, but it’s also one that exposes the trainees to significant hazards. One common cause of fire fighter death and injury is a lack of understanding of the hazard assessment of live fires used for training.
This research effort is intended to further clarify the hazards of live fire training evolutions and provide data and information to support a fire hazard assessment methodology for fire training officers and fire fighters. The goal is to analyze specific fuel configurations in certain training fire evolutions and to supplement currently available practical guidance for use by training instructors based on the hazards associated with live fire training evolutions.
The Fire Protection Research Foundation expresses gratitude to members of the project Technical Panel for their guidance throughout the project, and all others who contributed to this research effort.
This project is intended to directly supplement an earlier project on a "Hazard Assessment for Fire Service Training Fires" that was funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, AFG Fire Prevention & Safety Grants. This latest effort was funded by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) through the NFPA Annual Code Fund. Special thanks are expressed to both of these organizations for their funding support.
The content, opinions and conclusions contained in this report are solely those of the author.