Fire

Is it possible to skip the certified inspector and buy new fire extinguishers every year myself. Thank you

You will still be inspected…by the fire department in most states(fire Marshal)

I’m interested in becoming a fire fighter. Is there any way to volunteer at a fire station without going through the academy? I just want to make sure this is what I want to be before I spend my money on the academy. I know I can’t go fight fires but is there fire fighter ride alongs and such?

In many areas there are ride alongs and there are also other things you can volunteer to help with at the station house from equipment maintenance to cleaning to meal prep that will allow lots of interaction with the fire crews. Call your area fire station and ask. You can also volunteer with Red Cross Disaster Action Team in your area and help at fire sites by providing food and coffee to firefighters as they take a break from the lines,help families who have had fires to get basic help etc. and get more of a feel of the fire scenes and action.

I know that class A is for wood fire, class B for gasoline and grease fire, and class C for electrical fire. But what does a class D fire extinguisher do? Please help I got a quiz tomorrow on this stuff. I also know that a class ABC fire extinguisher can be used for all 3 different types of fire, so is it true that class D can be used for all types of fires? Or is there a specific kind?

Class D fire extinguishers are commonly found in a chemical laboratory. They are for fires that involve combustible metals, such as magnesium, titanium, potassium and sodium. These types of extinguishers also have no numerical rating, nor are they given a multi-purpose rating – they are designed for class D fires only.

I am going to enlist in a branch of the military. I just dont think i can bring myself to joing the army knowing i could do somethin like become a US MARINE. My brother in law just came back from Iraq as a sargent in the Marines and told me to look into the Crash, Fire rescue detail. Can anyone tell me what it would intail? How would i go about getting that secured MOS? any info would help thanks

You can read all about that MOS here..

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/enlistedjo2/a/7051.htm

Can you donate your house to a fire department as a training burn?
I am looking into purchasing a home that is uninhabitable but I love the property it is on and would like to build on the land. Can the volunteer fire department use it as a practice burn? I thought I read somewhere that they do this. Also will the foundation be stable after a fire? Or is there no way to know until after the fire.

Yes you can. Although, due to recent enforcements in training burns by the NFPA, FDs must be careful when accepting a house to use for training.

Just to give you an idea of what will be required by you the homeowner if the Fd accepts the house to burn:

Proof of canceled insurance policy or affidavit of such
Permission from any neighboring property owners
Removal of all plumbing and wiring
Removal of shingles and asphalt paper
Removal of any asbestos (abated)
And any necessary permits that may be required
All this is required by NFPA 1402 & 1403

As far as clean up goes, it will be a lot less expensive afterward as there will be less debris.

Get in contact with your local department and see if they would be interested.

There is a man who has been harrassing the employees at my job, and he has even gone as far as to call and come in impersonating a city fire chief to ask questions and to give advice on "laws" that he thinks we are not following. I am aware of trespassing laws, but is this guy breaking the law by impersonating a city fire chief?? I have tried to research state law but am only able to find laws on "impersonating a peace officer". Does anyone know???

Not sure about MN, but in many states a fire chief is a peace officer.

I would suggest calling or writing to the REAL fire chief in your city and telling him about this nut. Also, contact the police. Even if impersonating a fire chief isn’t a crime where you live, they can probably get this guy to stop harassing you.

How is your local fire department organized?
What are the various ranks within the department?
What career opportunities exist within the fire department?
What are the requirements for becoming a fire fighter?
What are the negative aspects of the job

Most fire departments in the United States are organized by volunteers. Some places can even afford to have them "on call" or in the station during particularly hazardous times.
It is typical to have firefighters supervised by lieutenants, some of whom may report to a captain. They all report to the Chief (and deputy, if any), who reports to the mayor, or commissioner, or board of selectmen.
Training includes all the materials necessary for certification under NFPA standards for the particular kind of firefighting involved (structure, wildland, airport, HAZMAT, etc).
Each department has its own criteria for becoming a member; mine just wants you to show up for a few hours of training each month and go to as many calls as you can. You have to be 18 and not have a criminal or mental record.

My home fire alarm is going off and nothing is on at all. We had turkey baking in the oven, but we turned the oven off. It’s not going off in little chirps or for a short time, either, but continually, and it’s only the upstairs and downstairs alarms, not the middle floor where the kitchen is located. I’m not sure what the problem is, but the fire alarms are hard-wired. It’s not turning off either, so we turned off the main power.

Hello,

A lot of hard- wired systems have connecting wires between fire alarms, so that if one goes off with an alarm, they all go off. I take the point that your middle one does not go off, so it may not be entirely straightforward.

If the upstairs and downstairs alarms are connected, then only one of them needs to be activated for them both to sound; therefore only one of them is ‘wrong’. Another possibility is that it’s the centre one which is wrong and setting the other two off.

Even mains- powered ones often have a battery back- up inside each alarm, I wonder if yours do.

I would suggest testing each alarm individually first, if possible, by pressing the test button on each.

The other thing is whether opening all the windows and doors upstairs, middle and downstairs, stops them from going off. Smoke is easily diffused around a home, even between floors, and it only takes a tiny amount of smoke to set an alarm off.

If you have a faulty alarm which is hyper- sensitive to the point of going off when there is no smoke around, then the radio-active smoke sensor inside the alarm has probably gone wrong, and the whole alarm will need to be replaced, (and the new one connected into the ‘one off – all off’ system wires in the ceiling rose).

They can be disconnected individually by removing the wires in their ceiling rose, but you would need expert help with this now by law. Hope it doesn’t come to this.

Hope this is of some help. Belliger

I’m renting my flat and have an old mattress for the tenant. However, I’m not sure how to identify if it meets the fire safety regulations. Would anyone know where I could find out?

If its fire resistant it will have a label attached. if its not there you cannot chance it.

While a few are started by natural causes such as lightning, it seems to me that a vast majority of fires are caused by humans, either accidental or intentionally. Our species just seems to wreak havoc wherever we go.

According to the Interagency Fire Center you would be correct. Using 2008 as an example lightning caused about 8,800 fires and humans caused about 70,000.

Sad but true.