In these difficult and challenging economic times, when towns across America are facing severe budget shortfalls, it is imperative that fire chiefs expand their departments’ fire-prevention efforts. The cost recovery for just one extra-alarm fire could spell financial ruin for a small town in financial distress that is trying to recover from the current economic recession.

Fire department personnel in towns large and small must remain vigilant while patrolling their fire districts. They must identify any businesses and structures that appear to have an increased potential to be claimed by fire. The collateral damage for even one fire in a large manufacturing occupancy has far-reaching implications for further financial loss. For example, such a fire could cause a plant shutdown that leads to job losses, which in turn can lead out-of-work employees to default on home mortgages. Such defaults can lead to even more vacant and possibly unsecured properties — which would further destabilize already distressed neighborhoods.

The overall increase in vacant residential and commercial structures is a growing threat to fire departments across the country. Vacant and unsecured buildings have become a haven for “scrappers” who break in to steal copper pipes, wire and HVAC units, as well as kitchen cabinets and whatever else they can get their hands on, leaving once valuable real estate in ruins — and ripe for fire.

In response to a request from Deputy Fire Commissioner Nicholas Russell, the chief of the Chicago Fire Department’s fire-prevention bureau, I created a training program that describes the purpose of fire prevention and, more importantly, how fire-prevention practices interrelate to the day-to-day operations of the larger fire department.

Engineering Principles

What is fire? This question is posed to candidate firefighters on their first day of training by fire academy instructors. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines fire as “the phenomenon of combustion manifested in light, flame, and heat.” The fire triangle, in its simplest form, is a graphic symbol that illustrates three essential elements — heat, fuel and oxygen — that come together to create a fire. (See Figure 1.) Instructors inform their recruits that removal of any one of the three elements will suppress or effectively extinguish the fire.

The fire tetrahedron is then introduced to further clarify how fires become self-sustaining. Presented in the shape of a polyhedron that has four faces, the fire tetrahedron proposes that an uninhibited chemical chain reaction occurs when heat, fuel and oxygen combine to form a self-sustaining fire. (See Figure 2.)

An expansion of these concepts has led to the creation of the “Fire Prevention Triangle.” The FPT highlights seven factors that are the key to effective fire prevention and suppression programs. Moreover, it illustrates how human actions and engineering principles combine to have a synergistic effect on the prevention and extinguishment of unwanted fires. (See Figure 3.) The three engineering principles, which are manifested through fire-prevention codes and standards, include the following:

• Active suppression
• Passive resistance
• Early detection

Active suppression represents on-site equipment, controlled either automatically or manually, that suppresses or extinguishes fires. Fire extinguishers, sprinkler systems and standpipes are examples of active suppression.

Passive resistance represents structural elements that are built into a building or applied to other media for the purpose of separating human beings from fire. Fire doors, fire walls and flame retardants are examples of passive resistance.

Early detection represents installed systems, devices or human interventions that provide people with advanced warning notification of the presence of fires and fire hazards in buildings. When required by fire codes, early detection systems, such as school fire-alarm systems, may be required to send a simultaneous signal to the fire department, initiating an automatic response so that firefighters can report to the location of the alarm. A smoke alarm, fire alarm system and fire alarm signal box are examples of early detection.

Human Responsibility

Placed just inside of the engineering principles is a triangle that illustrates a cycle of human responsibility that works in support of fire prevention and suppression. (See Figure 4.) The three elements at work include the following:

• Fire inspections
• Code enforcement
• Firefighting

Fire inspections. Inspections of buildings are conducted to determine whether owners are in compliance with local fire codes; fire inspectors cite the responsible party when violations are found. While conducting inspections, firefighters also devise essential pre-fire plans.

Code enforcement. When fire code violations pose a dangerous and hazardous threat to occupants of a building or the surrounding community, and the responsible party fails to remedy the hazard, the violations become the basis of a lawsuit filed against the responsible party on behalf of the authority having jurisdiction.

Firefighting. Even the best efforts put forth by fire departments to get building owners to conform to fire codes break down from time to time. When fires occur, the emergency assistance of trained firefighters is required to rescue trapped occupants, while fire suppression operations attempt to limit damage to burning structures. Lastly, fire investigators provide critical analysis to determine the cause and origin of fires, which contributes key information that can be leveraged to devise new and more effective fire codes that prevent the reoccurrence of similar fires.

Fire-Safety Education

In the center of the FPT is yet another triangle indicating that fire-safety education is at the center of an effective fire-prevention program (See Figure 5). The people who educate others on how best to approach fires and fire safety are the key preventers of unwanted fires and the danger they pose to society. The fire-safety education component is two-fold, as follows:

• Public-education specialists provide fire-safety awareness messages to reduce and eliminate the threat of fire.
• Fire academy instructors provide training for fire inspectors and firefighters to improve their technical skills.

Let’s examine each of these functions in greater detail.

Public education. Effective public health and fire safety messages provide critical awareness to the public through outreach programs such as the National Fire Protection Association’s National Fire Prevention Week and Learn Not to Burn preschool program. Also important are Emergency Medical Services Week and public-service announcements that promote the use of smoke alarms.

Training. Technical training of fire personnel through fire academy training schools — including in-service training performed in the fields of fire prevention and fire operations — provide fire inspectors and firefighters with the skills they need to perform their jobs safely and effectively, so that they can protect life and property.

The opportunity of this article is to encourage you to look inside of your fire department and determine how your fire prevention policies and procedures are being implemented. For instance, are the deputy chiefs from all divisions of your fire department collaborating with the fire prevention chiefs and inspectors in order to identify target hazards in your town?

A good way to implement the principals of the fire prevention triangle might be found in your fire academy. Stress to your newest recruits that fire prevention is the primary duty of your fire department. Consider that teaching fire prevention techniques to recruits can train them to recognize the signs and symptoms of an at-risk structure — leading them to understand how best to handle themselves safely in the event a fire breaks out in one of them.

Fire departments are being asked to do more with less these days and fire chiefs are charged with the responsibility to provide fire protection in a fiscally responsible manner. Remaining open to new possibilities is a good way to move forward in an economy that has many of us standing still.

Capt. Gerald Hughes has served the Chicago Fire Department for 23 years and is currently supervising the Court Code Enforcement Section in the Bureau of Fire Prevention. He also is an EMT-B.

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