Current issues of applying positive pressure ventilation in firefighting

Abstract

In order to increase the efficiency of firefighting there is a need for a practical application of newly developed firefighting equipment continuously during remediation. In the course of extinguishing fires in confined spaces/an enclosed area, the thermal radiation caused by the hot flue gas layer under the ceiling helps the spread of the fire. Meanwhile, the high temperature endangers people caught in the trap of the fire, the building structures and firemen. The saturation of escape or penetration routes with smoke significantly delays the start of escape and firefighters’ intervention. Thus extracting smoke and heat and ensuring ventilation is an important task. The efficiency of ventilation can be ensured with the use of positive pressure ventilation, which can be implemented by the application of the new, more effective airflow performance ventilators, the use of which, unfortunately, has not spread yet in Hungary. A deeper understanding of the combustion process, the exhaustion of resulting heat and fume is a major and actual issue, therefore in our research we examine the requirements of the application of positive pressure ventilators, as well as we present the possibilities of their application in practice. Our research aims to call the attention to the importance of the application of modern fire equipment, furthermore to support firefighting specialists with our research results.