Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

The risk of flammable liquid fires is today spread throughout most branches of industry and even the home, and the work at the Joint Fire Researoh Organiza- tion is intended to cover many of these risks. Flammable liquid fires can occur under many widely different conditions from a large petrol storage tank with a free liquid surface to a spill fire and the appropriate types of extinguishing agent and methods of application will obviously depend on the type of fire expected. The way in which the fire is tackled will also depend on the risks associated with the fire; thus a large storage tank fire which is extinguished satisfactorily in 2 hours might be considered to be a highly successful operation. As you all know, the same does not apply to an aircraft crash fire. It has been estimated that the life of the occupants of an aircraft would be seriously endangered within 3 minutes of a major crash-fire starting. This overriding importance of gaining a rapid control of the fire must colour all ones thoughts and discussions of the crash fire-fighting problem and makes the aircraft crash fire a very particular example of the flammable liquid fire.