CHAPTER 7
FIRE-FIGHTING TACTICS
Fire can spread in many different ways. Radiant
Learning Objective: Recall the characteristics of
heat from an intense fire may ignite materials in an
different classes of fire, the stages of a fire, and the basic
adjacent compartment, or it may travel through
tactics and strategies to attack and extinguish different
inoperative ventilation ducts, which failed to shut.
classes of fires, and the fire-fighting equipment used.
Openings between compartments, including
As a Damage Controlman, you will most likely
cableways, may contribute to the spread of fire. The
encounter different types of fires aboard your ship.
first sign of the fire spreading is smoke. If you are an
Although fires have certain things in common, each fire
investigator, you must constantly rove an assigned area
has its own unique features. Examples of some unique
outside the primary fire boundaries. You must also
features of each fire are the type of material burning, the
ensure that personnel assigned as boundarymen are
ease with which the fire can be isolated, or the location
well qualified for their job. Report any encounters with
of the compartment it is in. With these factors in mind, it
smoke outside the primary fire and smoke boundaries;
is easy to see that there are many things to consider when
then use your breathing apparatus to investigate, if
deciding what tactics to employ to attack a fire.
possible. If the fire spreads, then the secondary
Therefore, fire parties and repair lockers are trained to
respond to a variety of situations.
b o u n d a r y b e c o m e s t h e p r i m a r y b o u n d a r y, a n d
personnel must attack this new threat to the ship.
FIRE-FIGHTING STRATEGIES
It is the job of the damage control chain of
command to make fire-fighting decisions that are
Learning Objective: Recall the characteristics of
based on reports from the scene, from investigators,
different classes of fire, the stages of a fire, and the basic
and from boundarymen. A small fire can become a
tactics and strategies to attack and extinguish the
blazing inferno in a very short period of time, quickly
different classes of fires.
making a compartment or area of the ship
As you become more proficient in fire fighting,
uninhabitable. When your ship is underway, you
combat evolutions, and dealing with engineering
cannot use the strategies and methods used ashore. You
casualties, you develop the ability to handle more than
cannot wait for the fire department YOU ARE THE
one single casualty at a time. Your training prepares
FIRE DEPARTMENT.
you for cascading or multiple casualties, and the
opportunity to practice your training should be a
PROPERTIES AND DYNAMICS OF
learning experience. A mass conflagration is a
FIRE
worst-case scenario. For example, some ships have
survived multiple missile hits, others mine explosions
Learning Objective: Recall the properties and
and flooding. Your ability to think clearly in the face of
dynamics that are characteristic of each of the four
multiple casualties may someday save your ship.
classifications of fire.
Creativity counts! For example, firemain ruptures may
There are four classifications of fire and each
be jumpered around, or P-100 pumps may replace fire
classification has its own distinct properties and
pumps if a casualty occurs to the ships electrical
dynamics.
system. The ability to shore up a weak bulkhead is not
learned from a book you must practice. Do you have
CLASS ALPHA FIRE
the skills to rig casualty power cables to return a vital
system to service? There are many such scenarios;
Generally speaking, a class ALPHA fire is any fire
keeping your cool and remembering your training is
in which the burning material leaves an ash. Paper,
vital to the survival of your ship. Your training prepares
wood, and cloth are examples of this fuel, and are
you to take on different positions on an attack team, or
located throughout your ship. These solid fuels must be
in a fire party. Should a personnel casualty require a
heated to their ignition point before they will burn, and
replacement, fire party qualifications allow personnel
to replace each other as needed.
there must be enough oxygen to support the fire.
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