By Kevin Rollason
Winnipeg Free Press
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All Rights Reserved
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Copyright 2007 FP Canadian Newspapers Limited Partnership
WINNIPEG, Manitoba — When you’re in a flashover simulator, the first thing you learn isto keep your head down.
You also quickly learn why flashovers are also known by firefighters as “a firefighter killer”.
Flashover simulator instructors Russ Drohomereski and Tyler Pelke said on Tuesday that all firefighters they instruct in the Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic Service’s training unit are instructed to stay in the lower area of the unit for a reason.
“The flashover goes right over your heads,” Drohomereski said.
“But it’s safe,” added Pelke. “It does get warm, but it’s completely controlled.”
A flashover is the temperature point at which the heat in an area or region is high enough to ignite all flammable material simultaneously. The result is a blast-like combustion that can kill even firefighters who are wearing safety equipment.
The flashover simulator, donated by the Kinsmen Club of Winnipeg, was demonstrated for the media on Tuesday.
The blue coloured metal simulator is about the length of a railroad boxcar, with a raised area at the end. The fire is started at one end in a barrel filled with newspaper and assorted wood. The interior walls are covered during each simulation with sheets of particle board, which will quickly catch fire, rapidly causing a flashover to occur.
During the demonstration, with a handful of firefighters inside the simulator, thick black smoke leaked out from the cracks around the doors and a smokestack on top before firefighters blasted the blaze out with hoses.
Norm Daily, the service’s training officer, said while the temperature in the upper area was rising to 1,000 F, the lower area where the firefighters were huddled was a cooler 100 F to 400 F.
Pelke said the real function of the simulator is to show firefighters the signs of a flashover as one builds up.
“In real life, if you see a flashover, it’s too late,” he said.
Alex Forrest, president of the United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg, said flashovers are deadly for firefighters, as seen in the one that claimed the lives of two firefighters battling a house fire in St. Boniface in February.
Forrest said that fire could have been even more deadly for firefighters, if not for the flashover knowledge exhibited by the fire chief on the scene.
“Chief Bruce Duncan saw the signs of a flashover so he ordered them out two minutes before the flashover,” Forrest said.
“Because of that, four to six firefighters were saved.”
Forrest said a simulator is a good training tool to have because firefighters in Winnipeg are faced with flashovers each year.
“We probably have 12 to 14 flashovers a year,” he said.
“It’s just the nature of our job.”
Daily said the simulator was a long time coming to the city.
“We’ve wanted one of these for eight years now,” he said.
“This shows firefighters the signs of flashover. The high smoke conditions. The high heat conditions. Normally, the flashover will be the last thing a firefighter sees because by then it’s too late.
“You don’t want to see it. You want to see it and control it. As soon as you see the signs you want to get out.”
The simulator, which comes from a California-based manufacturer, costs up to $100,000, but the Kinsmen purchased it for about $32,000, in part because the company wants to know how well it performs in cold weather.
Bob Simmons, of the Kinsmen, said they were happy to donate the equipment. In the past, the service club has also donated thermal imaging cameras to firefighters.
“We unanimously decided to support this,” he said.
Simmons said the Kinsmen decided to work at raising the money for the unit last December, two months before a flashover claimed the lives of fire captains Harold Lessard and Tom Nichols. Three others escaped with injuries.
“That fire was purely coincidental, but it obviously reinforced our views on getting this equipment,” he said.
Acting assistant Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service Chief Bill Clark said the simulator will serve as a “mini fire service laboratory” to show firefighters what a flashover looks like.
“It provides a high degree of realism,” Clark said.
“Every firefighter will come through here at some point.”