Transcript A Day In The Life Of The Underhill

A Day In The Life Of The
Underhill-Jericho Fire
Department
A Mathematical Day That Is
As Told by
Dwight DeCoster
Who is the Underhill-Jericho
Fire Department (UJFD) You
Ask?
• We are an almost all
volunteer fire dept.
– We have 1 Paid full-time
member
• We are made up of 46
active members
– 3 Chiefs and Assistants
– 5 Line Officers, Captains
and Lieutenants
– 25 Firefighters
– 4 Fire Police
– 4 Auxiliary Members
– Various Fire Specialists
• The UJFD was organized
in 1913
• We have had ten Chiefs in
that time
• They each served an
average of 9.4 years
• The UJFD has had 10 VT
Fire Officers or
Firefighters of the Year
• We have business owners,
soldiers, teachers and lots
of other folks on staff
What Is It That The UJFD Does?
• We run a wide variety of calls averaging
200 calls per year
Our Most Prevalent Type of Call
is the Automobile Accident
• The UJFD averages over 50 automobile
crashes per year.
– A team of five firefighters can have the doors
and roof removed from an average car in less
than 4 minutes using hydraulic tools
– A Hurst Hydraulic cutting tool operates at
pressures between 5 and 10 thousand PSI!!!
– The UJFD has spreaders that are capable of
spreading even the toughest metals over 36
inches!!
The UJFD Takes On One of Our
20 average Fires!!
• How does the UJFD get there?
– First we must be dispatched via the 911 reporting
system on our dispatch frequency of 155.060 megahertz
– It takes an average of four minutes for the volunteers to
respond to their respective station and get a truck on the
road.
– The firefighters respond on one of nine different pieces
of apparatus, each apparatus with a different and
distinct ability
– The UJFD territory is so large that it can take 20
minutes to get to a house driving ten miles over the
speed limit!!
How Do We Find The House We
Are Looking For?
• Smoke Signals
– No!! Just kidding well sort of!
• Enhanced 911 Emergency Call
– Gives the FD a locatable address (Street Name and
Number
– Underhill and Jericho
• 1 mile equals numbers 1-100
• 2 miles equals numbers 101-200
• 3 miles equals numbers 201-300
• Some other local towns use thousands or ten
thousands to equal a mile
What Happens Once We Get
There?
• One of three Chiefs is the first on the scene
usually.
– He must determine many things but the most
important is, is there anyone in the home.
– Second most important is he must begin to
determine the method of fire attack and how
much water will that take. This calculation is
called the Fire Flow Rate.
Volume (cubic Feet)/100= Gallons per minute required
Fire Flow Rate Depends On
Volume Of The Structure
• Do We Have This?
12588 ft3/100 = 125 gallons per minute
• Or This?
1200 ft3/100 = 12 gallons per minute
A Very Big Difference Right??
So Where Does The Water Come
From?
• Manmade
–
–
–
–
Hydrants
Pools
Water System Fill Site
Tanker (9Tanker2)
• Natural
– Rivers
– Ponds
– Lakes
The Chief must first do his Fire Flow Calculation and
then do another calculation of the volume of the nearest
water source to see if it is adequate.
Length x width x depth x 7.5 gallons = volume of water source
How Does The Water Get From
the Source To The Fire?
• The Fire Department uses a piece of
apparatus called an engine or a pumper
• A pumper’s job is to take water from a
source and supply it to various size hoses
and nozzles at a specific pressure measured
in psi
• This water is then applied to a fire where it
turns to steam thus removing the heat from
Miscellaneous Fire Appliance
Facts
• Sizes of Hose and
Max Output
• 1” = 100 GPM
• 1 3/4” = 150 GPM
• 2 1/2” = 200 GPM
• 6” = 400 GPM
• Water vs. Steam
– One gallon of water will
expands to 1603 times its
own volume when heated to
212 degrees Fahrenheit for
223 cubic feet of steam
– Steam can occupy more
space and absorb heat in a
quicker manner
Does Friction Play A Role In
Delivering Water To A Fire?
• It most certainly does but in a negative way
• Friction is the act of something rubbing against another thing thus
losing energy
• In this case it is the water rubbing against the inside of the fire hose.
Bernouli’s principle of incompressible flow explains Friction
loss
Of course a fire engineer cannot perform this function easily on the fire
scene so there are handheld calculators that help them.
The engineer must calculate friction loss in order to provide the right
amount of water to maintain the necessary Fire Flow
Let’s Put Some Wet Stuff On The
Fire!!
• The fire nozzle is the main tool of the
interior firefighter.
• They come in many shapes (1 1/2, 2 1/2,
master stream) and types (Straight bore or
Variable Gallonage)
• Variable Gallonage is the most common and
popular as it allows the firefighter on the
end of the attack line to determine how
much water they need to put out the fire
An Interior Firefighters Best Friend
The Self Contained Breathing Apparatus
(SCBA)
• Positive Pressure Facepiece supplied by a
pressurized source of breathing air.
– 30 minute air bottle (manufacturers specs)
• depends entirely on size and fitness level of
firefighter
• average firefighter gets between 10 and 20 minutes
– Air supply bottle is pressurized to 3200 psi
How Do Firefighters See Where
They Are Going In The Smoke?
• Thermal imaging is the answer!!
• This instrument can read variations in temperature
to 1 degree!
• This great piece of technology helps firefighters:
– see victims through the smoke
– see dangerous situations that could get them in trouble
– see heat building and prepare them for flashover
• Temp readable ranges from 100F to 1000F
– The picture in the backdrop shows heating ducts in the
fire house reading 125 degrees
So We Put Out The Fire Now
What Else Do We Do?
• Carbon Monoxide calls continue to be a
huge part of our call volume.
– In past years they have averaged 10% of our
calls
– We utilize Scott Test equipment to do testing.
• Normal air contains about 20.9 % oxygen by
volume
• Average CO levels are around 4 ppm
• Negative health effects can begin around 50ppm
with prolonged exposure
So We Put Out The Fire Now
What Else Do We Do? Part II
• Natural Gas and Propane Leaks are also
about 10% of our call volume.
– Our Scott Test equipment is capable of
detecting methane as well as oxygen.
• Normal air contains no detectable amounts of
methane
• The Lower Explosive Limit (LEL) of Natural Gas is
5% with an Upper Explosive Limit (UEL) of
Natural Gas 15%
• The Lower Explosive Limit (LEL) of Propane is
2.5% with an Upper Explosive Limit (UEL) of
Natural Gas 9.7%
What Does It Cost To Run The
UJFD?
• Annual Budget is approximately $325,000
– Included in this are all budget items
•
•
•
•
•
Replacement trucks
Day to day running of department
Firefighter safety gear and new equipment
Capital Plan (see next slide)
Repayment of loan for building new station
What Does The Future Look Like
For The UJFD?
5.4% 300,000
Finance 20 Years
(30,000 down)
$250,000
Inc.3% per yr.
Capital
Expenditures
Underhill
Station
Underhill PV
Sub-Station
2017
5.4% 52,500
Finance 5 Years
(10,000 down)
$42,500
w/equipment
Truck
Fund
Rescue
1
Engine
11
Squad
51
2007-2008
90,704.00
42,778.00
6,876.00
18,130.00
22,920.00
10,000.00
2008-2009
103,425.00
42,778.00
16,548.00
18,130.00
22,920.00
9,925.00
2009-2010
106,528.00
42,778.00
29,323.00
18,130.00
22,920.00
9,925.00
2010-2011
109,724.00
42,778.00
45,294.00
18,130.00
22,920.00
9,925.00
2011-2012
113,016.00
42,778.00
64,557.00
18,130.00
22,920.00
9,925.00
2012-2013
116,406.00
42,778.00
55,340.00
22,920.00
9,925.00
2013-2014
119,898.00
42,778.00
80,348.00
22,920.00
2014-2015
123,495.00
42,778.00
108,953.00
22,920.00
2015-2016
127,200.00
42,778.00
141,263.00
22,920.00
2016-2017
131,016.00
42,778.00
30,000.00
51,549.00
68,760.00
2017-2018
134,946.00
22,406.00
20,633.00
2018-2019
138,994.00
22,406.00
22,905.00
2019-2020
143,164.00
22,406.00
69,399.00
2020-2021
147,459.00
22,406.00
85,188.00
2021-2022
151,883.00
22,406.00
56,359.00
35,000.00
2022-2023
156,439.00
22,406.00
70,122.00
71,228.00
2023-2024
164,261.00
22,406.00
41,707.00
71,228.00
2024-2025
169,189.00
22,406.00
44,542.00
71,228.00
2025-2026
174,265.00
22,406.00
52,453.00
71,228.00
2026-2027
179,493.00
22,406.00
14,634.00
71,228.00
10 More
Tanker
6
2013
50,000.00
29,192.00
29,192.00
78,000 Finance 1
Year (40,000 down)
29,192.00
29,192.00
40,000.00
5.4% 340,000
Finance 5 years
(35,000 down)
$305,000
5.4% 175,000
Finance 5 Years
(50,000 down)
$125,000
w/equipment
40,052.00
29,192.00
UJFD Mathematical Roundup
• A local fire department is a great place to
teach math.
• There is everything from primary numeracy
to advanced algorithms friction and volume
• Three different types of calculations can be
worked on for air, water and hydraulics
• Money, time, temperature, distance, area
and volume, etc. are also present
• I had no idea I used math so much fighting
fire!!