The Fire Triangle:

A fire needs three elements to exist.

Air (or more accurately) Oxygen

Fuel
Heat

The three sides of a triangle represent these elements.

You don’t need to remember the triangle itself, just the three elements a fire
requires, because if you can remember those three, you are all set for helping
prevent (and possibly put out) a fire.

Oxygen
No matter where you are, there’s a good chance that there will be enough
oxygen in the air to allow a fire to breath.

Removing the fire’s access to oxygen is one way of putting it out. There are
several ways of doing this. For example:

 You could use a fire blanket to cover a small chip pan fire. Carefully (very
carefully) laying the blanket over the fire (making sure the fat doesn’t spill
out) should prevent the fire’s access to oxygen. It smothers the fire.
 If you light a candle (or tea light) at the bottom of a glass you can see this
method of smothering in action. Simply cover the glass with a plate (or
something that won’t easily burn) and watch the fire slowly go out – after it
has used up all the oxygen still in the glass.

Fuel
The fuel a fire requires to burn could be almost anything: paper, wood, oil, fat,
carpet, curtains etc. will all burn in the right circumstances.

Removing the fire’s access to fuel is another way of putting it out. If the fire is
already burning and if it is safe to do so simply make sure that any combustible
(burnable) material is removed from the vicinity of the fire.

Precautions. E.g.
 Empty your waste-baskets regularly and keep the master ‘bins’ well away
from any heat source.
 Make sure that any naked flames (gas burners, lighters, candles etc.) are
well away from any combustible material.

You may have seen forest fires on T.V. You may also have noticed that most
modern forests (those that are ‘planted’ as such) have huge gaps in them. Road-
like gaps. These are fire gaps, created to help prevent the spread of any fires by
having little or no fuel for the fire to ‘eat’.

We starve the fire of fuel.

Heat

The third element required by a fire is heat.

The heat could come from an existing flame (candle, hot fat
etc.) or possibly from an electrical fault. No matter what the
cause of heat, cooling it will help to extinguish the fire.

You will have seen firemen on the TV and perhaps even in

real life, spraying water from their hoses onto a fire. By doing this they are
cooling the fire. That’s why most of the fire extinguishers you will see as you go
about your daily lives are water based.

However, not all fires react to water quite as well.

 It could be really dangerous to pour water on an electrical fire because you
might get a lethal shock from the electricity.
 Neither should you tackle a fat fire (chip pan etc.) with water. This is
because oils and fats FLOAT on water. The fire burns on top of the oil or fat –
so all the water will do is spread the fire. There would also be a risk of
splashes – hot fat or oil, carried upwards (maybe into your face!) on the
evaporating water (steam)

This is cooling.

This document is one of a series aimed at helping you to understand the need
for fire awareness and fire safety.