Smoke Burns

Author’s Notes This book is a reflection on my 26 years as a serving fire-fighter and fire officer. My observations are exactly what I’ve seen, whilst fire-fighting in real fires and my explanations are purposefully aimed at educating and informing fire-fighters and members of the public, alike, by trying to describe in simplistic terms the ‘mechanism of fire’ and how and why ‘smoke burns’. I have been taught fire-fighting by the some of the best fire-fighters in the world and most of the techniques advocated by the standard operating procedures (SOPs) in this book are a culmination of the good practices handed down by generations of fire-fighters, worldwide, who have instinctively known of the inherent dangers of flashovers and backdrafts and acted accordingly, but we’ve always had chinks in our armour and blind spots, which has sadly resulted in the line of duty deaths (LODD) of fire-fighters, whilst dealing with the devastating effects of flashovers and backdrafts. The main purpose of this book is to provide fire-fighters with information on how to enhance existing SOPs by acquiring additional knowledge, training and equipment to make them completely integral and safe on the fire-ground, ensuring that they too, return home safe to their families after every fire they attend.