page_title: Firefighting
section_title: Use of water
hierarchical_section_title: Firefighting / Use of water
caption_attribution_description: English: This Picture has been named "Into the Darkness" as the pilot enters the dark smoke to drop the water on the fires below, hoping to emerge alive the other side just to do it again. Some Stats: Approximately 4,000 hectares has been burnt. 198 flying hours have been logged resulting in 2,000 water drops (about 2-million litres of water). The flying hour cost is currently estimated at R2.4-million. An extra 250 Working on Fire volunteers have been dispatched from other provinces to support the ground team. Four helicopters, two water bombers and a spotter plane are involved in firefighting efforts. One firefighter has been hospitalised with burn wounds. 52 frail-care residents of a Noordhoek retirement village were treated for smoke inhalation. Five homes have been damaged along Silvermine Road in Noordhoek. (The Tintswalo Lodge at the foot of Chapman’s Peak was damaged as well.) At least 30 households were evacuated in Noordhoek, as well as residents of the San Michelle Old-Age Home and the Noordhoek Manor Retirement Village (the latter have since been able to return). Three mass care centres have been set up to accommodate those who have been displaced: at the Dutch Reformed Church in Kommetjie Road, Fish Hoek; at the Dutch Reformed campsite in Noordhoek; and at the Fish Hoek Community Hall. Please call 107 from a landline and 021 480 7700 from a cellphone to report any emergency. - See more at: http://www.sapeople.com/2015/03/03/cape-town-photos-today-fires-continue/#sthash.TO8smrqA.dpuf
context_page_description: Firefighting is the act of attempting to prevent the spread of and extinguish significant unwanted fires in buildings, vehicles, woodlands, etc. A firefighter suppresses fires to protect lives, property and the environment.
  Firefighters typically undergo a high degree of technical training. This involves structural firefighting and wildland firefighting. Specialized training includes aircraft firefighting, shipboard firefighting, aerial firefighting, maritime firefighting, and proximity firefighting.
  One of the major hazards associated with firefighting operations is the toxic environment created by combustible materials. The four major risks are smoke, oxygen deficiency, elevated temperatures, and poisonous atmospheres. Additional hazards include falls and structural collapse that can exacerbate the problems encountered in a toxic environment. To combat some of these risks, firefighters carry self-contained breathing apparatus.
  The first step in a firefighting operation is reconnaissance to search for the origin of the fire and to identify the specific risks.
context_section_description: One common way to extinguish a fire is to spray it with water. The water has two roles: It vaporizes when it comes in contact with fire, and this vapor displaces the oxygen (the volume of water vapor is 1,700 times greater than liquid water, at 1,000 °F (538 °C) it expands over 4,000 times). This leaves the fire without enough of the combustive agent, and it dies out. The vaporization of water also absorbs heat; it thereby cools the smoke, air, walls, and objects that could act as further fuel, and thus prevents one of the means by which fires grow, which is by "jumping" to nearby heat/fuel sources to start new fires, which then combine. Water extinguishment is thus a combination of "asphyxia" (cutting off the oxygen supply) and cooling. The flame itself is suppressed by asphyxia, but the cooling is the most important element in mastering a fire in a closed area.
  Water may be accessed from a pressurized fire hydrant, pumped from water sources such as lakes or rivers, delivered by tanker truck, or dropped from water bombers, which are aircraft adapted as tankers for fighting forest fires. An armored vehicle (firefighting tank) may be used where access to the area is difficult.
caption: A firefighting aircraft dumping water on a forest fire in South Africa.
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