This container fire tragedy hurts me deeply. There are very important fire behavior issues with compartment fires that are not being taught to the nozzleman. When ANYTHING is heated to its gasification temperature it becomes vaporized fuel that only needs the RIGHT AMOUNT of oxygen and an ignition to explode. The explosion can be slow (flames) or very, very fast (shock wave). Think about THIS!!! A container that is hot will have vapor in it and expanding pressure pushing it out every vent. If the nozzleman squirts a little or a lot of water on the container, the container will contract and the hot gases inside of the container will contract and THAT will cause an immediate suction of air (with oxygen) to be drawn into the vaporized fuel in the container. The environment inside the compartment may pass through the explosive range of the fuel/oxygen mixture, and if there is an ignition it will explode. Do this experiment with a steam kettle on your stove, when the whistle blows, the expanding water vapor is venting just like the expanding vapor in a gasoline can or oil-well tank or even a closed garage with a boat or car inside. Leave the kettle on high burner until the whistles blows loudly, and then squirt just a small amount of water from a spray bottle onto the kettle, the whistle will immediately stop blowing which means the pressurized water vapor or gas has reversed direction and is now drawing in air and oxygen. BOOM!!! There is a lot more to know about compartment fires such as closed garage doors and storage building fires. I learned a lot about this from fighting oil-field and industrial fires. The nozzleman needs to know what he is doing.
Posted on: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 18:37:45 +0000
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