Citizen's Fire Academy Part 4

Last evening in the citizen’s fire academy, we learned about the life of a fire. The stages include:
1. Incipient – ignition
2. Growth – fire load and oxygen
3. Fully developed – all combustible materials have been ignited
4. Decay – largest stage as fire burns down

Terms I’ve heard before that were discussed:
1. Flashover – material reaches auto ignition temperature and bursts into flames
2. Backdraft – hot unburned fire gases collect in unventilated space and when oxygen is added explode

For structure fires response includes: 3 engines with 9-12 firefighters, 1 truck with 4 people, 1 assistant chief and 1 ambulance with 2 crew members for a total of 14-17 people. Having experienced a fire in our home in January, I can attest to the speed with which the fire department responded and contained a fire.

A fire truck was set on its outriggers in the parking lot and we had a chance to go up close to 100 feet in the bucket attached to the end of an extended ladder.