The Suppression and Extinction of Class A Fires Using Water Sprays

Abstract

Water has long been the agent of choice for fighting Class' A' fires In fact the thermal characteristics of water make it ideally suitable as an extinguishing agent for most types of fire, whether it is used to extract heat directly from the flames, the hot products of combustion or from the surface of the fuel The phase change from liquid water to water vapour (steam) is particularly effective in extracting thermal energy and the production of large quantities of water vapour may further contribute to fire extinguishment by inerting the surrounding atmosphere, especially where the fire is confined to some extent The literature review which forms the basis of this report has been conducted in order to establish the current state-of-the-art regarding the use of water sprays for the suppression and extinction of Class' A' fires It is concluded that the current state-of-the-art is close to the point where a description of fire extinction can be given from the initiation of suppression to the point of final extinguishment. this is a stated FRDG objective However. certain gaps in the knowledge base still exist and these are highlighted. provisional recommendations are made for the direction of future research in these areas.