WEBVTT 00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:04.000 (English captions by Trisha Paul, University of Michigan.) 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:11.000 Institutional fires have become a major public health problem in the Eastern Africa region, 00:00:11.000 --> 00:00:19.000 either affecting schools, prisons, office blocks, and buildings. 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:26.000 Fire refers to the uncontrolled burning of settlements, or forests, or vehicles or 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:30.000 vessels, and it is a very frequent form of hazard in Eastern Africa. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:34.000 It may be accidental or deliberate. 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:36.000 It may be natural or technological. 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:44.000 Elements of fire include fuel, heat, and a supply of oxygen. 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:54.000 If any one of these three is removed, then the fire will not exist. 00:00:54.000 --> 00:01:00.000 Fire causes burns and shock, disabilities and deaths, damage and loss of property, environmental 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:02.000 degradation and pollution. 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:11.000 It may result in a mass casualty incident. 00:01:11.000 --> 00:01:18.000 Factors that influence fire include vegetation and weather, availability of combustibles and toxicity 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:25.000 of flammables, absence of warning and lack of knowledge, magnitude of exposure and age 00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:37.000 of victim, availability of fire fighting equipment, and housing characteristics. 00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:41.000 Causes of fires include electrical causes. 00:01:41.000 --> 00:01:47.000 These may be broken and dirty insulators, loose flexible wiring, perishable or damaged 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:57.000 insulation of wiring, bad connections including overloading, incorrect fusing and poor earthing, 00:01:57.000 --> 00:02:04.000 current or electricity traveling via a gas pipe. 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:13.000 Human causes include smoking, cooking and unattended fire, appliances left on including 00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:21.000 cookers or irons, aerosols, careless handling and playing with fire, arson, and misuse of 00:02:21.000 --> 00:02:25.000 appliances. 00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:28.000 These are the major classes of fires. 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:35.000 Class A fires result from ordinary combustible materials such as wood, paper, grass, cotton, 00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:39.000 or cloth. 00:02:39.000 --> 00:02:48.000 The extinguishing media is usually water, or dry chemical powder, or sand and fire beating 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:53.000 for these types of fires. 00:02:53.000 --> 00:02:58.000 Class B fires result from flammable liquids such as kerosene, petrol, spirit, cooking 00:02:58.000 --> 00:02:59.000 fats. 00:02:59.000 --> 00:03:07.000 The most effective extinguishing media is foam and dry chemical power. 00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:12.000 Class C fires involve gases such as methane, propane, butane. 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:16.000 These gases can produce explosions. 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:25.000 Extinguishing methods involve closing of the valve or the source of the leakage of the 00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:32.000 gas, but you can also use dry chemical powder 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:38.000 Class D fires result from metal heating such as Aluminum and Magnesium. 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:43.000 The main extinguishing media is dry chemical powder. 00:03:43.000 --> 00:03:47.000 These fires are capable of reaching very high temperatures. 00:03:47.000 --> 00:04:01.000 As we can see, dry chemical powder is a form that is useful for all classes of fires. 00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:09.000 Electrical fires do not constitute a class on their own but may be either A, B, C, or 00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:12.000 D types of fires. 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:19.000 Extinguishing involves cutting off electricity if possible, and the recommended media is 00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:25.000 dry chemical powder or carbon dioxide. 00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:43.000 Methods of fire extinguition include smothering, starvation and cooling. 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:53.000 If you have some fire extinguishers where you work, try and look at them and examine them. 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:56.000 What is their content? 00:04:56.000 --> 00:05:00.000 What classes of fires are they indicated for? 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:07.000 Kindly check the expiry dates and service of these gadgets. 00:05:07.000 --> 00:05:18.000 If possible, you can have a demonstration on the actual use of an extinguisher. 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:26.000 Portable fire extinguishers are the 'First Aid Fire Fighting Appliances', FAFFA, normally 00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:30.000 operated by one person. 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:37.000 Water containing extinguishers usually have a red label. 00:05:37.000 --> 00:05:43.000 Foam containing extinguishers usually have a cream label. 00:05:43.000 --> 00:05:50.000 Dry chemical powder extinguishers usually have a blue label, and carbon dioxide extinguishers 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:55.000 usually have a black label. 00:05:55.000 --> 00:06:04.000 Nowadays most extinguishers are red in color but are only differentiated by a color code. 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:12.000 That is, if extinguishers are red in color, then a color code is placed on them to indicate 00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:14.000 their content. 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:23.000 Look at a fire extinguisher near you and try to check for some of these. 00:06:23.000 --> 00:06:26.000 Safety implications of hand held extinguishers. 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:30.000 Always note the following hazards when using extinguishers: 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:34.000 The possibility of electrocution, inhalation of dry chemical 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:41.000 powder, frostbite from carbon dioxide, their failure rates are usually higher, and then 00:06:41.000 --> 00:06:43.000 the issue of weight. 00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:52.000 Noise, a lot of noise, especially from the carbon dioxide fire extinguishers. 00:06:52.000 --> 00:07:01.000 Dry chemical powder extinguishers may cause impaired vision when used. 00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:07.000 Pre-hospital fire management is an important adjunct to fire control. 00:07:07.000 --> 00:07:13.000 Organize and establish and incident command structure, extinguish the fire, conduct a 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:19.000 Rapid Needs Assessment, search and rescue is necessary for evacuation of victims. 00:07:19.000 --> 00:07:26.000 Initial triage and first aid to the victims if necessary, transporting the victims to health 00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:34.000 facility. Use available resources and mobilize for others if needed. 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:41.000 Hospital based operations are also an important adjunct to fire management. 00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:55.000 Establish a receiving mechanism and emergency management for serious victims of fires. 00:07:55.000 --> 00:08:01.000 Fire prevention is an important aspect of fire control. 00:08:01.000 --> 00:08:07.000 What factors do you think increase fire risk and how do you think fires can be prevented 00:08:07.000 --> 00:08:13.000 in institutions in your district? 00:08:13.000 --> 00:08:19.000 Fire prevention includes building standards that incorporate hazard reduction, no smoking 00:08:19.000 --> 00:08:26.000 signs, orderly arrangements of goods to avoid spontaneous ignition, providing space 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:30.000 between goods and avoiding congestion in dormitories. 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:41.000 Others include fire segregated walls and preventive measures against easy spread of fire. 00:08:41.000 --> 00:08:49.000 Fire prevention also involves good house keeping, an awareness creation to create a sense of 00:08:49.000 --> 00:08:51.000 community responsibility. 00:08:51.000 --> 00:08:59.000 There is need to strengthen fire rescue departments, enforce legislations, and set 00:08:59.000 --> 00:09:07.000 bylaws to prevent fires. 00:09:07.000 --> 00:09:13.000 Fire protection ivolves installation of fire equipment inside and outside of buildings, 00:09:13.000 --> 00:09:20.000 fire escapes, exits and escape signs, protect buildings from extensive damage resulting 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:26.000 from fires. 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:34.000 Hand appliances include extinguishers and buckets of sand that are in easy reach. 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:39.000 We also have fixed installations depending on availability of resources including risers, 00:09:39.000 --> 00:09:47.000 hose reels, and external private hydrants. 00:09:47.000 --> 00:09:53.000 Fixed installations include foam, gases, and dry chemical powder. 00:09:53.000 --> 00:10:07.000 Advanced systems include automatic sprinkler systems and fire warning gadgets. 00:10:07.000 --> 00:10:12.000 Fire drills should cover fire alarm effectiveness. 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:21.000 Whether a physical alarm is installed or we depend on a human alarm, this should be tested. 00:10:21.000 --> 00:10:29.000 They also cover timeliness of notification, fire teams conformance with established fire 00:10:29.000 --> 00:10:33.000 procedures, safe evacuation and assembly. 00:10:33.000 --> 00:10:38.000 Emphasis should be on orderly evacuation rather than speed. 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:44.000 Evacuation is the removal of people from an area of danger to a safe area in an orderly 00:10:44.000 --> 00:10:49.000 manner to prevent confusion and panic. 00:10:49.000 --> 00:11:04.000 It is important to provide an evacuation assembly point that is for any workers involved in 00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:13.000 fire management, and also the place where affected persons should assemble. 00:11:13.000 --> 00:11:19.000 If a staff member or other members from the building or students or pupils 00:11:19.000 --> 00:11:24.000 are not seen during the roll call, then the fire team conducts a search and rescue. 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:28.000 All these should be tested in the fire evacuation procedures. 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:36.000 There is also the rendezvous point for evacuation, which is the meeting point for the first responders 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:43.000 such as fire fighters, or people designated to address fires in an institution. 00:11:43.000 --> 00:11:47.000 These should be carefully selected.