Online firefighter training program focuses on attics, home exteriors

Northbrook, IL – To help fire service members explore the hazards of residential attic and exterior fires, the UL Firefighter Safety Research Institute has released a free online training program.

The program summarizes results from a study funded by the Department of Homeland Security’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program. Experiments for the study included 28 wall tests, three wall and eave tests, four full-scale attic tests and three field experiments at 1.5- and 2.5-story residential houses in Milwaukee.

The training program shares videos and interactive features. Among the tactical considerations explored:

• More common use of plastics in outer walls can alter a fire situation before firefighters arrive.
• Begin fighting a fire from the outside of a building if the fire started on the outside.
• Anticipate where and how an exterior fire will move to the structure’s interior.
• Attic fires often are ventilation-limited fires. Monitor or limit vertical ventilation until water is in the attic.
• Attic construction affects hose-stream penetration. Consider a master stream that flows up rather than down.