fires ! how to prevent it and how to deal with it

[coralie]

yesterday i was in beirut while passing in a small road in very croudy neighbourhood there was in the middle of the road a car and lots of heavy dark smoke going out of the engine ppl were terrified and trying to move away from it some men tried to throw water on it but from a distance not daring to get close to it !!!! ....... i can not discribe to you how the situation was ppl on balconies shouting to move the vehicule away from the buildings, the trafic jam was crazy cars trying to find a way to move away ...
my question here is this the right way to deal with a starting fire ?
last year we witnessed fires evry where distroying a big surface of our green forests indangering lots of villages ....what are we doing to prevent such fire disasters ?!

do we know the ways of preventions ? do we know what to do when it happens ?

i invite you visite this http://www.lfpc.org/objectives.asp

LFPC petition asks the Lebanese government to buy two fire fighting airplanes

LFPC petition asks the Lebanese government to buy two fire fighting airplanes After the tragedy of thousands of hectares of forests and agricultural terrains being burnt out in the year 2007, we the undersigned, call for the Lebanese government to purchase two fire fighting airplanes as soon as possible so as to avoid the recurrence of the serious losses caused by fires.

sign the petition http://www.lfpc.org/petition.asp

[Hye4Lebanon]

almost all houses in Lebanon and most cars do not have a fire extengishers.

Properly placed by the kitchen sink or the "generateur" will potentially save lives. Its a rather cheap investment but the return is huge.

Carry one in your car as well.

Water "may" be a good tool for ordinary combustibles but not a good choice as the motor vehicle fire above.

Invest in a fire extingsuiher with the following ratins.

A B & C - which means you have one that can be used for any class, any type of fire.

Class A Extinguishers will put out fires in ordinary combustibles, such as wood and paper.

Class B Extinguishers should be used on fires involving flammable liquids, such as grease, gasoline, oil, etc.

Class C Extinguishers are suitable for use on electrically energized fires.

They sell extinguishers with the 3 ratings in one.

Regarding forest fires, thats a different topic by itself and should be addressed at a "lack" of governmental level.

[fidelio]

30 آب 2008
كشف عضو كتلة "القوات اللبنانية" النائب أنطوان زهرا انه "سوف يتم تعين مدعيين عامين للمحافظات متفرغين للمواضيع البيئية وبالتالي يصبح هناك افادات حقيقية حول الاعتداءات على البيئة في لبنان".
وفي موضوع الحرائق رأى النائب زهرا في كلمة له ضمن سلسلة الندوات التي تقيمها "الجمعية البترونية للثقافة والسياحة والبيئة" ان هناك عدة اسباب للحرائق واحد منها ان "المولجين بمكافحة الحرائق يساهمون في اشعالها لأنهم متطوعين ولا يقبضون رواتبهم. والاهم انه في اخر جلسة للمجلس النواب قدمنا نحن ومجموعة نواب مشروع قانون مكرر يحظر استعمال اية مساحة حرجية محروقة ، وعلى كل مواطن ان يكون خفيراً وان يساعد في النضال الذي تقوده وزارة البيئة في هذا المجال". وتعهد زهرا بأن يفعل تشريعياً كل ما يمكن ان يساعد في امر البيئة والمحافظة عليها.
وختم زهرت بلفت النظرالى ان محطة الصرف الصحي في المنطقة ممولة من الصندوق الاوروبي بمبلغ 30 مليون يورو والشرط هو المحافظة على بيئة البحر الابيض المتوسط .

[nuclearcat]

Regarding airplanes, same as helicopters - they are useless and very expensive to maintain. They are useful only to remove large fire from forest. They are almost completely useless to remove fire from buildings.
It is better to buy few more fire trucks and personal protection devices for staff.

Also some important points. Sorry for my bad english

FIRST Rule. ALWAYS CALL FIRE DEPARTMENT. DONT LET SITUATION GO TOO FAR.

2)If you see fire on some closed place (under hood, in closed room and etc)
DO NOT OPEN DOOR AND DO NOT LET FRESH AIR COME IN! It will supply oxygene to the fire.
If your car in fire - try to use extinguishers over grill or other place first to remove fire partially. If you open the hood - there is chance you will make things worse.
3)You cannot use water (except very strong stream, that can throw away fire) against flammable liquids. It need special extinguishers.
4)Always think how to remove gas/benzene tanks from fire, till they explode, shutdown electricity supplies to building in case of serious fire and especially if it is caused by electricity short.
5)Remember, that some plastic and other things create very toxic gas while burning. It can kill you. It is dangerous to enter area with a lot of fire without protection device. If you need to pass by, while evacuating, area where is fire, wet your clothes, wrap up a head by wet rag, breath trough it.
6)If you cannot leave area where is fire, try to find water, and make all around you wet. Do same thing as in point 5 (wet clothes and etc).

[nuclearcat]

Fresh experience. Today i stay at work a bit longer than usual. And about 17:30 i notice huge smoke in window. I came to window and so the car, smoke was coming from hood. Guys was trying to open hood (good that that they not able to do, fire blocked it). When open fire start coming from the hood most of them run away. I remember my experience, when at Cyprus someone put small bomb under the hood of car(it was expensive mercedes of some high position secret officer), near office where i was working, and when it is exploded all cypriots from building was looking "the show", and even not moving their fat asses. I took trash bucket, put in washbasin, put water there and run out and throw under the hood.

At Cyprus i manage to remove fire, and other people see how i did. At Cyprus shameful cowards was too scared from fire (and in fact there building was too close, and plastic on one of shop doors start melting too), so maximum they was able to do - they throw a bit water from 4th floor... but seems they had also problems with eyes, cause they throw half on me, half evaporated on the car.
Here i did same, and our techsupport guys took everything can hold water and start doing the same. We removed fire just in 30-40 seconds.
My own preliminary analysis - unprofessionally fixed problems in fuse box. Car was saved almost completely, just place where is fuse box and plastic there is burned and hood broken by guys who was trying to open it. Electrical circuits was working ok, and emergency lights worked till firefighters disconnect battery. By the way they came very fast, in traffic, but not enough to save the car, if noone else helped them. Another thing - NOONE in stopped cars had extinguisher.

In both cases i never heard even thanks.

[Abou J]

http://www.tayyar.org/Tayyar/Multime...alse&MVD=False

I can't believe that we are still putting out fires with tree branches. What is this **** government waiting for to get some equipment and proper training?

What is more important: money to re-build Nahr el Bared Camp or helicopters to fight wildfires?

I guess some politicians think that 4% forest cover is still too much.