Essentials of Firefighting (4th Edition)
Chapter 16-Loss Control
FF 1 Test Review (Statements)
§ Proper salvage and overhaul operations promote goodwill within the community.
§ The purpose of salvage operations is to reduce fire, water, and smoke damage.
§ Overhaul operations consists of searching for and extinguishing hidden fires, preserving evidence (if necessary), and protecting the fire scene.
§ Salvage operations can usually be started at the same time or before fire attack.
§ Building contents to be covered should be arranged away from the wall in close piles.
§ The contents of 1 room can usually be covered by 1 average-size salvage cover.
§ When salvaging bedroom contents, a dresser, chest, or high object should be placed at the foot of the bed before covering.
§ Rolling a rug and placing it on top of gathered contents provides for proper drainage.
§ Commercial occupancies present one of the biggest challenges for salvage operations due to the large number of contents.
§ Lack of skids and pallets presents a problem for elevating contents in commercial occupancies.
§ When salvage covers are limited, they should be used to construct chutes and catchalls.
§ High-piled boxed materials present a collapse hazard when ground is wet.
§ Plastic salvage covers are hard to use with traditional salvage cover folds.
§ Synthetic salvage covers should be dried before folding to prevent mildew and mold.
§ If canvas salvage covers are allowed to dry while still dirty, the carbon and ash react chemically and rot the fibers of the canvas.
§ Canvas salvage covers can usually be cleaned effectively with water and a broom.
§ Canvas salvage covers can be repaired with duct tape, mastic tape, iron-on patches, or sew-on fabric patches.
§ Roofing or tar paper is an example of salvage equipment.
§ Debris bags are also called carryalls.
§ Floor runners are used to protect floor coverings from grime and mud tracked in by firefighters.
§ Vinyl-laminated nylon floor runners are lightweight, flexible, tough, heat and water resistant, and easy to maintain.
§ Dewatering devices are not usually used for supplying hoselines.
§ Trash-type pumps are well-suited for salvage operations.
§ Water vacuums can be used to remove water, dirt, and small debris.
§ Backpack-type water vacuums normally have a capacity of 4 to 5 gallons.
§ Floor model water vacuums normally have capacities up to 20 gallons.
§ Backpack water vacuums can be emptied by pulling a lanyard which causes the contents to empty through a nozzle or drain hose.
§ Battery-operated tools should only be used to make small openings, square up larger holes, or to construct temporary doors.
§ Roofing, tar paper, or plastic should be applied to openings with lath and roofing nails.
§ 2 firefighters are needed to fold a cover to be used for a 1 firefighter spread.
§ A salvage cover folded for a 1 firefighter spread should be carried on the shoulder.
§ A salvage cover folded for a 2 firefighter spread should be carried so that 1 firefighter can grab the lower corners and the other firefighter can grab the upper corners.
§ The balloon throw is the most common salvage cover spread used by 2 firefighters.
§ Water coming through a ceiling from upper floors can be redirected out of the building with a chute.
§ Pre-constructed chutes are typically 10 feet in length.
§ A properly-constructed catchall will hold several hundred gallons of water.
§ 2 firefighters are usually needed to construct a catchall so that sides are rolled uniformly.
§ Roof openings are best covered with plywood, roofing paper, or tar paper.
§ The practice of searching a fire scene to detect hidden fires or sparks that may rekindled is termed overhaul.
§ Salvage operations applied during fire attack will directly affect overhaul operations.
§ Plaster hooks and pike poles are used to open ceilings to check for fire extension.
§ The condition of a building after fire extinguishment can be determined by the intensity of the fire and the amount of water used.
§ The tensile strength of steel structural members is affected at around 500oF.
§ Spalling can occur when concrete is exposed to high temperatures.
§ Cracked plaster can indicate a hidden fire.
§ Electronic sensors used to detect hidden fires include thermal and infrared imagers.
§ Insulation materials can harbor hidden fires for long periods.
§ The ends of floor beams that enter a party wall can be overhauled by flushing voids in the wall with water.
§ When opening a ceiling, the firefighter should be positioned between the area being pulled and the doorway.
§ When pulling ceiling, pull down and away.
§ When fire has burned around windows, molding should be pulled to reveal the inner parts of the frame.
§ For minor overhaul operations, water extinguishers can be used to extinguish small hidden fires.
§ Wetting agents are particularly useful on cotton, upholstery, and baled goods.
§ Small burning objects found during overhaul are best extinguished by immersing in a container water.
§ Holes in salvage covers can be found by holding the cover up and looking for light penetration.
§ Indications of unsafe building conditions include: weakened floors, offset walls, and heat-spalled concrete, among others.