Tulsa World: In a flash

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In a flash
Flashover fires are among the deadliest firefighters face. Training keeps them alive when it's not a drill.

JAMES GIBBARD / Tulsa World

By JARREL WADE World Staff Writer
Published: 11/17/2009 2:22 AM
Last Modified: 11/17/2009 4:27 PM

The fire starts, and a thick, velvety curtain of smoke descends from the ceiling, obscuring the flames as they snake up a wall and lick the ceiling.

Within a minute or two, all the firefighters can see are the air hoses attached to their masks. The only indications of a fire are a crackling sound ahead of them, a wind from behind, and a suffocating, sweltering heat.

They must obey two rules: Keep your mask on, and stay low.

It isn't Kurt Russell's 1991 film "Backdraft," for sure, and you can't see your partner's face as he heroically stands against the inferno. As it turns out, real fires just aren't that photogenic.

This is the Tulsa Fire Department's new training exercise, and local journalists were invited along for the bake Monday afternoon.

The exercise teaches firefighters the signs that precede a flashover — a phenomenon that claimed two Oklahoma City firefighters' lives in 1989.

In a flashover, a fire — started on a couch, for example — can fill an area with a mixture of combustible gases that become superheated. Then everything in the area catches fire at once.

"Literally floor to ceiling, wall to wall, everything will catch fire," Tulsa Fire Department Public Information Officer Bill French said. "The air in front of your face is on fire."

Every Tulsa firefighter will go through the training at the Fire Department's Training Center, near Charles Page Boulevard and Gilcrease Museum Road, during the next several months.

Inside the fire

During the roughly 20-minute exercise, firefighters are put through about seven flashovers in a metal container with two rooms. One room, where the flashover occurs, is elevated a few feet. The adjacent room, where the firefighters gather, has just enough room for them to duck while the fire rolls out over their heads.

In the flashover room, it's a hellish 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit. In the adjoining room, where 10 firefighters and I lay low Monday, it's a balmy 400 degrees.

When the cheese bubbles and the crust is golden brown, remove from oven.

Feeling the heat

Before I went into the fire, I was outfitted in firefighter gear. About 50 pounds of equipment covered me — and the firefighters — from head to toe: helmet, flashover hood, breathing mask, air tank, pants, suspenders, jacket and boots.

Even before getting near the fire, I was sweating with all that gear on, and it was about 45 degrees outside. The experience made it more possible to imagine how firefighters feel while wearing the gear at a blaze in August.

It took about an hour to get two other media representatives and me outfitted. Real firefighters have to be able to suit up in just 60 seconds.

Exhilarating experience

As dangerous as the whole experience was, the rolling, flaming air about 3 feet above us was beautiful. Several of the firefighters yelled, "Here it comes!" from under their face masks as another wave passed overhead.

The flames boiled in the thick coating of smoke, moving closer and closer to our helmets.

Then a dousing from a hose would cool the flashover enough to calm the combusting fumes, and the process would begin again.

Afterward, the Tulsa firefighters left the structure jazzed by the flames and eager to get back to fighting fires in the community, where they can save lives.

They like the excitement, and there is no shortage of excitement inside an oven. Trust me.

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To see all of the Tulsa World slide shows, go to tulsaworld.com/photos.

Jarrel Wade 581-8408
jarrel.wade@tulsaworld.com By JARREL WADE World Staff Writer

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	Report Comment Exothrmc, (11/17/2009 4:43:35 AM) Hopefully you will be back to share in some quality training.
	Report Comment tulsawillis, Tulsa (11/17/2009 8:37:31 AM) Cool story. Jarrel, I'm glad you made it out alive.
	Report Comment lucky girl, mine (11/17/2009 10:30:30 AM) These people are heroes

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