For this assignment, you are to watch the video below. The video illustrates a flashover in the mid-80s. Although it is an older video, it shows a narrow wood-frame structure where a salamander kerosene heater in the hallway started a fire that developed from ignition to a fully-developed fire after a flashover. Please do not critique the tactics or the protective clothing worn in that era. However, focus on the combustion as an exothermic chemical reaction between a fuel (wood frame structure with wood bead board interior and kerosene) and an oxidizer, resulting in the generation of substantive heat that lead to a flashover.

Background

It was a cold winter night with temperatures dropping in the low 30s. The homeowner was using a salamander kerosene heater, which was common for that time, to stay warm. During the morning he turned off the heat and filled the heater with more kerosene. As he filled the heater, some kerosene spilled on the wood floor. The heat from the heater burning all night cause the fuel to vaporize more than usual on a cold day, and when he lit the heater it flashed, igniting the spilled kerosene. Within three minutes from time of dispatch, the Orlando Fire Department was on the scene with an engine company and a truck company. The truck company split into two crews (inside and outside) to perform truck functions. The engine crews were just making entry into the structure (about 2 feet inside the front door) when the flashover occurred.

Apply what you learned from the video using concepts from Chapters 7, 8, and 12 to describe the fire. Discuss what led to the flashover. For example, was there enough heat generated by the combustion (oxidation) process to ignite other materials. If so, at what point? Was there fire plume under the ceiling? Was there filling of the fire compartment by smoke? What was the smoke flow from the compartment regarding any opening? What was the smoke movement?

Summarize your responses in a minimum of two pages in length.

To supplement your discussion and support your conclusions, you may use information from reputable, reliable journal articles, case studies, scholarly papers, and other sources that you feel are pertinent. All sources used, including the textbook, must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted material must have accompanying citations in proper APA style.