CATCHING FIREBY GENA K. GORRELL

Brooks Bowden

Character/Conflict

A blazing airplane is a huge emergency that calls for a massive response. Fortunately, though, blazing airplanes are extremely

rare, and it’s obviously not practical to keep a hundred firefighters at the airport just in case a plane catches fire this

year. How can a small crew deal with a crisis this size? (89)

A naked flame is the basic tool of an arsonist, something which can be purchased very cheaply in the form of matches or a cigarette lighter. The advanced arsonist would utilize special tools and techniques to control when and how a fire is started. For

example, a brick tied to the ceiling with string separated on the brick side by a match pad igniter placed on a flat board on the edge of a table with a plastic container of

petrol on the table side, if a hole is poked in the base of the container petrol will spill out on the ground and when it has become lighter than the brick the brick will fall to the ground separating and initiating the match pad which in turn explodes the fuel

causing fire.

Setting

“waterfronts pose special fire risks. They are often lined with wooden docks and warehouses, and the wood may be soaked with creosote, a

flammable chemical, to keep it from rotting. The warehouses may contain dangerous materials that change week by week, as one cargo arrives and another leaves, and there may be giant fuel-storage tanks

as well.”

Firefighters use fire boats, as seen in the picture above, that have very powerful water cannons to fight the blaze from a safe distance. They have strong pumps that suck up water from below instead of carrying it in large tanks. Sometimes they will set the burning ship adrift so there is no damage done to surrounding

things.

“There are also planes that can scoop up water from nearby lakes, and dump it on the fire or on endangered woods nearby. Planes can also blanket the woods with

slurry, a fir retardant, to cut off the fire’s oxygen supply.”

Seen above to the right is a water bomber filling up with water by skimming the surface of the water. Its tank holds about 1400 gallons of water. These are used to extinguish wildfires, one of the most widespread and fast moving fire.

Wildfires are a healthy part of forest regeneration because the charred remains of the healthy wood keep the nutrients so when new plants grow back

they are better then ever, but fire may also do long lasting damage to the forest floor. a cigarette- it acts just like a match, starting just a few leaves,

then turns into half a million acres of forest burned away.

And what could be more frightening then a fire in space-