r/Firefighting • u/wonderful_exile238 • May 08 '23

Videos WATCH: Firefighters full PPE saves them during flash reignition. The article I saw this video in says ALL VEHICLE FIRES ARE CLASS B. What are your thoughts?

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-1

u/PutinsRustedPistol May 08 '23

The seats overwhelmingly aren’t class A. Plastic, foam, all that shit is class B.

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u/wonderful_exile238 May 08 '23

Wait what? Now I'm confused lol. I thought class B is "flammable liquids". How is plastic and upholstery a flammable liquid?

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u/[deleted] May 08 '23

[deleted]

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u/wonderful_exile238 May 08 '23

Very true. Didn't even remotely think of that. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust I guess.

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u/_dauntless May 09 '23

Class B is class B because of how those liquids behave, not just because class B = petrochemicals.

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u/PutinsRustedPistol May 08 '23

Flammable liquids is the most common example but a better way of thinking of it is flammable liquids and anything petroleum based.

Class A is natural fibers in all of their forms. Wood, paper, cloth, cotton, etc.

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u/wonderful_exile238 May 08 '23

Ahh okay I see. Thank you! I can say I have learned something today lmao

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u/_dauntless May 09 '23

Unlearn that. Dude is wrong.

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u/wonderful_exile238 May 09 '23

What do you mean mate?

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u/_dauntless May 09 '23

The seats are class a. Just because they're made from petrochemicals doesn't make em class b. https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Publications-and-media/Blogs-Landing-Page/NFPA-Today/Blog-Posts/2022/08/26/Fire-Extinguisher-Ratings#:%7E:text=Class%20A%20fires%20are%20those,%2C%20rubber%2C%20and%20many%20plastics

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u/AxtonGTV May 09 '23

That's odd, our city department teaches that Petro-based are Class B.

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u/_dauntless May 09 '23

Are you not in North America? As far as I can tell, it's mostly relevant to fire extinguishers, but you also wouldn't use class B foam on a couch fire right? Every house fire would be a much different fight given the amount of supposed "class B" fire in it.

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u/AxtonGTV May 09 '23

Obligatory: I am not a firefighter

I'm an Emergency Management type

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u/Dugley2352 May 10 '23

Yeah, plastic melts, becomes liquid, then gives off fuel/gasses. It’s all class B unless it’s a Tesla.

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u/Ok_Application_427 May 10 '23

That's not true at all.