Propane Fire Class

So last night at class if you couldn't guess from the title we had a lesson on Propane Fires. It was awesome!!!!! After a lengthy lecture on the dangers of a propane fire and having the reassurance that this was a worst case scenario cross your fingers and hope this never comes your way in your career type of a thing, we learned the brigade march. A group of 7 firefighters march toward a flaming propane tank in a formation called the brigade with two hoses spraying in a fog pattern (a wide thick misted spray) to shield the heat. We had a prop loaned to us that was a small propane tank with fixed lines to flow the propane through. Since it was our first night with live fire they only opened a line shooting straight from the top of the tank mimicking a pressure valve. The flames were amazing with a lot of pretty blue. Propane is kept at a very cold temperature with a boiling point about -44 degrees Fahrenheit so as the flame was hovering about 5 feet above this container it created a column of flaming ice one of the instructors was later able to hold in his hands. We got to march toward this tank about 3 times in our groups learning this formation and how not to put the fire out (a very bad thing in this case) while getting close enough to close a main valve and stop the fire. A guy in my class took pictures so hopefully I'll have some to post soon.