Backdrafts in your home can potentially expose you to carbon monoxide poisoning. Here's how to protect yourself.

This is the terrifying moment that a violent jet of smoke and flames bursts out of a shipping container. The deadly phenomenon, known as a backdraft, is a firefighter's worst nightmare and occurs when there is the sudden reintroduction of oxygen into an ...

A backdraft involves deflagration or rapid combustion of hot pyrolysis products and flammable products of combustion upon mixing with air. Several conditions are necessary in order for a backdraft to occur within a compartment. The fire must have ...

To learn how firefighters could anticipate deadly backdraft events in the field, NIST researchers conducted hundreds of fire experiments while taking a plethora of measurements. Many of these tests resulted in a backdraft, which caused fireballs to burst ...

During the first 14 years of my career as a firefighter, I attended numerous incidents where the fire behaved unexpectedly. The textbooks at the time were somewhat vague in relation to fire behavior, so I asked senior colleagues if they could explain what ...

Five firefighters have been injured battling a fire in northern New Jersey after a backdraft explosion captured on video ripped through the building. Footage of the explosion shows smoke spewing from the structure seconds before a fiery blast sends a plume ...

On Feb. 23, 2021, the Lenoir, NC, Fire Department (LFD) responded to a fire at a commercial strip mall. The members experienced a smoke explosion early on. When I saw a video of the incident, I was intrigued, because it shows LFD firefighters approach, but ...

In my first article on this topic, “The Art of “Reading Fire,” I discussed a new mnemonic for fire behavior indicators, B-SAHF, which stands for Smoke, Air, Heat and Flame, all in the context of Building Construction. In this article, I will examine ...