Changing Tactics on High Voltage Fire Fighting

M22
Changing Tactics on High Voltage Fire Fighting
Anthony Natale, Consolidated Edison James Lynch, Fire Risk Alliance Mike Stein, Fire Command Consultants

This session will cover the hazards, response tactics and lesson learned necessary to safely manage high voltage transformer fires, manhole fires and overhead emergencies through manual attacks or fixed system suppression. The course will discuss detailed joint testing done by Con Edison, the FDNY and Fire Risk Alliance in terms of applying various suppression agents onto high voltage targets in order to determine appliance/stream, standoff distance along with what products were effective but safe. Testing was scaled through the following voltage range of 13kV to 345kV. These tests have driven the policies currently followed by Con Edison and the FDNY as it relates to manual suppression operations.

Presented by:

Anthony Natale, Consolidated Edison
Anthony Natale's work experience resides within the petroleum and utility sectors. His expertise is managing high-hazard emergencies. The core of these activities focuses on the mitigation of risk as it relates to managing the hazards and response tactics necessary to produce favorable outcomes to potentially volatile incidents. Active research and development work in this field has led to significant changes in manual and fixed system response to electrical and petroleum fires.

James Lynch, Fire Risk Alliance
Mr. James A. Lynch is a Fire Protection Engineer with over 15 years of experience in fire protection design, code consulting, fire research, and product development. Mr. Lynch has extensive fire testing experience, having conducted numerous test series for litigation purposes, the military, and various manufacturers and end users. Mr. Lynch's educational background includes a BS in Mechanical Engineering and an MS in Fire Protection Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Mike Stein, Fire Command Consultants
Captain Stein (retired) was appointed as an NYC firefighter in 1979 and was assigned to Engine 290 - Ladder 103 in Brooklyn's East NY section. Promoted to Lieutenant in 1997, Mike worked in various firehouses in Battalion 54. From there, he worked with the Field Communications Unit and assisted with the Incident Command System at fires throughout the city. Mike was a first responder on location at the base of the World Trade Center collapse and was instrumental in establishing a remote command post on the east side of what became Ground Zero. Promoted to Captain in 2001, Mike was assigned to the FDNY Research and Development Unit. Currently, Mike is a Communications Consultant for Fire Command Consultants.