Three Ways to Murder Fire

In some ways, fire can be described as alive. It eats, breathes and to some extent, propagates children, by using its own heat to spread. It is also somewhat malevolent, at least so far as we are concerned. This is because, if left unchecked, fire can kill us or at the least, destroy our possessions and resources. If it becomes necessary, it is better that we kill a fire, than allow it to destroy us. This course examines ways in which we can indeed put an end to fire. We can do so by removing any leg of the fire triangle, the heat, the oxygen or the fuel which fire needs to live. We can freeze it to death, choke it to death or starve it to death. Our building codes offer a lot of guidance on ways to so deprive fire of what it needs, especially fuel and oxygen. If we find we cannot coexist with fire, then it is wise to follow the mandates of the codes during design.