Fire

For other uses, see Fire (disambiguation).

A forest fire
Fire is a rapid oxidation process that releases energy in varying intensities in form of
light (with wavelengths also outside the visual spectrum) and heat and often creates
smoke. It is commonly used to describe either a fuel in a state of combustion (e.g., a
campfire, or a lit fireplace or stove) or a violent, destructive and uncontrolled burning
(e.g., in buildings or a wildfire). The discovery of how to make fire is considered one of
humankind's most important advances, allowing higher hominids to ward off wild
animals, cook food, and control their own source of light and warmth.

Chemistry
Broadly speaking there are two types of fire, flaming and smoldering fires, and they
exhibit traits unique to themselves.

Flaming
Flaming fires involve the rapid oxidation of a fuel (combustion or release of energy) with
associated flame, heat, and light. The flame itself occurs within a region of gas where
intense exothermic reactions are taking place. An exothermic reaction is a chemical
reaction that takes place within a substance whereby heat and energy are released as the
substance changes to a more stable chemical form (usually generating carbon dioxide and
water). As chemical reactions occur within the fuel being burned, light is usually emitted
as photons are released by the oxidation of the fuel. Depending upon the specific
chemical and physical change taking place within the fuel the flame may or may not emit
light in the visible spectrum. For example, burning alcohol or burning hydrogen are
usually invisible although the heat given off is tremendous. The visible "clear" flame has
no mass. What we see as visible flame is actually energy (photons) being released in the
form of light by the oxidation of the fuel. The color of the flame is dependent upon the
energy level of the photons emitted. Lower energy levels produce colors toward the red

end of the light spectrum while higher energy levels produce colors toward the blue end
of the spectrum. The hottest flames are white in appearance. The color of a fire may also
be affected by chemical elements in the flame, such as barium giving a green flame color.
The flame color depends also on the unoxyded carbon particles. In some cases there is a
partial fuel oxydation due to oxygen lack in the central part of the flame, where
combustion reactions take place. In such cases the unoxyded hot carbon particles emit
radiation in the light spectrum, resulting in a yellow/red flame, such that of common
house fireplace.

Smoldering
The latter example, a smoldering fire, is a flameless form of combustion, deriving its heat
from oxidations occurring on the surface of a solid fuel. Two common examples are
glowing coals and cigarettes. Smolder propagates in a creeping fashion over solid fuels or
inside porous fuels, and its temperature and heat released are low in comparison. The
difference between flaming and smoldering combustion is that the latter occurs on the
surface of the solid rather than in the gas phase.

Chemical Reaction

The fire triangle

Fires start when both a flammable and/or a combustible material with an adequate supply
of oxygen or another oxidizer is subjected to enough heat. This is commonly called the
fire triangle. No fire can exist without all three elements being in place.
The common fire-causing sources of heat include:

sparks
another fire (such as an explosion)
a fire in the oven or fireplace
a lit match, lighter or cigarette
sources of intense thermal radiation (such as sunlight or an incandescent light
bulb)
Joule heating, friction or exhaust gas from mechanical or electrical machinery

Once ignited, fires can sustain their own heat by the further release of heat energy in the
process of combustion and may propagate, provided there is a continuous supply of
oxygen and fuel.
Fire can be extinguished by removing any one of the elements of the fire triangle. The
traditional extinguishant of water acts by cooling the combusting material to stop the
reaction, whereas a Carbon Dioxide extinguisher acts by starving the fire of oxygen.
The unburnable solid remains of a combustible material left after a fire are called ash,
soot or cinder.

Flame
Main article: Flame
A flame is an exothermic, self-sustaining, oxidizing chemical reaction producing energy
and glowing hot matter, of which a very small portion is plasma. It consists of reacting
gases and solids emitting visible and infrared light, the frequency spectrum of which
depends on the chemical composition of the burning elements and intermediate reaction
products.
In many cases, such as the burning of organic matter, for example wood, or the
incomplete combustion of gas, incandescent solid particles called soot produce the
familiar red-orange glow of 'fire'. This light has a continuous spectrum. Complete
combustion of gas has a dim blue color due to the emission of single-wavelength
radiation from various electron transitions in the excited molecules formed in the flame.
For reasons currently unknown by scientists, the flame produced by exposure of zinc to
air is a bright green, and produces plumes of zinc oxide. Usually oxygen is involved, but
hydrogen burning in chlorine also produces a flame, producing hydrogen chloride (HCl).
Other possible combinations producing flames, amongst many more, are fluorine and
hydrogen, and hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide.
The glow of a flame is complex. Black-body radiation is emitted from soot, gas, and fuel
particles, though the soot particles are too small to behave like perfect blackbodies. There
is also photon emission by de-excited atoms and molecules in the gases. Much of the
radiation is emitted in the visible and infrared bands. The color depends on temperature
for the black-body radiation, and on chemical makeup for the emission spectra. The
dominant color in a flame changes with temperature. The photo of the forest fire is an
excellent example of this variation. Near the ground, where most burning is occurring,
the fire is white, the hottest color possible for organic material in general, or yellow.
Above the yellow region, the color changes to orange, which is cooler, then red, which is
cooler still. Above the red region, combustion no longer occurs, and the uncombusted
carbon particles are visible as black smoke.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States has
recently found that gravity plays a role. Modifying the gravity causes different flame

types.[1] The common distribution of a flame under normal gravity conditions depends on
convection, as soot tends to rise to the top of a general flame, as in a candle in normal
gravity conditions, making it yellow. In microgravity or zero gravity, such as an
environment in outer space, convection no longer occurs, and the flame becomes
spherical, with a tendency to become more blue and more efficient (although it will go
out if not moved steadily, as the CO2 from combustion does not disperse in microgravity,
and tends to smother the flame). There are several possible explanations for this
difference, of which the most likely is that the temperature is evenly distributed enough
that soot is not formed and complete combustion occurs.[2] Experiments by NASA reveal
that diffusion flames in microgravity allow more soot to be completely oxidized after
they are produced than diffusion flames on Earth, because of a series of mechanisms that
behave differently in microgravity when compared to normal gravity conditions.[3] These
discoveries have potential applications in applied science and industry, especially
concerning fuel efficiency.
In combustion engines, various steps are taken to eliminate a flame. The method depends
mainly on whether the fuel is oil, wood, or a high-energy fuel such as jet fuel.

Typical temperatures of fires and flames

Oxyhydrogen flame: 2000 C or above) (3645 F) [4]

Bunsen burner flame: (min. to max. setting) 1300 to 1600 C (2372 to 2912 F) [5]
Blowtorch flame: 1800 C (3272 F) [6]
Candle flame: 760 C (1400 F)
Smoldering cigarette:
o Temperature without drawing: side of the lit portion; 400 C (750 F);
middle of the lit portion: 585 C (1110 F)
o Temperature during drawing: middle of the lit portion: 700 C (1290 F)
o Always hotter in the middle.

Controlling fire
The ability to control fire is one of humankind's great achievements. Fire making to
generate heat and light made it possible for people to migrate to colder climates and
enabled people to cook food a key step in the fight against disease. Archaeology
indicates that ancestors or relatives of modern humans might have controlled fire as early
as 790,000 years ago. The Cradle of Humankind site has evidence for controlled fire from
1 to 1.8 million years ago.[7] By the Neolithic Revolution, during the introduction of grain
based agriculture, people all over the world used fire as a tool in landscape management.
These fires were typically controlled burns or "cool fires", as opposed to uncontrolled
"hot fires" that damage the soil. Hot fires destroy plants and animals, and endanger
communities. This is especially a problem in the forests of today where traditional
burning is prevented in order to encourage the growth of timber crops. Cool fires are
generally conducted in the spring and fall. They clear undergrowth, burning up biomass
that could trigger a hot fire should it get too dense. They provide a greater variety of

environments, which encourages game and plant diversity. For humans, they make dense,
impassable forests traversable.

A blacksmith's fire, used primarily for forging iron.

The first technical application of the fire may have been the extracting and treating of
metals. There are numerous modern applications of fire. In its broadest sense, fire is used
by nearly every human being on earth in a controlled setting every day. Users of internal
combustion vehicles employ fire every time they drive. Thermal power stations provide
electricity for a large percentage of humanity.
The use of fire in warfare has a long history. Hunter-gatherer groups around the world
have been noted as using grass and forest fires to injure their enemies and destroy their
ability to find food, so it can be assumed that fire has been used in warfare for as long as
humans have had the knowledge to control it. Homer detailed the use of fire by Greek
commandos who hid in a wooden horse to burn Troy during the Trojan war. Later the
Byzantine fleet used Greek fire to attack ships and men. American and British warplanes
destroyed the German city of Dresden on February 14, 1945 by creating a firestorm, in
which a ring of fire surrounding the city was drawn inward by an updraft caused by a
central cluster of fires. In the Vietnam War, the Americans dropped napalm from the air.
More recently many villages were burned during the Rwandan Genocide. Aerial bombing
of cities, including firebombing using incendiary bombs, was also used frequently during
World War II. Molotov cocktails are cheap to construct and are commonly used as well.

Fire and Fuel

A coal-fired power station in the People's Republic of China.

Setting fuel aflame releases usable energy. Wood was a prehistoric fuel, and is still viable
today. The use of fossil fuels, such as petroleum, natural gas and coal, in power plants
supplies the vast majority of the world's electricity today; the International Energy
Agency states that nearly 80% of the world's power comes from these sources.[8] The fire
in a power station is used to heat water, creating steam that drives turbines. The turbines
then spin an electric generator to produce power.
The burning of wood is often the first association to the word "fire". It is common in a
developing country for wood to be the primary energy source as well. For instance, in
Africa, 65% of the energy used comes from the burning of biomass, such as elephant
dung. This has become much more abundant because the elephant population has tripled
in the past few years.[9] What is less obvious is that wood burning power stations are less
environmentally destructive than the fired oil power station in two major respects: first,
wood is a renewable resource, especially if trees are grown in a modern, sustainable way;
second, the carbon dioxide emissions are negligible because no more carbon dioxide can
be produced by burning than was removed by photosynthesis during production of the
wood. Thus, over a 100-year timescale, the effect is carbon-neutral.[10]. E.ON UK is soon
to build a 44 megawatt wood fired power station in the United Kingdom for these
reasons.[11]

Fire protection and prevention

A structure fire

Flammable gas warning

Codes and life safety codes offer fire fighting services to extinguish or contain
uncontrolled fires. Trained firefighters use fire trucks, water supply resources such as
water mains and fire hydrants, and an array of other equipment to combat the spread of
fires.
To ensure fire safety of buildings, all building products, materials and furnishings in the
United States must be tested for fire resistance, and researched so it causes no harm.
combustibility and flammability before they can be used in construction. The same
applies to upholstery, carpeting and plastics used in vehicles and vessels. Buildings,
especially schools and tall buildings, often conduct fire drills to inform and prepare
citizens on how to react to a building fire.
Purposely starting destructive fires constitutes arson and is a criminal offense in most
jurisdictions.
Some jursidictions operate systems of classifying fires using code letters. Whilst these
may agree on some classifications, they also vary. Below is a table showing the standard
operated in Europe and Australasia against the system used in the United States.

Type of Fire

Fires that involve flammable solids such as

wood, cloth, rubber, paper, and some types
of plastics.

European/Australasian
Classification

United States
Classification

Class A

Class A

Fires that involve flammable liquids or

liquifiable solids such as petrol/gasoline, oil,
Class B
paint, some waxes & plastics, but not
cooking fats or oils

Class B

Fires that involve flammable gases, such as

Class C

natural gas, hydrogen, propane, butane

Fires that involve combustible metals, such

as sodium, magnesium, and potassium

Class D

Class D

Fires that involve any of the materials found

in Class A and B fires, but with the
introduction of an electrical appliances,
wiring, or other electrically energized
Class E
objects in the vicinity of the fire, with a
resultant electrical shock risk if a conductive
agent is used to control the fire

Class C

Fires involving cooking fats and oils. The

high temperature of the oils when on fire far
exceeds that of other flammable liquids
Class F
making normal extinguishing agents
ineffective.

Class K