Fire Triangle
Definition
The three components needed for combustion: fuel, heat and oxygen. Remove any one and the fire stops.
- Components
- Fuel, heat, oxygen
- Principle
- Removing any one component stops the fire
- Use
- Basic model for combustion and suppression
Common questions
How is the fire triangle used practically in firefighting or fire suppression?+
Suppression methods each target one leg of the triangle, such as water cooling to remove heat, foam smothering to cut off oxygen, or removing fuel load, so identifying which leg a method attacks explains why it works or fails in a given fire.
Is the fire triangle still considered a complete model of combustion?+
It is a simplified teaching model; the fuller fire tetrahedron adds the uninterrupted chemical chain reaction as a fourth element, which matters for suppressants like some dry chemicals that interrupt the reaction rather than removing fuel, heat, or oxygen.
Related terms
- Backdraft
- A deflagration event triggered when air is suddenly admitted to a compartment where a fire has been oxygen-depleted but has continued to...
- Fire Point
- Slightly above flash point, the temperature at which sustained combustion begins after ignition.
- Fire Tetrahedron
- The model of sustained combustion requiring four concurrent elements: fuel, oxidiser, heat, and an uninhibited radical chain reaction. Replacing the older fire...
- Flash Point
- Lowest temperature at which a liquid gives off enough vapour to form an ignitable mixture in air, but the vapour does not...
- Flashover
- The near-simultaneous ignition of all exposed combustible surfaces in a compartment, occurring when the upper gas layer reaches approximately 600°C and radiative...
- Ignition Temperature
- Minimum temperature at which a substance ignites spontaneously without an external flame or spark. For petrol about 280 degrees Celsius; for paper...
- NFPA 921
- US National Fire Protection Association Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations. The internationally accepted methodology Indian fire investigators and SFSL fire divisions...
- V-Pattern
- A V-shaped area of heat and smoke damage on a vertical surface, produced by the upward cone of the fire plume; the...