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Odor of Smoke
What begins
as a slight odor of smoke in a building can instantly turn into a toxic black
cloud of smoke that fills up a room, so firefighters searching any type of fire
must be equipped with masks. But most of the time we are called to find the
location of a fire, which is hidden and is creating a very slight odor of smoke
inside a building. These fires are small and require patience and detective work
to find a smoldering spark or heat source. A search for a so-called odor-of
smoke requires mask-equipped firefighters to use their sense of smell in order
to locate this small fire.
For example,
when search begins, we proceed toward the direction where the odor of smoke
becomes strongest. Sometimes, this leads nowhere. Odors of smoke disappear and
shift with air movement. At most of these fires heading toward the strongest
smell of smoke leads directly to the fire origin. Experienced firefighters have
also learned to analyze smoke by its particular odor and then guess its
location.
Food
burning on a stove and a mattress fire and burning paint and wood are
well-known smells. When the odor of smoke is paper, check the wastebaskets
beneath the desks. An acrid-type smoke will lead us to fluorescent light bulb
fixtures and a possible burned out electrical ballast. A flickering or
burned-out bulb might confirm this. This saves time searching. Electric wire
insulation burning type smoke will lead us to check above a dropped ceiling, in
a space where wiring exists. A sweet smell of burning garbage would lead us to
the kitchen refuse bin, or the freight elevator lobby where, nightly, bags of
garbage are temporarily stored. A smell of burning rope could indicate a
smoldering mop or dust rag inside a maintenance closet is the source of smoke. A
coffeepot left on a heated burner of a coffee-making machine can cause a smoke
detector in a ceiling above to activate an alarm. Check to see whether the
coffee maker is shut off. The odor of burning paint would suggest a look into a
graphic design office for spray- and paint-stained rags. In the absence of a
large fire, the slight smell of burning wood smoke might require a plant box
filled with wood chips to be examined for a discarded cigarette or overheated
wood chip from a decorative spotlight used to highlight the foliage.
A discarded-lighted cigarette
outside the store on the sidewalk created a rare and unusual cause of an odor of
hydrocarbon oil smoke inside a ground floor store. Wind blew the cigarette into
a small crack next to the building. This space between the building foundation
and the sidewalk was caulked with an asphalt expansion joint. The smoldering
asphalt smoke drifted into the store. Another rare origin of smoldering inside a
high-rise building was due to grease burning on elevator hoist rails and cables.
The elevator parts were recently greased and overheated due to heavy elevator
use one morning. An oil odor of smoke drifted throughout the elevator lobby on
several floors. The above causes of an odor-of smoke are unusual and require
time, patience and detective-like work to discover. One important tool in the
fire service, which has had great success in locating a hidden fire behind a
wall or in a electric light fixture, is the thermal imaging camera. This tool
detects heat sources, behind walls and ceilings, and in smoke. It reduces
property damage by pinpointing a source of heat hidden behind or inside an
object and eliminating necessity of breaking open walls, ceilings and doors.
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