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Growth and Speed of a House Fire
The following is a timeline of an actual 2-story house fire as studied by the Nation Fire Protection agency(NFPA). It will show you just how fast fire spreads and why The Lockport Fire Departments average response time of two minutes and 42 seconds is so critical:
• :30 Fire ignites and grows rapidly.
• 1:04 From first flame, fire spreads and smoke begins to fill room.
• 1:35 Smoke layer descends rapidly, temperature exceeds 190°F.
• 1:50 Smoke detector at foot of stairs alarms. Still time to get out.
• 2:30 Temperature above couch over 400°F.
• 2:42 The average time it took the Lockport Fire Department to get to any emergency in 2004.
• 2:48 Smoke pours into other rooms.
• 3:03 Temperature three feet above floor in room of origin is over 500°F.
• 3:20 Upstairs hall filled with smoke - Escape more difficult.
• 3:41 FLASHOVER - Energy in room of origin ignites everything. Temperature is 1400°F.
• 3:50 Two minutes after smoke detectors sounds, 2nd exit is only way out.
• 4:33 Flames just now visible from exterior of house - first evidence of fire from outside.
AT THIS POINT, RESCUE IS VERY UNLIKELY
• 6:00+ Most Niagara County Volunteer Fire Companies and 65% of all fire departments/companies nationwide do not meet the National Fire Protection Agencies standard of a 6 minutes or under response time.
NIAGARA COUNTY FIRE RESPONSE RATES
On time rate Fire Dept. / Co. Fires with a Fires with a Total Building fires
on time response slower response
(6 Minutes or less) (6 minutes or more)
99.14% Lockport Fire Dept 462 4 466
99.08% N.T. Fire Dept. 644 6 650
98.46% Nia Falls Fire Dept 3202 50 3252
80.26% Miller Hose Co. 61 15 76
72.73% Ransomville Co. 16 6 22
58.00% Sanborn Co. 29 21 50
55.79% Lewistown #1 Co. 53 42 95
54.05% Middleport Fire Co. 20 17 37
50.00% Youngstown Co. 17 17 34
50.00% Pekin Fire Co. 10 10 20
49.21% Wendelville Co. 31 32 63
47.92% Wrights Corners Co. 23 25 48
46.15% Nia Active Hose Co. 54 63 117
45.83% Niagara #1 33 39 72
41.18% Hartland Fire Co. 14 20 34
40.43% Terrys Corners Co. 19 28 47
36.36% Adams Fire Co. 8 14 22
31.25% Gasport Chem Hose 25 55 80
31.15% Rapids Fire Co. 19 42 61
22.50% Lewistown #2 Co. 9 31 40
22.40% South Lockport Co. 28 97 125
17.14% Cambria Fire Co. 6 29 35
Data provided by NFIRS, the nationwide statistics can be found here: Boston Globe Special Report
Departments with less than 20 calls are not included, 20 calls must be recorded to make data statistically significant.
Period studied from 1986 thru 2002.
Includes only actual fires, not false alarms, EMS calls, car fires or grass/refuse fires.
The National Fire Protection Agency determined the maximum safe response time to be 6 minutes or less to be considered on time response.
The majority of Fire Departments in the United States report to The National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS).
Out of the 20,756 Fire Departments that report to NFIRS, 11,987 had 20 or more actual fires between 1986 and 2002. The Lockport Fire Department ranked 288 out of 11,987 Fire Departments with a 99.1% response time of under 6 minutes. The National Fire Protection Agency standard is to get to those fires within 6 minutes of the first alarm. Only 35 percent of all departments nationwide meet that response time goal.
The national picture is somewhat brighter when only departments with full-time as opposed to volunteer firefighters are considered. Still, only 58 percent of such departments consistently met the standard.
The average response time by the Lockport Fire Department to any emergency in 2004 was 2.7 minutes.
The average hours of Fire training per LFD Fireman in 2004 was 269 hours.
The average hours of EMS training per LFD Fireman in 2004 was 89 hours.
Lockport Fire Department Incidents 1999-2004
2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999
EMS- 2,425 2,410 2,325 2,260 2,202 2.240
FIRES- 83 105 112 126 101 123
TOTAL- 2,961 2,979 2,953 2,890 2,852 2,895
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