There are just a few ways to knock down a fire.  One way is to use water.  Using water is a choice that the firefighter must make.  While dealing with a compartment fire, he must make many choices.  

U.S. Method [as used by FBVFD]

• Direct Attack – The way we've always done it.  Often called "the traditional" way.  This is how most fires are dealt with. Direct Attack uses a stream of water to cool the surfaces that are involved in fire.  The Firefighter points the fire stream at the fire and hits it hard.

• Indirect Attack – We use a fog pattern to create steam when in contact with the hot gases above the fire.  The water stream of fog [usually narrow fog unless making entry} puts water onto extremely hot surfaces to create a large amount mass of steam.  The steam displaces the oxygen in the compartment.  This makes the fire-tetrahedron have one less leg to stand on.  The fire will diminish.  The fire is "dampened down" and the lack of oxygen smothers the fire. When this method is used, strict adherence to team-work is needed.  Another team, besides the attack team, needs to begin horizontal or vertical ventilation.

European Method

• 3-D Water-fog - The Europeans used pulsing or burst water-fog nozzles that knock down the fire.  The gases at the ceiling are cooled, thus taking away one leg of the fire-tetrahedron. This is slightly modified by American Firefighters, also at Fort Blackmore, to reduce flashovers, backdrafts, or other burns by keeping the ceiling cool.

• Mr. Paul Grimwood, long time Training Officer with London's Fire Brigade, says, "No single method of suppression is able to deal with combustion existing both in the fuel and gaseous phases of fire development, with optimum effects. An ‘ideal’ attack on a compartment fire may alternate between a 3D offensive application of water-fog to tackle the gaseous combustion and a direct straight-stream attack to deal with the fuel-phase fire. The use of indirect fog attack should also be considered under certain conditions."