It’s a basic representation of the ingredients needed more most fire to start and keep burning.

The three sides represent:

All three elements are essential for a fire to continue burning and need to be in place in sufficient quantity for a chain reaction to start and for the fire to continue burning.

Remove one and you can prevent or extinguish fire.

In fact all methods of putting out a fire revolve around lowering or removing one of these three.

For example the fire hoses used at many house fires work by lowering the temperature to a point where the fire can no longer sustain itself.

By contrast a foam extinguisher works by coating the fuel and cutting off it’s oxygen supply.

Knowing about the fire triangle is essential in understanding how fire works and how to make the best use of any means at your disposal to put it out. While the triangle doesn’t cover every situation, it is still useful as it highlight what you can do to protect against fire.

Learn more about Fire Safety

Understanding how fire works and keeps burning is an essential skill of emergency management. However it is only the beginning. As well as managing the fire itself, it is important to manage the people affected by the fire in a safe manner.

In Australia, the best way to learn these skill is by attending a training course focused on fire response, such as:

• Fire Warden Training
• Fire Extinguisher Training