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NFA Formula vs. Iowa Formula?
Why is the Iowa formula still around? It's much eaiser to use the NFA formula and you get more water then the Iowa formula. Also how many departments really use any of these formula's and why?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Kimberly A Bownas on
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I took Pump Operators way back when and I have to say, that when it came to the formulas for figuring out how much water with this pressure and so on, I got so lost. I can run a pump and I will say that I am rusty on that cause I never got the opportunity to get qualified on any of our engines. I don't think any of our pump operators use the formulas at all. They get the water and they maintain the pressures and that is just how they do it. I will have to ask my Deputy Chief if when he is the pump operator what he does. It would be very interesting to see what he says. Interesting discussion T.J.
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Permalink Reply by Dean on
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I assume your talking about the water flow formulas. I'm a Fire & Safety Engineering Tech student at Eastern Kentucky University and am taking a Firefighting Strategy, Tactics, and Command class. In that class we are taught the NFA formula.
Fire Flow = {[Length x Width] / 3 x number of floors involved} x % of involvement of original fire area
We have done several scenarios in class using it and it seems to be easy to make quick calculations without needing paper and a pencil and/or a calculator.
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Permalink Reply by Jenny Holderby on
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Sorry T.J., I'm not familiar with teh Iowa formula. I like the Length x width x height x envolvement. By using this quick formula you can figure out your flow AND decide how much time you can fight fire with the water you have on hand so you can make water available. If the FFlow is a huge number, you will pretty well know that you will need mutual aid (at least tankers) and how many to call for.
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