🔍 Key Concepts

• Fire behavior in enclosed spaces aboard vessels • Effects of ventilation on fire growth and spread • Interaction between extinguishing agents (like CO₂, foam, water fog) and oxygen supply

💭 Think About

• Think about what happens to a fire when fresh air (oxygen) is introduced into a hot, enclosed space. Does that usually make the fire weaker or stronger? • For each option, ask: Would this situation be safer with the compartment kept closed and sealed, or opened up and ventilated? Why? • Consider when the goal is to smother or starve a fire of oxygen versus when the goal is to clear heat and smoke for firefighter access.

✅ Before You Answer

• For each choice, decide whether opening the space would feed the fire with oxygen or reduce the fire’s intensity. • Think about fixed fire-extinguishing systems (like CO₂ flooding): do they work best in a tight, closed compartment or in a ventilated space? • Ask whether the main priority is controlling the fire or immediate firefighter comfort, and which comes first in safe shipboard firefighting doctrine.