Last night, Keystone Valley firefighters attended the classroom portion of flashover training held at the Chester County Public Safety Training campus in South Coatesville.

The course was taught by Instructor John Kobel.

The practical portion of the course using a flashover simulator will be on July 24th.

According to Fire Engineering: Flashover by definition is “the sudden involvement of a room or an area in flames from floor to ceiling caused by thermal radiation feedback.”

Thermal radiation feedback is the energy of the fire being radiated back to the contents of the room from the walls, floor, and ceiling. This radiation of energy to the contents of the room will raise ALL the contents to their ignition temperature. When the contents of the room suddenly and simultaneously ignite, this is flashover. This simply means that flashover is a temperature-driven event. It requires that the fire’s energy be radiated back to the contents to produce a rapid rise in temperature and simultaneous ignition. Flashover indicates that the fire has grown to the fully developed stage.