Large fires - selection criteria
Research on the organization of large fire extinguishing in operational fire departments is carried out on an ongoing basis in order to improve the level of combat readiness. The criteria for selecting large fires are determined by the number of people affected and the amount of material damage, but a large number of fires that are not of interest to the study fall into the category of large fires based on formal criteria. Taking into account wide variety of operating conditions of fire departments in the Russian Federation, it is problematic to determine an acceptable criterion for classifying fires as large ones. For operational divisions, the allocation of large fires from among others is carried out in order to determine the most difficult cases from the point of view of fire tactics, to identify positive experience for further use. For a long period of firefighting history there have been preserved a large number of fire descriptions, which gradually formed the methodology of scientific research of fires. As far as it was possible to trace the development of methods for studying large fires, the earliest sources were able to find Instructions for the study of fires, developed jointly by employees of the Main Fire Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR and VNIIPO. The analysis of this Instruction and subsequent normative documents allowed us to trace the evolution of fire research methods in the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation over a period of 70 years. The study of historical experience allows not to repeat old mistakes. Therefore, one of the foundations for fire service development has always been the study of experience. In order to maximize the use of experience, it is desirable to include in the research circle as many fires as possible, and ideally all fires, which in real conditions is not always possible for many reasons. In this case, it is advisable to use a method similar to the Pareto Principle, when the study of a relatively small number of fires allows to make useful conclusions applicable to the entire population. But in practice, it is still physically impossible to investigate more than 120-150 cases of fires in order to effectively organize the entire process from the collection and processing the materials to study and implementation of relevant innovations in the fire departments of the Russian Federation. The article discusses the main problematic issues and suggests a possible way to solve them.