Aircraft Firefighting Tactics and Strategy
Strategy is deciding what the fire is allowed to do; tactics are how you make that happen. This domain tests the ordering of priorities and matching agent and stream to the fire you actually have.
Priorities and phases
Rescue first, then fire control and exposure protection, then property and environment. RECEO-VS is a workable checklist: Rescue, Exposures, Confinement, Extinguishment, Overhaul, Ventilation, Salvage. Post-crash fire grows fast - survivability inside the cabin is measured in a very few minutes - so the initial turret application is a rescue tool, not a firefighting formality.
Foam strategy on a fuel fire
Attack from upwind. Place the stream so foam banks off the ground and the fuselage, building a path for the rescue team and pushing flame away from exits. Put a blanket on the pool before you commit interior crews, and never let a handline's straight stream dig into the pool.
Interior and component fires
Cabin fires are usually ventilation-limited. Cool the overhead and upper surfaces with short fog pulses, ventilate to release hot gas and improve visibility, and sweep seat rows with a thermal imager. For engine and APU fires, apply agent into the cowling openings and around the nacelle; expect re-ignition from hot metal. For wheel and brake fires, apply fog from fore or aft of the axle and expect a tire to burst.
Worked example. A crashed transport with fire under the left wing root and survivors at the right overwing exit. Reasoning: the foam path goes to the right exit, not the burning wing; the turret holds fire away from that side while a handline team opens the exit.
Traps. Applying foam from downwind; abandoning the foam blanket to cool hot metal with water; entering without ventilation; forgetting overhaul and re-ignition watch.