Final answer:
Extinguishing fire by excluding oxygen is known as smothering. Fire smothering involves removing oxygen to prevent combustion, which can be accomplished using foams that spread across the fire. These foams contain fluorinated solutions that effectively create a barrier between the fire and the air.
Step-by-step explanation:
Extinguishing fire by oxygen exclusion is known as smothering. The principle behind smothering a fire is to remove one of the essential components of the fire triangle—oxygen. This can be achieved by covering the fire with a blanket, using sand, or chemicals such as foams. Foams are particularly effective on fires of organic liquids because they form a barrier between the fuel and the air, excluding oxygen and thus preventing the fire from sustaining combustion. Foams often contain chemicals like fluorinated solutions which enable them to spread across the burning surface efficiently.
On a chemical level, agents like fire extinguishers or foams can disrupt the fire triangle, which consists of fuel, heat, and oxygen. For instance, in a fire extinguisher system, chemicals are released that blanket the fire and cut off the oxygen supply, leading to extinguishment. The process of fire extinguishment by directly removing or displacing the oxygen from the environment is vital to controlling and stopping fires, particularly in large-scale industrial or chemical blaze scenarios.