It is critical for fire protection design engineers to understand the dynamics of fire and fire behavior. In this section, you should address the areas listed below.

• Briefly describe the stages of fire from the ignition phase through decay.
• Discuss heat, fuel, oxygen, and a chemical chain reaction (fire tetrahedron) and how it produces flaming (visible fire).
• Summarize the benefits of fire protection systems in different types of structures based on fire behavior.