The fire triangle is a
diagram/
concept which shows the relations of the
elements which
fire requires to
burn. The
three things necessary for a fire are:
Fuel,
Oxygen, and
Heat. If one of these elements is lacking there will be no fire.
A nifty diagram of the fire triangle can be seen here: http://www.rocknet.net.au/~sollittr/ohs/Fire_exting/fe_triang.html
or if you have a problem with URLs in WUs take a piece of paper (or use Paint or similar programs if you want to save paper), draw an equilateral triangle on it, then write the following words on the sides: 'FUEL,' 'OXYGEN,' and 'HEAT' with one word per side.
This should not be considered a cut-n-paste node because this is something which was introduced to me as a topic in my
prescribed burn training.
AFAIK, most people who don't light or put out fires don't know there is a named concept for the above common-sense relations. Having the fire triangle
inculcated into every brain cell is important because when you're getting cooked like a
rotisserie chicken you need to rely more on training and instinct than
your panicked little brain.