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A fire is a combustion reaction, where oxygen reacts with a fuel. This is known as oxidation. For a fire to start and be sustained, four different components are needed, Heat, Fuel, Oxygen and a chemical chain reaction.

Heat is needed to take a material or fuel past its ignition point. The ignition point of a material is the point at which it will undergo a combustion reaction. The fuel is what will undergo the oxidation reaction. For the fuel to be able to oxidize, it needs a constant supply of oxygen. The last component needed is a chemical chain reaction. When burning Methane, the chemical reaction is

CH4 + 2O2 = CO2 + 2H2O

The breaking of CH4 and 2O2 bonds liberates enough heat to break surrounding CH4 and 2O2 bonds. This is known as a chemical chain reaction, as one bond breaking leads to other bonds breaking and so on.

If for whatever reason, any one of these components is removed, a fire cannot be started and sustained.

To take a fuel past its ignition point, a source of ignition is needed. A source of ignition is simply something that can take a material above a critical value (ignition point) to allow the material to combust.

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