Firefighters Use Flame-Retardant Grenades

[Pun]

Thought this was cool:

No Fire in the Hole!: Firefighters Use Flame-Retardant Grenades

http://www.sciam.com/media/inline/33...4D23C044_1.jpg http://www.sciam.com/media/inline/33...4D23C044_2.jpg

A new grenade-like gadget—designed to quickly extinguish flames in small quarters, thereby limiting injury to victims as well as firefighters—is becoming an important part of firemen's arsenals.

More than 37 fire departments along the U.S. east coast now carry Vancouver-based ARA Safety's FIT-5 (for fire interruption technology). The device, available to firefighters since December, is a means of knocking down or even extinguishing fires in rooms, basements and attics. The FIT-5 (price tag: around $1,300) is a nine-pound (four-kilogram) red disk that resembles a land mine and is deployed like a grenade: A firefighter pulls its cord and tosses the disk into the area engulfed in flames; within seconds the FIT-5 releases a wispy cloud of potassium carbonate, a flame retardant that suppresses combustion and disrupts fire at the molecular level.

The company says the device can fully extinguish a class B (fuel-based) fire in a room 2,100 cubic feet (60 cubic meters) or less and reduce fire temperatures from 1,000 to 300 degrees Fahrenheit (540 to 150 degrees Celsius) in less than 10 seconds. The FIT-5 is also designed to control class A (wood-based) fires enough so that firefighters can douse them with water. Firefighters in New York State and New Jersey have successfully contained three fires (in a room on the third floor of a house and two in basements) with the FIT-5 since it hit the market.

The FIT-5 is designed to be most effective in a contained space—the larger the area, the less effective, which is why it is not a good candidate for squelching, say, wildfires.

Most handheld fire extinguishers sold at hardware stores for home use are pressurized with nitrogen or carbon dioxide to propel powdery potassium bicarbonate, liquid water or a fluorocarbon at a fire. In addition to allowing firefighters to control fires from a safe distance, the FIT-5 could also replace halon fluorocarbons, an effective fire-fighting tool until they were banned in 1994 after it was discovered that they destroy Earth's ozone layer.

Because halon displaces oxygen, it extinguished electrical, grease and other fires that water alone could not, says Robert Kaul, ARA Safety's technical director. When a firefighter approaches a fire and pulls the rip cord located on the side of the FIT-5 device, this generates a spark of heat that leads to a thermal reaction within the FIT-5. Within 10 seconds the container releases a white cloud of potassium carbonate aerosol that expands to fill an enclosure (room, basement, attic). A FIT-5 grenade is unlikely to leak and works when wet because it is not pressurized and has a sealed outer casing that keeps moisture out. In addition, even if the rip cord is not pulled, the device will automatically dispense the when placed in temperatures exceeding 500 degrees F (260 degrees C).

"Once the FIT-5 is done, you're left with potassium carbonate powder, which can be vacuumed or swept clean," says Michael Gardner, ARA Safety's director of marketing.

Of course, potassium carbonate, used in the production of soap and glass, must be handled carefully; it can be dangerous if inhaled (by irritating the respiratory tract and causing coughing and shortness of breath) or swallowed, potentially damaging the gastrointestinal tract and causing nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. The odorless chemical can also severely irritate the eyes or skin if it comes in contact with either.

Andrew Schmidt, chief of Morris County, N.J.'s Jefferson Township Fire Department (about 45 miles northwest of New York City) used a FIT-5 in April to contain a basement fire in the nearby town of West Milford. Because most of the fire departments in the area are volunteer, Schmidt was unable to marshal much of a firefighting squad at 3 P.M., when most of his volunteers were working their day jobs. On arriving at the burning basement, he broke one of the windows and tossed in an FIT-5, which held the flames in check until the fire trucks arrived.

"When you don't have a truck, and you don't have water, you've got to do something," he says, adding that West Milford ended up using less than 200 gallons (750 liters) of water to extinguish a fire that easily could have required 6,000 gallons (22,700 liters) to put out. Schmidt was so impressed that he has become trainer and consultant for ARA Safety.

The company is now exploring developing a larger version of the device and hopes to within the next year offer a fixed system for homes and businesses that could be mounted on a wall or ceiling like a smoke detector and switched on when needed. This would be particularly useful in rooms containing lots of computers or other electronic equipment that would be ruined if water was used to douse the flames.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=...ion-technology

[Ramor]

That's pretty awesome, 1300$ though..but it seems like it's refillable (unless I missed where the explicity said whether it was or not)

[Kaliden]

That is badass.

[killerx]

That's pretty awesome, 1300$ though..but it seems like it's refillable (unless I missed where the explicity said whether it was or not)

That was my question. It would have to be though wouldn't it to be cost effective.

[Rescue]

As a firefighter I’ve got to say that’s pretty impressive, and like the article said for a town that relies on volunteers which are hard to come by during the day this could solve a lot of problems. My only concern is the price tag attached to it. Chances are if you’re in a town that does rely on volunteers you probably don’t have the funds in the budget to have a few of these kicking around.

Do you have a link to the original article? I’m kind of wondering if anyone in my department has heard about this.

Edit: Never mind google is my friend.

[0ni0n]

As a firefighter I’ve got to say that’s pretty impressive, and like the article said for a town that relies on volunteers which are hard to come by during the day this could solve a lot of problems. My only concern is the price tag attached to it. Chances are if you’re in a town that does rely on volunteers you probably don’t have the funds in the budget to have a few of these kicking around.

well hopefully more people utilizing this new technique will substantially reduce the production costs by taking advantage of economies of scale. God bless firefighters.

[Elesirdur]

Gogo Canadian R&D

[Pun]

As a firefighter I’ve got to say that’s pretty impressive, and like the article said for a town that relies on volunteers which are hard to come by during the day this could solve a lot of problems. My only concern is the price tag attached to it. Chances are if you’re in a town that does rely on volunteers you probably don’t have the funds in the budget to have a few of these kicking around.

Do you have a link to the original article? I’m kind of wondering if anyone in my department has heard about this.

Edit: Never mind google is my friend.

Sorry about that, I put the URL under the original article now. Thanks for all you do .

[aurik]

I think the cost is pretty irrelevant: after all, fire damage can be extremely expensive. If you can instead control the fire quickly, you would end up saving lots of money overall.

[Ramor]

I think the cost is pretty irrelevant: after all, fire damage can be extremely expensive. If you can instead control the fire quickly, you would end up saving lots of money overall.

depends on who ends up footing the bill though, if it's a mansion that's burning down somehow I don't think it'd be the FireFighters funds that would be footing that particular bill

[Myst]

my grandfather makes cooler shit. designed a system to save tank operators' lives after a tank buster pierces the control room.

[Fhloston]

well hopefully more people utilizing this new technique will substantially reduce the production costs by taking advantage of economies of scale. God bless firefighters.

I'm sure it will, this should really become common technology for all fire departments across the country.

Like Aurik said though, it's worth it in the end. Especially if it prevents brave firefighters from getting hurt, or worse.

[Shuemue]

I would expect insurance premiums would drop if these were installed in a house. That'd balance the cost some too.

[Elesirdur]

I would expect insurance premiums would drop if these were installed in a house. That'd balance the cost some too.

I highly doubt these would be made available for sale to the general public. In the same way that an average civilian can't easily buy paramilitary gear that police forces use, I would think the manufacturer of this product would have a responsibility to only sell it to professional fire fighting outfits who can properly understand the risks associated with using such a product.

[Kaylia]

disrupts fire at the molecular level.

What?

[SephYuyX]

So they took the idea of "what would happen if a fire extinguisher blew up in a fire" and made it smaller and more expensive? I think this was on myth busters.

[GRT]

Hello to safety and efficiency. Goodbye to job opportunity.

[Boyiee]

As a firefighter I’ve got to say that’s pretty impressive, and like the article said for a town that relies on volunteers which are hard to come by during the day this could solve a lot of problems. My only concern is the price tag attached to it. Chances are if you’re in a town that does rely on volunteers you probably don’t have the funds in the budget to have a few of these kicking around.

Do you have a link to the original article? I’m kind of wondering if anyone in my department has heard about this.

Edit: Never mind google is my friend.

We have volunteers and 1 paid career first responder in our town... and we have a shitload of money. All the stations get new trucks and equipment all the time. I think they wouldn't be interested in this though since the whole point is for them to actually go in and fight the fire since its so much fun and a great adrenaline rush. They wouldn't buy the product, but it is pretty nice.

[Rescue]

I think the cost is pretty irrelevant: after all, fire damage can be extremely expensive. If you can instead control the fire quickly, you would end up saving lots of money overall.

I will agree that the cost is irrelevant, especially when you start comparing it to lives, memories, valuable items and such. You just simply can not put a price on stuff like that. Unfortunately the reality is not all departments have a ton of cash laying around. The department I’m with, we get about 75-80% of our budget from the town. The rest we have to do fundraisers for. We have 2 separate departments in town plus the ambulance. With a population of about 10 thousand the town just simply can’t afford to provide us with 100% of our budget unless they bumped taxes up. We all know how people get when someone mentions raising taxes.

I highly doubt these would be made available for sale to the general public. In the same way that an average civilian can't easily buy paramilitary gear that police forces use, I would think the manufacturer of this product would have a responsibility to only sell it to professional fire fighting outfits who can properly understand the risks associated with using such a product.

Give it a couple of years and these could be common placed just like fire extinguishers. They just need to get the price down.

We have volunteers and 1 paid career first responder in our town... and we have a shitload of money. All the stations get new trucks and equipment all the time. I think they wouldn't be interested in this though since the whole point is for them to actually go in and fight the fire since its so much fun and a great adrenaline rush. They wouldn't buy the product, but it is pretty nice.

That’s great that your town has all that extra money. Want to send some of it my way lol. God knows we could use it, but it goes back to what I was saying to Aurik. While we do love what we do, we hate to see someone lose everything they have worked for. So if this device could save someone’s life or property, then so be it if I lose out on having some fun. At the end of the day ultimately it comes down to the fact that most of us become firefighters because we love the job and want to help people.