IFF Issue 15

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

FIRE FIGHTERI N T E R N A T I O N A L

FIRE FIGHTER

An MDM PUBLICATIONIssue 15 – August 2007


Indianapolis7th–12th April 20088th–12th December 2007

Official International Media Partner

Reporting Worldwide to Municipal, Industrial and Fire Training Professionals

www.mdmpublishing.com

IFF15 Front Cover August 27/7/07 1:39 PM Page 1

ThunderStorm® ATC is the result of an exhaustive mission to create a high-performance foam that overcomes industrial fires with authorityand consistency.

UL 162 listed and API rated top in its field, ThunderStorm® out performs its competitors in the most important test of all ... in the field. With hundreds of extinguishments of hydrocarbon and polar solvent related fires ThunderStorm® ATC is the most potent blend of foam available today.

With safety, infrastructure, and production on the line ThunderStorm® assures quick knockdown, reliable extinguish-ment, and long lasting vapor suppression for fires in-depth — including ships, pipelines, storage tanks, barges, subterraneanfires, and more.

Available in “1 x 3”, “3 x 3”, “3 x 6”, and freeze protected blends.

You’re up for the challenge... how about your foam?

ThunderStorm® ATC is the only foam chemically designedto perform as a 1% foam on hydrocarbons in-depth.

WILLIAMSFire & Hazard Control, Inc®

Find your global representative withour “Global Contacts” link at:

www.williamsfire.com

24 Hour Emergency

409-727-2347281-999-0276

INTERNATIONAL FIRE FIGHTER 1

Front Cover Picture: courtesy of Williams Fire & Hazard Control Inc.

PublishersDavid Staddon & Mark Seton

Sales and Editorial ManagerMark Bathard

Contributing EditorsCaroline Southcombe, Dr CliffordJones, Chris Martin, Keith Klassen,Jack Kusters, Richard Verhoef,Joseph A Wright, John Eklund,Brent Gaspard, Paul Furler, PeterSandel, Paul Gibson, Gerd Pearson

IFF is published quarterly by:MDM Publishing Ltd The Abbey Manor Business Centre,The Abbey, Preston Road, Yeovil, Somerset BA20 2ENTel: +44 (0) 1935 426 428Fax: +44 (0) 1935 426 926 Email: [email protected]: www.mdmpublishing.com

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DISCLAIMER:The views and opinions expressed inINTERNATIONAL FIRE FIGHTER are notnecessarily those of MDM Publishing Ltd.The magazine and publishers are in noway responsible or legally liable for anyerrors or anomalies made within theeditorial by our authors. All articles areprotected by copyright and writtenpermission must be sought from thepublishers for reprinting or any form ofduplication of any of the magazinescontent. Any queries should be addressedin writing to the publishers.

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FIRE FIGHTER







August 2007 Issue 15

83-87

5-18 News &Profiles

MUNICIPAL SECTION

21-26 Quick FireKnockdown In TheModern FireEnvironment

29-33 The Care &Feeding of your CAFS

35-38 HydraulicRescue Tools

41-44 High VolumePumping, The HytransPumping System

INDUSTRIAL

47-54 New ARFFTechnology, ATechnical Approach ToImproving the AircraftRescue & FireFighting ServicesResponse

57-58 A ReflectionOn ChemicalProtective Suits FromThe Standards PointOf View

61-63 Taking aModular Approach toSCBA

65-68 Foamperformance andPerformance Foam

TRAINING

71-74 MerseysideFire & RescueServices WaterRescue Unit

77-80 ColombianFire OfficersBreathing Apparatus& Fire BehaviourTraining In Devon

83-87 VirtualTraining, The RealisticOption For Training OfCountries

88 Advertisers’Index

61-63

47-54

41-44

29-33

21-26

77-80

71-74

Contents

P. 1 Contents 27/7/07 12:39 pm Page 1

MDM dps IFF15 24/7/07 10:13 AM Page 2

MDM dps IFF15 24/7/07 10:13 AM Page 3

Under the Patronage ofH.E. Sheikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa

Minister of the Interior

Bahrain International Exhibition CentreManama, Kingdom of Bahrain9-13 December 2007

Owned and produced by: Co-hosted by: Co-organised by: Flagship Media Sponsor:

Supporting Organizations:

TRAINING • CONFERENCE • EXHIBITION

Serving the Middle East fire industry

Platinum Sponsor: Official InternationalMedia Partner:

www.fdicbahrain.com

Whether saving the lives of civilians in danger, or keeping members of the firefighting team alive as they strive to get a dangerous situation under control – saving lives is the most important consideration.

The Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC Bahrain) helps fire-fighters in the Middle East, at all levels, save lives in three key areas: experience, knowledge and equipment.

FDIC Bahrain is the leading exhibition and conference for fire-fighters and fire industry professionals in the Middle East:

• The exhibition will showcase the latest equipment, products and services that enable the fire professionals do their job.

• The conference provides classroom based learning that gives fire-fighters the most up-to date knowledge on how to fight fires

Increase your skills and knowledge and learn from an international team of experts at FDIC Bahrain 2007.

H.O.T. modules and Workshop session places are limited – Register Early!

Saving lives is what fire fighting is all about...

For further information and booking details please visit www.fdicbahrain.com

Ministry of the Interior

Gold Sponsor: Silver Sponsor: LocalMedia Partner:

Saving lives in the Middle East

Learn new techniques Develop your knowledge Enhance your skills

“Never before has the region witnessed an experience that offered the Fire Industry

hands-on training, workshops, conference and exhibition - all at one event, over one week.”

Bronze Sponsor:

712_FDIC07_FP_security_ad.indd 1 24/7/07 15:33:52

The New York State Association of FireChiefs conducted two days of intensefirefighter “Hands-On Training” using aKidde Mobile FireTrainer® ML-1000 live fire training system.

The training, held at the annual FIREconference in Lake George, New York,imparts vital knowledge and skills uponfirefighters of New York State. Over 75 livefire training exercises were performed.

In support of the event, Kidde FireTrainers and the Southside Fire Companyarranged to have the Mobile FireTrainer®

present. The 48-ft long, 2-story trainingtrailer exposes firefighters to the intenseheat, flames smoke and chaos of a real fireemergency. However, unlike a realemergency, these computer-controlled,propane fueled fires can be started andextinguished by an instructor at the touchof a button, ensuring trainee safety.

The trailer has specialized features, suchas a pitched roof, a 2nd floor room, astaircase, doors, windows, a forced entrydoor, and repositionable interior walls tosimulate features found in a typical houseor building fire. For added realism, thetrainer’s interactive sound system canreplicate sounds like an explosion noise ora victim’s call for help.

The Southside Fire Company in Riverside,PA recently purchased the ML-1000 usingfederal funding from the 2006 Assistanceto Firefighters Grant program. The trainerwas then loaned to the NY State Fire Chief’s

Association for their training.Kidde Fire Trainers, Inc. is the world’s

leading supplier of live fire training systemsand centers to aviation, municipal andmilitary fire departments and academiesworldwide.

Kidde Fire Trainers is part of UTC Fire &Security, which provides fire safety andsecurity solutions to more than one millioncustomers around the world.Headquartered in Connecticut, UTC Fire &

Security is a business unit of UnitedTechnologies Corp., which provides hightechnology products and services to thebuilding and aerospace industriesworldwide. More information can befound at www.utcfireandsecurity.com.

For further information contact:Louis Orotelli, Int’l Marketing ManagerTel: +1 201-794-0200 ext. 210Email: [email protected]


NEWS

Kidde Mobile FireTrainer® Lightsup the 2007 NY Chiefs Conference

TNT announces their new line of AutoExtrication Spreaders; the SL-32 is thesecond spreader available in thisseries. This new spreaderprovides the user with theforces they need in asuper light package.Weighing in at amere 38.5 lbs(17.5 kg) thisspreader isthe lightest in itsclass, a reduction of 31% from thecomparable S-100 series spreader. Themaximum opening is 32 in. (813 mm) atthe tips where there is a maximum spreadforce of 29,450 lbs (131.1 kN). This toolmeasures 31.9 in. (810.3 mm) in length,7.0 in. (177.8 mm) in height and 13.2 in.(336.6 mm) in width. The SL-32 spreaderis well balanced for ease of operation andoffers the true variable speed control(TVSC), as well as a wrap around D-

handle. As with all TNT products, thisspreader is covered by a comprehensivelifetime warranty and service from anextensive customer service network.

For more information, please contact:TNT Rescue SystemsTel: +1 920 474 4101Fax: +920 474 4477Email: [email protected]: www.tntrescue.com

New Super Light Spreader fromTNT Rescue Systems, Inc.

News P. 5, 6, 8, 13, 18 27/7/07 1:30 PM Page 5

AKRON BRASS announced today the introduction of two key new industrial firefightingproducts at the 2007 National Safety Conference of the National Petrochemical andRefiners Association.

For industrial fixed site applications, Akron unveiled their new Style 3530 ElevatedManual Monitor. Its unique design features the most compact, simple, and efficientelevated monitor on the market today. Most importantly, all this is achieved withoutcompromising the traditional superior performance of Akron Brass products.

Made with corrosion resistant materials throughout, the new 3350 is available in 10-,15-, and 20-ft heights. With a flow rate up to 750 gpm, it features an optimized nozzledesign with trouble-free pattern actuation, an integral stream shaper, and excellent reach(235 ft at 750 gpm). For rugged reliability, it has a maintenance free rotation joint designand includes a 5-year warranty as standard.

Next, Akron Brass introduced their new generation Style 3528 OmegaXP monitor. Building upon a successful global legacy with their Omega,

Akron has made enhancements to update this workhorse product. For marine and industrial environments, the Omega XP has durable brass construction for

corrosion resistance and

cast-in turning vanes for moreefficient flow (maximum flow is1250 gpm). One leading change is anenhanced design for less tip weightwhich translates to lower handle

operating force. Additionally, a uniquelocking mechanism provides the means to

hold the desired monitor position. A 5-yearwarranty is standard with new 3528

Omega XP as well.

For more information about any of thenew Akron Brass products, call your

local authorized Akron Brass IndustrialDistributor or the Akron Brass Customer

Service Department at 1-800-228-1161

6 INTERNATIONAL FIRE FIGHTER

NEWS

Akron Brass IntroducesKey Industrial FirefightingProducts

Special systemsavailable inGermany forseparation ofoil/watermixtures4th INTERCON inHamburg from 13 to15 September 2007Increases in shipping traffic bring with them agreater risk of oil tanker accidents causingmajor environmental damage. The fire servicesand THW (Technisches Hilfswerk, i.e. GermanFederal Agency for Technical Relief) now havefacilities to separate oil/water mixtures, with aspecial separating system (SEPCON), inreadiness at the German coasts and rivers.Where necessary, operations can also beconducted in neighbouring countries. A total offour mobile systems are maintained – systemsthat are unique in Europe, as underlined byGerhard Plickert of the Hamburg Fire Brigade inadvance of the 4th International Emergency andRescue Congress and Exhibition (INTERCON).INTERCON will be held at the CCH CongressCenter Hamburg in Germany from 13 to15 September 2007, with expected attendanceof more than 1,000 participants.

The SEPCON is capable of separating anyoil/water mixtures or oil-contaminated wastewaters by purely mechanical methods, using adirect flow-through method – i.e. without theneed for a long dwell time in the system, andwithout the addition of chemicals. It makes useof a number of physical effects, such asgravitation. The system can be operated at awater temperature of 0°C to 30°C and an airtemperature of –5°C to 40°C. With a meanoil/water throughput rate of 40m2/h, the SEPCONachieves separation levels of 99.999% outputwater purity according to DIN 1999, Part 3.

New strategies in combating oil spillages areamong the key issues at the 4th INTERCON inHamburg. Other critical issues on the agendainclude current developments in disastermanagement, following the terrorist attacks inLondon, challenges from flood risks, and newexperience in risk analysis for large events,particularly in the light of experience gatheredat the Football World Cup 2006. Experts fromacademia and research, from disaster protectionservices, fire brigades, rescue and healthservices, and from politics, business and publicadministration will discuss new insights indisaster protection and emergency medicine,and develop joint strategies for better responseto the challenges of the future. The 1stInternational Conference on Pastoral Care andCrisis Intervention will be held concurrently.

Further conference information and thecomplete conference programme areavailable at the website:www.internationaler-kongress.de

News P. 5, 6, 8, 13, 18 27/7/07 1:31 PM Page 6


PROFILE

Fire gloves from Southcombe Brothers are madefrom PYROHIDE® – a soft, buttery leather thatgives complete protection against fire, acids,

alkalis and water. This revolutionary leather,together with top-end design and construction,means that Southcombe Brothers have becomemajor players in the international protective glovemarket.

From humble beginnings in the 1840’s to theforefront of technical glove construction today,Southcombe Brothers has remained true to itslocal West Country roots. A family-run business,managing director David Southcombe is the 5thgeneration of Southcombes to take the helm.Despite the slow decline of British manufacturing,Southcombe Brothers still manages to employmany local people in its Somerset tannery,machine rooms and warehouse. “We startedmaking gloves for the fire services in 1996, at thelaunch of the EN659 standard,” says DavidSouthcombe. “Since then we have worked hand-in-hand with the fire service, military and police todevelop and perfect our glove ranges.”

But it was the invention and development ofPYROHIDE® fire-resistant leather that broughttheir fire gloves firmly into the twenty-first century.The combination of PYROHIDE® and premium,high-end materials such as Kevlar®, Nomex® andCrosstech® membranes meant that the gloveswere snapped up. Southcombe Brothers nowsupply 40 of the 60 brigades in the UK with theirstructural fire-fighting glove. “In each case, everyfire-fighter who used these gloves, loved them,”says Ian Moses, PPE Manager, Grampian FireBrigade. “The glove fitted beautifully, the qualitywas excellent, they were able to handle equipmentwith ease, keep the glove clean without theleather drying out and getting stiff and moreimportantly, the protection offered was superb.And because of the quality of materials used inthe Firemaster Ultra®, the whole life cost of theglove has been extended. We ended up buyingthe Firemaster Ultra® NFPA compliant structuralfire-fighting glove, which we would deem to bethe best glove currently available in the worldtoday.”

PYROHIDE® was invented while Southcombe

Brothers were developing gloves to extremely highstandards for the British Military. Most water-resistant leathers have a coating painted on, whichgives a waxy, stiff finish and can also disguise poorquality leather. PYROHIDE® has the technologyadded at the tanning stage which ensures theleather stays in its most natural state. It is the firstand best quality leather, soft and buttery, but withamazing protective qualities. ‘‘Having our owntannery means that we have complete control overthe quality of our leather from raw material to end product,” says David Southcombe. “It meansthat we can integrate the technology into theleather itself rather than simply coating the endproduct. PYROHIDE® is an aniline leather in itsmost natural state, and therefore, unlike coatedleather stays tactile and dextrous. I rememberwhen I first saw our tannery manager testing the leather with concentrated sulphuric acid. The droplet sat on the surface of our PYROHIDE®

and didn’t even make a mark! We knew then that we had developed something extremelyexciting.”

Travelling abroad and exhibiting at major showsabroad has led to Southcombe Brothers positiveinternational profile. Working with internationalclients has become a major part of their businessand one that Jason Dutfield, their recentlyappointed sales manager, has plenty of experiencein. “Exhibiting at shows in America and theMiddle East has been invaluable in widening ourclient base,” said Jason. “Nothing beats that face-to-face contact for securing orders!” SouthcombeBrothers will be exhibiting at Fire Rescue Inter-national, Atlanta, USA in August and are alsolooking forward to FDIC Bahrain at the beginningof December.

At this exciting time in the protective glovemarket, Southcombe Brothers are leading the way. IFF

SouthcombeBrothers – fromtradition toinnovationBuilding on their unique blend of expertise, experience and market knowledge,Southcombe Brothers Ltd goes from strength to strength in the technical glovemarket.

See more about PYROHIDE®,the FireMaster range of firegloves and other technicalglove developments atwww.southcombe.com

P. 7 Southcombe Profile 27/7/07 12:52 pm Page 7

Wherever there is a hazard, such as chemicals, toxic substances,solvents or dust, there is a risk of an accident, no matter howstrictly a company adheres to stringent health & safety measures.

Emergency de-contamination units such as showers, eye or facewashes, are there for the accidents that employers hope will never happen.What looks to be a low risk environment can give rise to the unexpected –whether by something unpredictable such as a dust or substanceexplosion, or by a lack of care and attention to safety by staff.

The first few minutes immediately after an accident can be vital forreducing the level of injury. Any contaminants in the eyes or on the skinrequire swift and immediate removal, and being able to take a skin or facewash straight to the victim, rather than waiting for an ambulance to arrive,is critical.

Todays’ emergency decontamination solutions come in various forms,and there is actually no excuse for being unable to source the rightsolution.

Allen Yates, director of SHOWERS & EYEBATHS SERVICES LTD, explains:“There are all sorts of considerations youneed to take into account when choosing theright decontamination solution for yourbusiness. It doesn’t have to be expensive,since much of the equipment needed can beportable, moved quickly from one area of theworkplace to another, and is designed to beextremely low maintenance. It’s worth takingthe time to get the right unit for the task.

“If you have a working environmentwhere there is a possibility of getting

covered with a substantial amount of contaminant, then you will need ashower facility. However, where the spillage is likely to be small, you wouldprobably just need a smaller solution for washing out eyes or a small patchof skin.

“Having easy, fast access to an eye wash can be a problem if theenvironment in which you are in does not allow for a permanent, plumbedin piece of kit. For this, a facility such as the E250 self-contained PortableEye & Face wash, which can be quickly and easily carried into action assoon as required, should be considered. The 18 litre cylinder of stainlesssteel has a trigger operation with dust cover, and 1.5 metre flexiblestainless steel hose allowing contaminants to be rinsed from any bodypart. Alternatively, a trolley version with twin cylinders (Model GPW3) isavailable, in which the waste water is collected in the underneath of theunit and easily disposed of.

“A portable shower, for example the GPSS3, cantake just 60 seconds to be ready for use and folddown to the size of a small case. Storage of theshower in small workplaces becomes easy and costeffective. However, when you choose your showerunit, think practically. If you have a free standingshower facility that dumps a whole load of waterstraight onto a floor where others are working, youcould end up with more injuries. A unit that cancontain the water would therefore be necessary.

“It may be critical in certain workplaces that theground or surface can be rinsed quickly. A retractablehose reel (model CW100) will enable you to washeither the victim or the ground, or even both.Lightweight, and with a fully automatic rewind, thehose reel is easy to install and virtually maintenancefree. We also manufacture a cabinet with heater toprotect the hose reel from freezing if installed outside.”

As a guide, here are a few points to consider when weighing up whatfacility, or facilities, you may need:

Identify the hazard and the seriousness of the risk Will you need a shower facility or just an eye wash? What is the size of the workplace, and how many workers areemployed? Do people tend to move around a lot? If so, portability will beimportant. Can the water drain into the ground or will it need to be contained? Will the water supply be uninterrupted or intermittent? This is animportant consideration to determine the most suitable type of shower. What are the physical constraints i.e. how much space do you have onwhich to attach or store a unit, and could it be obstructed at any time?

Showers & Eyebaths Services Ltd customer services can becontacted on 01744 889677


NEWS

Accidents do happen

Allen Yates

News P. 5, 6, 8, 13, 18 27/7/07 1:31 PM Page 8


VIEWPOINT

Russia has in excess of 157 billion tonne ofrecoverable coal. Her current annual produc-tion is about 260 million tonne, about equiva-

lent to that of Australia but well behind thatproduced annually by China, by India or by theUSA. A low production rate does not necessarilysignify that anything is amiss. In the UK, whichonce produced almost as much coal per annum as the US, annual output is now only about 35 million tonne per year. This followed areasoned decision to cut back heavily on coalproduction in the 1980s and consequent closureof many mines (some of which are now beingevaluated for their coal bed methane potential).

In pre-Perestroika Russia miners were highlypaid and a miner could expect to earn more thana qualified school teacher. That gave the Russiancoal miners under the former regime a certainsense of privilege which alas their descendants inthe 21st Century do not share. The currentsituation is that Russia positively needs energyfrom coal, and to that end received a loan fromthe World Bank in 1996 to modernise her coalmining industry. There is evidence that the money so made available has not been used to fulladvantage and even that some of it was not spent on the mining industry at all but wasmisappropriated.

Even more serious are accounts one reads ofemployment conditions in the Russian coal miningindustry, for example wages in arrears for threeyears. In Siberian coal mining towns miners’ fami-lies often have to live in shacks believed to havebeen built during the Stalin era. Most such shackshave an associated vegetable plot and very often it is only the produce from these, especially

potatoes, which have enabled miners and theirfamilies not to succumb totally through lack offood. Non-payment of miners’ wages has hadknock-on effects on shops and small businesseswhich have had to close down. Over the last fewyears hundreds of thousands of Russian minershave lost their jobs. The unions are badly organ-ised and there is little confidence in them amongstthe miners.

As was the case with miners in those parts ofthe US where ‘company towns’ once operated,the life of a miner in present-day Russia is often apitiful one in which exploitation adds to the inher-ent dangers and unattractiveness of the work. Thesame could be said of China, a major producer ofcoal as already noted. The catalogue of seriousaccidents in the coal mines of China in recentyears has aroused indignation internationally. Yet China, like Russia, badly needs energy fordevelopment.

Reference1. Jones, J. C., ‘China coal mine fires’, InternationalFire Fighter, November 2005, p. 30.

IFF

Recentdifficulties inthe Russiancoal miningindustryThis piece is being written on 24th May 2007, when the BBC News web siterecords that at a coal mine in Siberia there has been an explosion claiming over70 lives. Such accidents are happening by the month in that part of the world asthey are in China. Discussions of such accidents on the Chinese scene weremade in a fairly recent contribution to this journal.1 The present article willexamine briefly the background to the Russian coal industry and identify factorswhich have led not only to poor safety standards but also to extreme socialdifficulties in mining communities.By J. C. Jones

Department ofEngineeringUniversity of Aberdeen [email protected]

Even more serious are

accounts one reads of

employment conditions in the

Russian coal mining industry,

for example wages in arrears

for three years.

P. 9 Coal Explosion Viewpoint 27/7/07 12:55 pm Page 9


PROFILE

For more information aboutthe ISG Talisman K-1000contact:ISG Thermal Systems LtdIntegrated HouseRepton CourtRepton CloseBasildonEssex SS13 1LNTel: +44 (0) 1268 527700Fax: +44 (0) 1268 527799Website: www.isgfire.co.ukEmail: [email protected] or [email protected]

Crown Plaza, Hanover, 29th-31st May 2007

ISG Thermal Systems one of the world’s leadingthermal imaging camera manufacturers gathered

with their dealers in Hanover for theanticipated launch of their

revolutionary new cameraThe Talisman K-1000. The

programme for the nextthree days was to focus

on the benefits thatthe new camera hasover others as wellas hands on livedemonstrations.ISG’s senior sales

manager Dave Pointerand International Training

Manager Tonny Huttingexplained to International Fire

Fighter how this camera is goingto revolutionise the Tic market.

The New TalismanK1000 Elite

The aim of ISG is to be able to supply high res-olution cameras at a lower cost. Within 12months the goal is to supply low resolution

cameras at a much lower cost than previouslyquoted and within another year after, to supplyhigh resolution units at the same cost than theprevious year’s low resolution units.

During the classroom sessions, David Little ISGGroups Managing Director explained that theworldwide expected market growth for thermalimaging cameras will top 200% by 2012. ISG hasseen an increase of 263% in unit sales this yearand that’s just for the US market.

The K-1000 utilises Megapicture technologywhich is a system developed by ISG exclusively fortheir fire fighting cameras. This means that picturequality is more enhanced giving the fire fighter abetter viewing image. Not only does this technologyimprove picture quality but it also improves“headroom” which is the highest temperature thecamera can clearly image which obviouslyimproves fire fighter safety. The K-1000 is truly afirst, for example, it can successfully image ceilingtemperatures up to 1000°C which up until nowwas unheard of.

The big secret to the Megapicture technology is

the K-1000’s High resolution sensor. The sensorhas 76’800 imaging pixels. Think of it if you willlike a digital camera or camcorder, the more pixels,the better the image quality. Coupled to thissystem is the K-1000’s ability for fast update rates.In a situation where there are constant heatchanges in the environment, Megapicture technol-ogy scans 4,608,000 scene elements each secondresulting in the user viewing not only a clearerimage but also to make better and safer decisions.

The brains at ISG have really been working hardon the development of the K-1000 and anothergreat feature about the camera is its oversizedlens. Just like a normal everyday camera, the samerules apply to thermal imaging cameras, thebigger the lens the more scene elements thecamera can focus on. The K-1000’s Megapicturesystem uses the biggest lens currently availableand can sense 77% more data, coupled with thefast update rates the result is spectacular imageclarity. ISG certainly know their stuff. Thermalimaging cameras are the only thing they manufac-ture, nothing else, and have over fifteen yearsexperience. Justifiably, ISG cameras are used byNavies, Emergency services and other armedservices from all four corners of the world.

P. 10-11 ISG Profile 27/7/07 12:44 pm Page 10

Tonny Hutting ISG’s International training man-ager explains the idea behind the K-1000. “Firefighters put themselves at risk every time theyenter a building that is fully involved. They are atconstant risk from ceiling collapse, the possibilityof a flashover situation constantly changingtemperatures and also not having the correctequipment that can give them the informationthey need. By assessing these problems and as aqualified fire fighter, the K-1000 is the logicalchoice”. Unlike other units, the image does notsaturate when the temperature gets too high. TheK-1000 can clearly detect temperatures of 1000°Cwhich from a fire fighters perspective, will tell himif a ceiling could possibly collapse or if a flashoversituation could occur. The K-1000 is also extremelyuser friendly, the screen constantly displays suchreadings as battery power and temperature. On afull recharge which only takes about two and ahalf hours, you can expect the camera to functionperfectly for at least five hours and from switchingon, the camera is ready to use in less than fiveseconds it also comes complete with a hard carrycase and neck strap”.

The Fire & Disaster Prevention School inHeyrothsberge was the venue for the Live burndemonstrations. Being a qualified fire fighter,Tonny Hutting along with some brave and fool-hardy distributors kitted up in all the gear so theycould see first hand, how effective the new cam-era was and how it operated in real situations,they were not to be disappointed. Scenarios wererigged so that the camera would be tested to theextreme and in some cases, situations which evenmost fire fighters will never in their lives, experi-ence. The ISG staff were understandably a littleconcerned as although rigorous testing had beendone on the K-1000 without any problems,situations like this with a mass audience wasalways going to be the place where if anything

was going to go wrong, it would go wrong. “Ishould not of worried” explained Tonny Hutting,“the camera excelled itself and did everything thatwe had said it would do”. We managed to showour distributors just how clear the images werewhen confronted with temperatures approaching1000°C and the picture was crystal clear we werealso able to demonstrate the unique update rateseverything went according to plan.

ISG have also come up with some ratheringenious options and accessories for their newcamera. One in particular is the unique BreakAway Lanyard system. This offers a fire fighterbreakaway capability to prevent him or herselfbeing trapped should the camera becomesnagged or caught on an object. Secondly, theretractable lanyard is also available which can beattached to the camera. Should you drop the K-1000 for any reason, it wont go far and stayswithin easy reach. There is also the option of avehicle mount charger. This is a rugged and securein vehicle charger that enables storage in anapparatus or command vehicle. With a quickrelease system and automatic charging capability,the system is designed to ensure that the imagerwill be totally operational when the vehicle arrivesat the scene.

The K-1000 is now widely available throughoutEurope and as the technical specifications belowexplain, this is the future of Thermal ImagingTechnology. IFF


Enhanced picture qualitywith the K-1000

PROFILE

Talisman K-1000 specifications include:

ELECTRONICSSensor Type: Vanadium Oxide MicrobolometerResolution: 320 x 240Spectral Response: 8-14 micronsDynamic Range: Over 1000°C in Thousand Plus ModeMode switch time: 0.08 secondsUpdate rate: 4,608,000 scene elements per secondField of view: 59 degreesNominal start up: Under 5 seconds

TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENTMeasurement: FPA Centre Pixel AreaMeasurement Range: Up to 1000°CResolution: +/-1°CRepeatability: +/-1°C

PHYSICALWeight: Under 1.4kgHousing: Radel-R High Heat ThermoplasticWaterproofing: IP67 – immersion up to 1 meterDrop test: 2 meters

POWER SOURCEOperating time: Over 5 hoursLow battery warning: Displayed on screenRecharge time: 2.5 hours

P. 10-11 ISG Profile 27/7/07 12:44 pm Page 11

Writing this piece for IFF about three weekslater the following can be added. It soonbecame widely known that much of the

ship’s wooden structure had, at the time of thefire, been removed for preservation work and thiswas highly fortunate. There is concern aboutpossible loss of the vessel’s iron frame. A littlehistory on shipping will take our discussionforward at this point.

By 1869 when the Cutty Sark was built thattype of vessel – the clipper, propelled by wind andaccordingly needing to be of light construction –was in decline and steam ships were starting toreplace them. At that time clipper operators werecompeting vigorously not only with steam shipsbut with each other. The most important designparameter for a clipper in terms of its performancewas its sail area. A clipper could under suitablewind conditions travel faster than the steam shipsof that time, but reliance on the wind was beingseen as adversely affecting the reliability of theclipper when compared to the steam ship which ofcourse had no such reliance and was also morerobust than the clipper having a metal structure. Inabout 1825 Michael Faraday developed ‘cathodicprotection’, a means of preventing corrosion ofthe metal structure of a ship by use of a ‘sacrificialanode’. Let it be noted that almost 200 years laterFaraday’s development is being widely applied to prevent corrosion of offshore oil productionplatforms.

Though having a wooden external structure anineteenth-century clipper would have a metalframe, and that of the Cutty Sark was made of

wrought iron. About three years before the fireextreme concern had been expressed about thecondition of the vessel’s iron frame which hadbeen found to be heavily contaminated withchloride atoms which will of course enablecorrosion to continue. There is an electrochemicalprocess for removal of the chloride ions fromwrought iron or other ferrous metals. The processhas in fact been applied to a WWI vessel suc-cessfully, but unlike the Cutty Sark this was con-structed entirely of steel making the applicationstraightforward. With a vessel composed of woodand iron there is the difficulty of interference fromsubstances initially produced by microbes in thewood which diffuse into the iron. A means ofovercoming this by introduction into the electro-chemical process of an agent lethal to themicrobes responsible was developed by workers atthe University of Portsmouth although problemswere expected in applying it on the scale necessaryto restore the entire metal structure of the CuttySark. The ‘way to go’ had not been resolved at thetime of the fire although discussions and debateswere under way.

Fire investigators talk of the critical temperatureof a metal structure, meaning the temperature atwhich it will fail in its support role. This isimportant in the design of offshore platforms. Thecritical temperature could never be a hard number,as it depends on the load being experienced.Whatever was the critical temperature for thewrought iron in the Cutty Sark in its badly degradedcondition must have been exceeded during therecent fire. IFF


By J. C. Jones


VIEWPOINT

Comments on theCutty Sark fireThe author released the statement below to the press on the day of the CuttySark fire, 21st May 2007.

The Cutty Sark was constructed of wood and of iron. There have been, atthese very early stages of the fire, two suggestions of possible causes:

(a) Flammable gas containers on board

(b) ‘Suspicious circumstances’

Why should there be containers of flammable gases on board? The vessel wasundergoing restoration so perhaps there was welding equipment presentrequiring acetylene or some other suitable fuel gas.

If (b) is correct, we can be confident that arsonists would have gone for thewooden structure of the vessel. They might well have used an accelerant, toaid ignition and bring about faster burning. A common choice of accelerant iskerosene. Possibly after the fire is extinguished forensic experts will examinethe debris for traces of kerosene.

Often in enclosure fires there is a rapid transition from a small localised fire toone involving the entire enclosure. This is known as flashover. Did flashovertake place inside the Cutty Sark? If so that makes the ‘gas container’ idea lessprobable. It does not preclude ‘suspicious circumstances’.

P. 12 Cutty Sark Viewpoint 27/7/07 12:44 pm Page 12


NEWS

Powerful newWorklite shinessupremeThe latest WOLF SAFETY Lamp to be launched isthe ATEX Certified portable Worklite. Poweredby a sealed lead acid battery providing 14 hoursduration on full power, the top of the range WL-85 Worklite incorporates a cluster of 12 highpower ‘fitted for life’ LEDs, rated at 25,000hours, with 30° optics to produce a flood oflight.

Housed within a stainless steel frame andenclosure, capable of withstanding the harshestof marine environments, this totally portablefloodlamp has no trailing leads or cable. It isideal for use in blast cleaning operations and the

confined spaces of hazardous areas. Anti-static protective replaceable covers areprovided to protect the glass lens during paint spraying and blasting applications.

Potentially dangerous environments, where the Worklite should be utilized,include offshore in the oil and gas industry, on ocean-going tankers, withinrefining, petrochemical and processing industries, water treatment, gasdistribution, transport and the emergency services.

For further information please contact the sales office. Tel: 0114 255 1051 Fax: 0114 255 7988 Email: [email protected] Website: www.wolf-safety.co.uk

The new Wolf Worklite WL-85

BRISTOL UNIFORMS has been selected as Firebuy’s Preferred Bidder for the IntegratedClothing Project which will see the company supplying Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)and all other clothing requirements over a 15 year contract period.

The past 3 years have seen a number of the UK and Europe’s leading manufacturersinvolved in a tendering process which has included submitting designs and prices,undergoing extensive garment performance testing and hundred’s of hours of managementtime to reach the final stages of this procurement initiative. Firebuy’s intention is to deliverstrategic co-ordination of procurement projects to ensure standardisation of outputspecifications, co-ordination of technical services and market development for clothing aswell as other equipment and vehicles.

As existing supply and service contracts with fire & rescue services across the UK expireover the coming 5 years, each will have the opportunity of procuring market leading designsof PPE from Bristol including fire coats and trousers, boots, gloves, helmets and flashoods aswell as other protective equipment. In addition to this, station wear, corporate wear andceremonial dress are also included in the contract.

Commenting on the results, Roger Startin, Bristol’s joint managingdirector said, “We are naturally delighted with the outcome which webelieve will bring benefits to all stakeholders -– ourselves, the UK’s fire& rescue services and Firebuy. Throughout the period since the projectcommenced in 2003 we have worked closely with all the partiesinvolved to ensure that the eventual outcome would create best valuefor the customer. We have succeeded in the face of competition fromother major international players, which is particularly satisfying, andbelieve our success stems in no small measure from the investment wehave made in product innovation and a comprehensive managed careservice over the last 5 years”.

Liz Barron, Chair of Firebuy, added “I would like to compliment Bristol Uniforms on thecommitment they showed during the lengthy tendering period and the compelling case theymade for selecting them to become our Preferred Bidder. This represents a major milestonefor collaboration and is a positive example of the way that the fire service will procure itsmajor goods and services in the future. FRAs can now be sure that the protective clothingthey issue to firefighters is the best available to maximise their comfort, safety and image”.

For more information about Bristol Uniforms or Bristol Care™ please contact either:Roger Startin, Bristol Uniforms Ltd on 0117 956 3101 or [email protected]

Bristol Uniforms secures Firebuy’sPreferred Bidder status for UK’sIntegrated Clothing Project

Roger Startin

News P. 5, 6, 8, 13, 18 27/7/07 1:31 PM Page 13


PROFILE

Record AttendanceSet at FDIC 2007:27,500 Attendees Participate inWorld’s Premier Fire Training Event FDIC 2008 Planning UnderwayA record attendance of 27,500 firefighters from around the world attended FDIC2007, held April 16-21 at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, makingit the largest FDIC ever held in its 79-year history. Planning is currently underwayfor FDIC 2008, taking place April 7-12.

The world’s premier fire training conferenceand exhibition, FDIC features a comprehen-sive curriculum of Hands-On Training evolu-

tions, workshops, and 150+ classroom sessionstaught by 500 instructors, plus 900 exhibitingcompanies featuring the latest technologies in fireapparatus, equipment and life-saving productadvancements. During the six-day event, thenation’s leading instructors train thousands of fire-fighters on life-saving techniques, ranging fromlive burn to collapse rescue, to leadership trainingand recruitment issues.

“As the demands on emergency serviceproviders have increased in the new millennium,the fire service is the natural conduit to respond toand mitigate these events. A well-trained andequipped fire department is critical to fulfill thismission. FDIC is the premier conference for currentand future leaders in the fire service to attend andreceive training from top instructors in NorthAmerica. The tools, personal, protective equip-

ment and apparatus displayed at the event allowsattendees to observe first-hand the latest technol-ogy that enables a well-trained fire department toprovide the level of service the citizens have cometo expect,” said Chief James Greeson of the Indi-anapolis Fire Department.

FDIC also features the presentation of the RayDowney Courage & Valor Award by Mr. Robert F.Biolchini, President and CEO of PennWell, during

the Opening Ceremony. This award recognizesextraordinarily courageous American firefighters inremembrance of the sacrifices made by FDNYmembers on September 11, 2001. The Courage &Valor Award commemorates the life and careerachievements of Deputy Chief Ray Downey, chiefof rescue operations and 39-year veteran of the

Fire Department of New York, who elected toremain in the World Trade Center to save othersand was killed on September 11.

“For 79 years, the leaders of America’s fire ser-vice have gathered at FDIC. Coming from everytype of department, every background and everyrank, they all share one common bond – theknowledge that great firefighters and great firedepartments are made from a unfaltering commit-ment to training and drills. At FDIC, they meetunencumbered by any other mission to discussFire, the most feared threat to Americans today. AtFDIC, the issues confronting all firefighters arereviewed and examined, with the sharing ofsolutions,” said Chief Bobby Halton ret., FDICEducation Director and Editor-in-Chief of FireEngineering magazine.

FDIC 2008 takes place April 7-12, 2008 at theIndiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, IN. Forclassroom information and to register, visitwww.fdic.com IFF

As the demands on

emergency service providers

have increased in the new

millennium, the fire service is

the natural conduit to

respond to and mitigate

these events.

At FDIC, the issues

confronting all firefighters

are reviewed and examined,

with the sharing of solutions.

About PennWellPennWell Corporation is a

diversified business-to-business media and

information company thatprovides quality content and

integrated marketingsolutions for the following

industries: Oil and gas,electric power, water,

electronics, semiconductor,contamination control,

optoelectronics, fiberoptics,enterprise storage, fire,

emergency services anddental. Founded in 1910,

PennWell publishes 75 printand online magazines and

newsletters, conducts 60conferences and exhibitions

on six continents, and has anextensive offering of books,

maps, web sites, researchand database services. In

addition to PennWell’sheadquarters in Tulsa,

Oklahoma the company hasmajor offices in Nashua, New

Hampshire; Houston, Texas;London, England, Campbell,

California; Fairlawn, NewJersey; Moscow, Russia; and

Hong Kong, China.

P. 14 FDIC Preview 27/7/07 12:45 pm Page 14


VIEWPOINT

From such information as is in the publicdomain certain inferences can be drawn. Weare told (for example in the BBC coverage) that

a boy sleeping in a house affected by the blast wascovered with glass from broken windows. An ideaof the severity of the explosion can be deducedfrom this. At whatever distance the windows werefrom the van, the overpressure must have beenabout 0.02; that is, the pressure was, for theduration of the impact of the gaseous explosionproducts on the windows, 2% higher than that ofthe atmosphere previously. Had the overpressurebeen 0.1 structural damage to the building itselfwould have resulted yet we are not told that anysuch damage occurred.

Was it that the acetylene leaked catastrophicallyfrom a cylinder which released its contents all atonce? Or was it that a cylinder had been leakingslowly and the stage had been reached wherethere was sufficient in the interior of the van for

there to be an explosive mixture in air? The over-pressure-damage information referred to will prob-ably enable this question to be answered fairlystraightforwardly by the investigators. The cylinderwas allowed time to cool to ambient temperaturebefore being removed from the debris of the fire,and here is a point of contact with an accident

only two days later in County Tyrone, Ireland. Theauthor’s understanding of this from reports on theWeb is that fire fighters had been called to a fireat a disused factory where plastic waste wasalight. They observed a cylinder of acetylene which

was leaking its contents, which burnt as a steadyflame for which, presumably, the cylinder structureacted as a burner. Once the fire had beenextinguished the area was closed off and keptunder observation because of the possibility ofredevelopment of combustion at the cylinder.Arson is in fact suspected. If (note the emphasis)the acetylene cylinder was of the arsonist’s doing aparticularly dangerous act of arson had been com-mitted. If the cylinder had exploded as happenedat Wolsingham, the blast would have been fatal tofire fighters nearby.

So two acetylene incidents took place in oneweek within a couple of hundred miles of eachother, one fatal the other not so but having hadthe potential to be. The previous month inDeptford, South London there was a major fire ata warehouse where cylinders containing acetylenewere known to be in storage. There was noexplosion of the cylinders, but the possibility ofsuch explosion necessitated evacuation of manynearby buildings. IFF

Recentacetylene firesin the BritishIslesIn May 2007 at Wolsingham in north east England a van containing one or more cylinders of acetylene for use in welding exploded, with loss of life of thedriver. There was also damage to nearby buildings. Acetylene is of course widelyused in gas welding, where it is burnt in pure oxygen in what is known as theoxy-acetylene process. It is also used in flame cutting devices. Clearly at theWolsingham accident acetylene had leaked from a storage cylinder, entered theinterior of the van and exploded by reaction with oxygen in the atmosphere ofthe van which, immediately prior to the accident, the van driver was relying onfor respiration.By J. C. Jones


The previous month in

Deptford, South London there

was a major fire at a

warehouse where cylinders

containing acetylene were

known to be in storage.

Had the overpressure been

0.1 structural damage to the

building itself would have

resulted yet we are not told

that any such damage

occurred.

P. 15 Acetylene Viewpoint 27/7/07 12:45 pm Page 15


PROFILE

Skedco, Inc.Skedco was founded in 1981 by Bud and Catherine Calkin for the purpose ofmanufacturing the SKED stretcher. Skedco immediately targeted the Military andFire Service as the obvious market. They very quickly found that cavers, industryand wilderness rescue teams needed the Sked too.

By 1984 Skedco produced the Oregon SpineSplint. It was necessary to create their ownimmobilizer as the only other one was pro-

duced by a competitor. It was added to the SkedSystem. Shortly after the OSS came a flotation kit.It makes the SKED float nearly vertically and will“self right” when capsized. The complete systemfits into one backpack that doubles as a towingharness when it is necessary to drag the SKED in ahands free mode. Later, they developed theinflatable floats which made the system evensmaller for storage and transport. The completesystem was then standardized by the military but itstill wasn’t understood by the end users.

Because the SKED was so different than otherstretchers it took Skedco a very long time to createthe necessary confidence within the rescuecommunity for them to spend their money on aSKED rather than the product they were used tousing. That meant that sales were hard to make.Bud Calkin would sometimes drive as much as1000 miles to sell just one SKED. He was willing todo it as he believed in his product and was surethat when rescuers had successes with the SKED itwould generate more sales. Skedco advertised asheavily as they could afford and drove countlessmiles in order to win the confidence of the rescuecommunity.

When “Operation Just Cause” occurred and theU.S military invaded Panama to capture ManuelNorriega the Army purchased a very good numberof SKED systems. SKED performed very well duringthat operation. Lives and at least one spinal cordwere saved.

The U.S. Army Rangers were the first to use theSKED to haul equipment. They would dragmortars, mortar rounds, ammunition, many othercritical items and sometimes a patient faster andeasier than carrying them.

Catherine Calkin was also totally dedicated toSKEDCO’s success. She too worked day and nightto make the company succeed. She has alwaysbeen president and CEO. This became a tremen-dous responsibility. She is the accountant as wellas president, secretary and treasurer. Even now she

works extremely long days to keep SKEDCO on aneven keel.

In the early 1990’s OSHA mandated thatindustry be able to respond and affect a confinedspace rescue in a very short time. SKED was thenatural choice for confined spaces as it will bringvictims through smaller, more confined areas thanany other stretcher, even when the patient isimmobilized.

The Fire Service also began using the Sked a lotmore frequently. They saved lives using the SKEDwhen no other stretcher would work.

When the Military started ordering for “Opera-tion Desert Storm” Skedco received gigantic orders.The SKED was so successful that the U.S. Militarycontinued purchasing in very large numbers. After10 years of no profit Skedco started to grow. It hasbeen in a growth mode since that time. The civiliansales are now about 40% of SKEDCO’s total busi-ness. SKEDCO is one of the few companies thatmakes products for the Military that “save lives”.

SKEDCO now produces over 200 productssome of which are SKED Stretcher, Oregon SpineSplint, Sked-Evac Tripod, SKEDCO Rescue Haulerand SKEDCO Microhauler 4:1 mechanical advan-tage rescue pulley systems, HALF SKED, SKEDCOWindow Escape Anchor, Hazmat SKED Stretchersystems and a wide array of Military rescue andemergency medical products. The company andits’ employees remain dedicated to saving livesthroughout the world.

Skedco wishes to thank all of those brave menand women who are risking their own safety tosave others. They are truly the world’s greatesttreasure. IFF

Contact information:Skedco, Inc.PO Box 3390Tualatin, Oregon 97062USATel: (503) 691-7909Fax: (503) 691-7973Email: [email protected]: www.skedco.com

P. 16 Skedco Profile 27/7/07 12:46 pm Page 16

ISG whole page 25/7/07 10:21 AM Page 1


NEWS

AVON RUBBER P.L.C.’s protection businesshas developed the first purpose designedescape hood to provide instant protectionfor first responders, allowing them time toevacuate from a CBRN incident. TheEH20 Escape Hood, which can be donnedin seconds and provides a high level ofprotection against chemical, biological,radiological and nuclear (CBRN) agents,was launched in Autumn 2006 and is fullyCE approved.

The EH20 provides, for the first time, apractical solution to providing CBRNprotection in the fire services to Driversand Officers in Charge who are notequipped with Self-Contained BreathingApparatus. The hood can be deployed veryquickly should there be an unexpected orsuspected incident and has already enteredservice with police forces across the UK foruse by unprotected first responders. It hasalso been purchased by the National

Health Service for at-risk paramedics. Boththe Association of Chief Police Officers(ACPO) and the Police Federation haverecommended that all operational policeofficers in the UK should be equipped withthe EH20 at times of heightened securityawareness. Globally, EH20 has foundapplication with police forces and securityunits in Asia, Australasia, Europe andNorth America for special eventsprotection, mass transit systems andpersonal protection for first responders.

The hood provides a high level ofrespiratory, eye and face protection fromprincipal CBRN agents for at least 20minutes to allow sufficient time to escapefrom a contaminated area. No suchcapability was available previously in asufficiently compact and portable package.The hood is stored in a vacuum-sealedpouch small enough to wear on a beltand, when needed, the “one-size-fits-all”

hood can be donned within 30 secondsover beards, long hair and even glasses.The EH20 requires minimal training to useand has a 10 year shelf life and nomaintenance.

Made of clear polyurethane, the EH20not only protects against all airborne CBRNthreats but also protects the face fromsplashes of agent. The clear material has anumber of advantages; it gives a nonthreatening appearance, aids withrecognition and also allows for bettervisual and verbal communication. Twin lowprofile filters on a unique hinge systemincorporate the very latest membranetechnology which reduces breathingresistance and also ensures ease ofdonning.

Jim Naylor, Sales and MarketingManager at Avon Protection Systems, said,“The formerly unprotected operatives inthe Fire Service can now benefit from therapid protection the EH20 provides toemergency services personnel againsttoday’s biological or chemical threats,whether they arise from accidents orterrorist activity.”

World leadership in CBRNprotection

Avon Rubber p.l.c. supplies a range ofadvanced CBRN respiratory protectionsolutions through Avon Protection Systemsto the world’s military and police forces, aswell as first responders and emergencyservices. Avon is an acknowledged worldleader in the field of CBRN respiratoryprotective equipment and has beensupplying respirators to the UK Ministry ofDefence and other NATO allies for over 80years and is now supplying the JointServices General Purpose Mask to the USarmed forces. Avon Rubber p.l.c. alsoowns Avon – ISI, which designs, developsand manufactures a range of SCBAequipment for fire and rescue and lawenforcement as well as militaryapplications, further enhancing theproduct offering to end users and enablingintegration of RPE systems to suit varyingoperational requirements. Avon hasmanufacturing facilities in the U.K. and theUnited States.

For more information about the new EH20Escape Hood and other Avon ProtectionSystems and Avon – ISI products pleasecontact:Julia Wills Marketing Support Manager Avon Protection Tel: +44 (0)1225 896705 Email: [email protected] visit www.avon-protection.com

New EH20 Escape Hood delivers instantCBRN protection for first responders

RESQTEC introduces the latestaddition to the 6 series: the G6wThe ultimate cutter for the cars of tomorrowThe G6w is specially designed andoptimized for cutting car posts of thelatest cars on the market, as an answer tothe ever increasing strength of CCC –short for Complex Car Constructions.

Cutting structures, as important ascutting capacity, is how it is translatedusing blade design. The performance of acutter always relates back to the bladedesign! In the case of cutting CCC, youwant a blade that shreds, which isachieved if the structure is pulled to thecentral bolt. The more a blade is capableof doing that, the better it is suited forcutting CCC materials. At the same timethe posts are becoming bigger so a bigopening is needed. The unique W bladecan go around a big post and pull material to the central bolt, further than any other toolon the market.

With 121 tons of cuttingpower, the biggest openingand the unique W bladedesign it is the ultimate CarConstruction Cutter. Not justfor today’s cars, but moreimportantly for tomorrow’s!

The G6w is designedaccording to EWOtechnologyand is tested to CCC capacity.

The G6w is available formAugust 2007.

For more information check outwww.resqtec.com

News P. 5, 6, 8, 13, 18 27/7/07 1:31 PM Page 18

MUNICIPAL

Pic courtesy of Reuters

Dividers p. 19, 45, 69 27/7/07 1:38 PM Page 19


MUNICIPAL

From preplanning to inspections, to emergencymedical services and what we pride ourselveson best . . . fire attack. Fire Attack in this

modern fire environment poses new challenges tous. Fires are burning hotter and faster, leaving usto often play catch up upon the arrival of the firstcrews. It is imperative to deploy the right sizehoseline for the job, in the right location. Morelives are probably saved by properly placed linesthan any other means for us, as firefighters on thefireground. It is a fact that once the fire goes out,a lot of our problems are solved, and things aregoing to get better. Fire advancement is obviouslystopped, exposures are no longer at risk, and wecan more safely do our jobs. In this modern fire

environment, the quick attack, or “blitz” attack isgaining more and more popularity. The advance-ment of a fire can be stopped by the use of a highflow handline, or particularly, a portable monitorapplied for mere seconds. Once the fire is“darkened” down, handlines can be advanced tofully extinguish the fire. The use of these easilydeployable, high flow devices, such as lightweightportable monitors is one fire attack method thatwe will look at as we face this modern fireenvironment.

Similar to any good competitor, we must knowour opponent. In particular we are going to focuson “new” construction styles facing our communi-ties. Not too long ago, our buildings were built of

By Chris Martin

Regional Export SalesManager, Elkhart BrassMfg. Co., Inc.Firefighter/Engineer,Clay Fire Territory,Indiana, USA

Quick FireKnockdown inthe Modern FireEnvironment:Overpowering BTU’s with Big FlowsOur communities are changing, they are growing, being redeveloped . . . at arapid pace. It seems as if everywhere you look, new construction is all around us.As new construction flourishes, we as firefighters must make it our responsibilityto look at the way this changes things for us, and also maybe reexamine the waywe do things.

Pic courtesy of ElkhartBrass

P. 21-26 Quick Fire Knockdown 27/7/07 1:32 PM Page 21

unreinforced masonry, and heavy timber construc-tion. There was no such thing as a “lightweight”roof truss style construction, and synthetics werenever even considered. Today, however, “light-weight” roof truss style construction is standard,metal studs are now being used instead of woodstuds, and synthetics and plastics are preferred. Asfirefighters, this means to us a much greaterdanger on the fireground. Fires are burning muchhotter, and because of this, flashover and rapidfire growth should be at the front of our mindsevery time we arrive. We all know from “Firefigher101” that we use water because of its excellent

ability to absorb heat (BTU’s). Well, as fires areburning hotter, we are naturally going to needmore water to overcome these BTU’s. The follow-ing indicates what we are up against:

1 lb (0.46 kg) of paper when burned generatesroughly 2,800 BTU’s of heat 1 lb (0.46 kg) of wood when burned generatesroughly 8,000 BTU’s of heat 1 lb (0.46 kg) of Polymer Plastic when burnedgenerates roughly 22,000 BTU’s of heat From 30 years ago to today, our building

materials are now primarily synthetic and plastics.These materials burn almost 3 times hotter thanmaterials in fires we were used to, leading to rapidflame spread and a high heat release rate as thesehigher fuel loads are consumed. In addition, plastic

when burned, produces 300 times more smokeper pound (0.46 kg) compared with wood. Takethese numbers and consider that buildings arenow equipped with better insulation, limited venti-lation, and design features such as Thermo Panewindows; fighting fires becomes increasingly moredangerous than we may have every been used to.

As firefighters now thrown into this modern fireenvironment, we may need to look at the way weare fighting fires. Is a 95 gpm (360 lpm) combina-tion fog nozzle really the right tool we need toknock down a fire in a new construction stylebuilding? As our buildings are changing so do our




QUICK FIRE KNOCKDOWN IN THE MODERN FIRE ENVIRONMENTMUNICIPAL

Fires are burning much hotter,

and because of this, flashover

and rapid fire growth should

be at the front of our minds

every time we arrive.


tactics. One such tactic is to stop the advancementof the fire rapidly through a quick, or “blitz”attack. We just reviewed that in new buildingconstruction, fire is going to advance hotter andfaster, one way to stop this is to apply a largeamount of water immediately to knock down thevisible fire. Remember . . . when the fire goes out,everything gets better. The quicker we do this, thequicker things are going to get better.

One way to achieve this quick knock down,fast, effectively, and with limited manpower iswith a lightweight portable monitor. There areseveral models on the market, each with its ownfeatures and benefits; however the concept isfairly simple. A lightweight portable monitor is aportable monitor weighing less that 20 lb (9 kg),with the ability to deliver around 500 gpm

(1892 lpm) from one 2.5 in. (64 mm) or 3.0 in.(76 mm) hoseline. Often pre-connected, one fire-fighter can easily deploy this monitor and have theability to put a lot of water on the fire . . . fast!This attack must be coordinated with other crewson the fireground, when executed properly, a largeamount of the fire will be knocked down, andthings will begin to get better. Keep in mind,depending on the size and involvement of the fire,this quick attack will only last about 15 to 30seconds; basically until the visible fire is “darkeneddown”.

Once this occurs, it is then up to the crew tomake entry to locate, confine, and extinguish therest of fire. With the quick attack tactic, one ismerely putting a temporary pause on the fire. It isstill up to an aggressive crew to get inside and putthe rest of the fire completely out. This task,however, will be significantly easier and safer asthe bulk of the fire has been extinguished.

Once the quick attack has taken place, anothergreat benefit of the lightweight portable monitor,is that it can now be used as a manifold toadvance handlines from. Typically the morepopular models all have a built in shutoff on themonitor. This now allows the firefighter to shutthe monitor off, and attach a gated wye orreducer, and advance a handline directly from the




Keep in mind, depending on

the size and involvement of

the fire, this quick attack

will only last about 15 to

30 seconds.



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monitor. This is an ideal setup for limited manpowercrews, as a separate hose bundle can be kept, andused for this purpose. A “break apart” style nozzlecombination is ideal to use in these hose packs. A“break apart” style nozzle refers to a nozzlecombination consisting of a separate shutoff andnozzle tip. This way as the hoseline is advanced

from the lightweight portable monitor, if additionalhose is needed, the shutoff can be closed, thenozzle tip removed, and an additional hose bundle can be attached to the shutoff. This canthen allow for quick advancement of additionalhose, without having to shut down the entireoperation.

Utilitizing a gated wye essentially is now whatmakes this lightweight portable monitor a mani-fold, and an additional hose line can be attachedby an additional crew. Keep in mind that certainbrands come equipped with a safety shutoff off inwhich the monitor will shutoff when moved slightly.This feature can pose a problem when the monitoris being used as a manifold, as it could accidentallyshutoff if moved while advancing hose. It may benecessary to secure it in the open position, with apiece of rope or webbing, to ensure that yourwater supply is not compromised.

If used properly the lightweight portablemonitor can be used as an effective and safertactic as we now face the new enemy . . . themodern fire environment. If there is no threat tothe occupants, why compromise the lives of thefirefighters? With a quick attack, we minimize alot of dangers that new style building constructionposes. One way to achieve this is a rapid knock-down with a lightweight portable monitor, andthen a much safer aggressive interior attack usingthe monitor as your water supply. This is just onemore tactic for us to add to our playbook, and onethat can help to make sure that everyone goeshome. IFF






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Bronto Skylift- Rescue vehicles

Bronto Skylift has created reliable rescue vehicles for the fi re brigades over 30 years.

Bronto Skylift offers a wide selection of rescue and fi re fi ghting vehicles - from compact Allrounder vehicles to giant hydraulic platforms with over 100 meters working height.

BrontoSkylift_Fire-Rescue.indd 1 2006-01-13 14:31:48

Oy Bronto Skylift 1/18/06 4:24 PM Page 1

Plastisol 12/20/05 11:23 AM Page 1


MUNICIPAL

The easiest way to think of CAFS is as threepumping systems working together to pro-duce foam. They are a water pump, a foam

concentrate pump or proportioner, and an airpump or compressor.

We are all familiar with centrifugal fire pumpsand their maintenance. These remain essentiallyunchanged in most CAFS. The foam concentrateand air are added on the discharge side of the firepump. The standard fire pump works well as thewater source. Some CAFS drive the air compressoroff of the pump transmission however this doesnot affect the maintenance of the pump itself.

The purpose of the foam proportioner is tocreate foam solution. It does this by adding theproper amount of foam concentrate to the waterto create a foam solution in the percentagerequired. Proportioners for CAFS are automatic

systems meaning that they automatically adjust forchanges in both water pressure and flow volumesto maintain the proper proportion. Most CAFS usesome form of direct injection proportioner. Thesesystems inject the foam concentrate underpressure into the water on the discharge side ofthe fire pump. Direct injection proportioners aretypically powered either by an electric motor or ahydraulic pump.

Most CAFS use a rotary screw air compressor toprovide the air supply. Rotary screw compressorsconsist of two rotors which spin inside a housing.As the spin they move air and compress it on thedischarge side of the compressor. The air com-pressor will also have an air control circuit whichmanages the air pressure in various operatingmodes. These compressors are industrial gradeunits designed for thousands of hours of service,

By Keith Klassen

The Care andFeeding of yourCAFSAs more fire departments begin to add Compressed Air Foam Systems to theirarsenal of firefighting tools the need for proper maintenance of these systemsbecomes increasingly important. Because CAFS adds more mechanicalcomponents to the fire apparatus more items will need to be added to the dailyor weekly truck check sheet. These components also must be inspected andserviced on semi-annual and annual inspections.

P. 29-33 Caring for CAFS 27/7/07 1:32 PM Page 29

far more than the CAFS will be used. A fire depart-ment will not wear out the compressor in theCAFS but they need to be certain that it does notget damaged. Damage occurs the same waydamage occurs in an engine. This is due to foreignmaterial in the compressor, lack of lubrication, oroverheating.

Along with the three pumping systems checkvalves are required. Check valves keep the rightproduct in the right place. Water is one of thebiggest enemies of air compressors because it isnot compressible and it causes rust and corrosion.Air check valves are designed to keep water out ofthe air side of the system. Water check valves areused for two purposes. One is to keep foamsolution out of the pump and the water supplyand the other is to keep air out of the fire pump.Air in the fire pump can cause loss of prime andpossible pump damage.

Gauges and flow meters may also be providedto monitor the operation of the system. A CAFSwill typically have a master air pressure gaugealong with the master water pressure gauge sothat the pressure readings can be monitored andcompared during various modes of operation.Foam solution flow volumes are usually monitoredby the foam proportioner. Some smaller systemsmay not monitor foam solution volumes. Air flowvolumes may be monitored by either manual ofdigital electronic air flow meters. Air flow metersare optional and are not required for systemoperation.

Apparatus with CAFS need a few additionalitems checked during the regularly scheduled truckcheck. These include:

Check the level and top off the foam concen-trate in the foam tank.Check the proportioner oil level if applicable.Typically this is done with a sight glass or adipstick.

Check the compressor oil level in the sightglass. Also note the color and condition of theoil. A white milky color indicates water in the oil.If the compressor or proportioner are hydrauli-cally driven check the hydraulic fluid level.If the CAFS is powered by an auxiliary enginecheck all engine fluids Run the CAFS and flow air out of a discharge.Do this until the air coming out of thedischarge feels warm. It will usually take five toten minutes depending on ambient tempera-ture. Wear hearing protection as this will be a noisy operation. It is important to do on aweekly basis this at minimum. The purpose is toexercise the components of the compressor aircontrol circuit. This keeps them free and func-tioning properly. It is most important to do thisin humid environments where moisture buildupwithin the system will be greater.CAFS will also need semi annual and annual

service. Semi annual service consists of checkingand cleaning strainers and checking and servicingthe compressor drive system.

Most systems will have two strainers. The firstwill be a foam strainer and the second will be awater strainer on the line to the compressorcooler.

The foam strainer will be located between thefoam tank and the proportioner. It may be a wyestrainer or a basket type strainer. To check andclean the strainer close the valve between thestrainer and the foam tank to prevent the foamconcentrate from leaking out of the tank. Disas-semble the strainer and wash out any debriscaught in the screen. Debris may includecongealed foam due to mixed concentrates, itemsthat have fallen into the tank, or shavings ofplastic from inside the foam tank. Plastic shavingsare left from the manufacturing process and will


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be caught in the strainer during the first fewmonths of operation. After reassembling thestrainer open the foam valve.

Compressors which are cooled through a heatexchanger by pump water will also have a straineron the inlet of the cooler to prevent debris fromentering and plugging the orifices within thecooler. This strainer needs to be disassembled andcleaned of any debris. There is a greater chance ofthis strainer becoming plugged when draftingfrom a dirty water source. The screen also needs

to be checked for holes. These can occur if rocksor similar debris are propelled at high velocity intothe screen. This strainer will often have a quarterturn valve attached to the wye. This valve allowsthe strainer to be cleaned during operation. Whenthe valve is opened water pressure will push debriscaught in the screen out of through the valve.

Service of the drive system depends on the typeof drive used. Typical drives include auxiliary powerplants, transmission PTO, and belt drive off thepump transmission. Auxiliary power plants are


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serviced according to the engine manufacturer’srecommendations. PTO drive service includeschecking the driveline and u-joints. Belt drivesystems require checking the condition andtension of the belt. Adjust the belt per themanufacturer’s specifications.

Annual maintenance consists of:Change compressor oil. Different compressormanufacturers recommend various lubricants.They range from hydraulic fluid, to automatictransmission fluid, to motor oil. Check withyour system manufacturer for the proper fluid.Replace hydraulic filter.Check the foam proportioner calibration andrecalibrate as necessary. Check with the propor-tioner manufacturer for the proper calibrationprocedure.Most systems have a fixed pressure or toolsmode which will allow the compressor to go to maximum pressure for air only opera-tions. The maximum air pressure should bechecked and adjusted per the manufacturersrecommendations.Check and compare the air and water pressuresin the auto balance or foam mode. They shouldbalance within a few pounds. Check this at astatic pressure. Smaller systems may havepressure variations while the systems areflowing. The manufacturer of the CAFS will havea procedure for making balance adjustments.CAFS also have an air/oil separator cartridge.The purpose of this unit is to recapture the oilfrom the compressor air before the air is sent tothe discharges. It should be replaced on abiannual interval. On some systems the separ-ator is located inside the compressor sump.Because the cartridge is not visible the tech-nician may not realize that it needs to beserviced. Replacement requires removing thetop of the sump to access the cartridge. Onother systems the separator is external makingreplacement easier. Be sure to check your CAFS manufacturer’s

recommendations for variations or additions to thechecks and services mentioned in this article.

It is important that all of our equipment in thefire service works properly. We often rely on itsoperation in life saving situations. Its failure canalso compromise firefighter safety. Proper main-tenance of your CAFS will provide many years oftrouble free service. CAFS is an extremely effectivefirefighting tool. Remember the worst thing thatyou can do with your CAFS is not use it. IFF


THE CARE AND FEEDING OF YOUR CAFSMUNICIPAL

Keith Klassen has thirty-one years experience in the FireService both as a volunteer and as a career firefighter. Heis currently a Captain for Summit Fire Dept in FlagstaffArizona, USA. His experience includes both structural andwildland firefighting. He has 12 years experience usingCompressed Air Foam Systems both at Summit F.D. and onnumerous off district wildland assignments.

Mr. Klassen has 20 years experience as a secondaryand post secondary vocational education teacher. Hedeveloped the Foam Technology in the Fire Servicecurriculum and teaches the class for the Arizona State FireSchool and the Arizona Wildfire Academy. He has alsotaught for the Colorado Wildfire Academy, the CaliforniaFire Mechanics Academy, and the Arizona Fire Mechanics.

Mr. Klassen is also the CAFS Instruction ProgramManager for Waterous. In that capacity he oversees allCAFS training both domestic and international for thecompany. He also supervises a staff of eleven trainingpersonnel. This training includes CAFS operation, repair,and system installation classes.

At the simple push of a button, the FoamPro Model 2024 automatically manages all foam proportioning requirements. Designed for Class A and/or Class B foam applications,the system delivers concentrate from a microscopic .01 gpm (.04 l/m) to 6.34 gpm (24 l/m) – all with unmatched accuracy and simplicity.

FoamPro’s discharge side injection delivers exact amounts of concentrate regardless ofchanges in water flow rate, pressure, elevation or nozzle types. Real time performanceinformation is displayed to the operator via ultra-bright LED digital control module readouts.

Equip your apparatus with tomorrow’s technology!

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Mean features:• Outer shell made in composite materials/Kevlar• Internal shell consist in two pieces, made in EPS• Rapid size adjustment system from 52 to 64• Rapid hooking-unhooking system and swift adjustment• Transparent visor with reflecting screen made of fireproof polycarbonate• Extractable chin-strap

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IFF_VFR2000_0706.indd 1IFF_VFR2000_0706.indd 1 28-07-2006 14:43:5028-07-2006 14:43:50


MUNICIPAL

History of the hydraulic rescue tool

Due to the increasing industrialisation of thetraffic in cars, fire brigades get a new task. Tofree victims that where trapped in there car

during a car crash, commonly referred to as extrica-tion. The fire brigades during those days only had ahandsaw, and some a motorized cutter. With a lotof moving and shaking the victim can be “helped”.The vision we share today that would have beenmore like abuse then helping, but nothing else wasavailable. The first ever so-called hydraulic toolused in rescue was a tool originally used for takingdents out of cars. Quickly afterwards the firsthydraulic rescue tool was developed, the spreader.Seen brigades had most need for a tool that couldcreate space, the spreader became a most widelyused tool, although it was originally designed to beused only on racetracks. Seen the constructions oncars where not that though a spreader wasenough. When constructions start getting strongerthere was need for a tool to cut. Seen the cuttingsaw was not the ideal solution the cutter was

developed. First as a attachment on the spreader,but seen that that didn’t work well gave birth tothe dedicated cutter was a fact. It take a whilebefore a dedicated cutter became widely acceptedas there was some resistance to giving up thespreader as the main tool. Nowadays the cutter isthe most important tool on which the highestdemands are placed. It job is to cut theconstruction and take away parts or to weaken theconstruction to the point the spreader has a easytask creating room.

The last main rescue tools developed was theram. At first there was again not much interest inthe ram, as it was thought the spreader and cutterwhere enough. But in cases of truck accidentsthere is need for a tool that has capacity from thebeginning onwards over a long stroke, somethinga spreader does not do.

Knowing something about the history let’s look into the latest innovations and what drivethem, learning what may be important to yourdepartment.

By Jack Kusters

Hydraulic RescueToolsExtrication is one of the most preformed jobs of a fireman, and therefore thehydraulic rescue tools can be seen as a important tool. Since the firstintroduction of the hydraulic rescue tool in the market over 35 years ago a lothas changed. Let’s look into the dynamics that define this important tool givingyou an idea what to look for when purchasing.

P. 35-38 Hydraulic Rescue Tools 27/7/07 12:48 pm Page 35

Newer cars with complex constructionsIt is clear that cars are getting stronger andstronger, with car manufacturers coming up withnew constructions and materials. These new con-structions greatly influence extrication. This simplydue to the fact materials are exotic and harder,therefore making them harder to cut. The construc-tions create an extra influence seen the design arebecoming more complex as they create a stiffer andor safer car. Nowadays these complex constructionsconsist of several layers of materials and are manytimes much larger then they used to be.

Considering this, raises the question what tokeep in mind when purchasing a new cutter. Mostlogical one is that you must choose one that iscapable of cutter the newer cars on the market.Sounds logical, but I have seen new cutter that arenot able to. So capacity is a important benchmark,but keep in mind that how a manufacturer beenable to use the forces is the difference between agood and bad performing cutter. Depending onwhat you use a cutter for you try and choose thecorrect one. If you need to be able to cut a car butalso maybe also other materials try and go for acutter that can cut a range of materials. Some-times ratings like EN or NFPA can help, but myproposal is to evaluate first hand to see which toolperforms. Blade design is on of those factors thatplay an important factor in overall performance.From personal experience I know that there aresome brands that have high performing cutterslargely due to there blade design. Also keep inmind that different blade design, need differentways of cutting, so when choosing a special bladetraining may be required to make full use of it.

If your department is mostly involved inextrications it may be good to think about a cutterdedicated for those complex car constructions.These blades are purposely designed to workoptimally when cutting these constructions find innew cars. They have a large opening and have a C or even a W type design to pull the constructiontowards the central bold of the cutter.

Something that I find is overlooked whenpurchasing a cutter is if it is able to cut without, ora minimum of impact. Stabilization and the wholeoperation it is tried to keep the patient stable,where some cutters may be able to cut theconstruction but create a very big impact which isnot beneficial.

Safety to the passenger and userSafety to user and passenger are importantaspects and therefore should be kept in mind intool design. Indicators like safety factors on body,hoses can be an indication how well the tool ismanufactured. Usually this related directly to theprice of the tool, depending on the materials usedin the tool. Choice of aluminum and annodizationcan greatly determine live span and reliability. Asafety factor of 1.5 to 2 is common.

On hoses there is usually a safety factor of 4, oreven 8 on some of the safer ones. Connectors thesame. Both hoses and connectors are criticalaspects of tool construction and therefore may asksome evaluation. Originally the tail hoses wherestandard, to allow the connectors to be able tomove freely. There are cases where the hosescome out of the control handle or are connectedto it. When evaluating look at the hoses and seewhat construction effects safety of operation. The


The first ever rescuespreader in action,operated then youngMr. Axel Maarschalk. Apioneer in the industryand founder of RESQTECZumro

MUNICIPAL


problem with fixed connections is that it may getstuck, where it has no room to swivel. A generalaspects is checking the hoses always to see if thereis wear or damage. The covering of hoses mayseem like a good idea, but does not give protec-tion when there is damage to the high pressurehose.

The question I get a lot is I regard to workingpressure, high versus low pressure. Although therelittle differences, both have advantages and disad-vantages so will not go into to much detail. In themost logical aspects, like power and weight thereis no difference, and more to the manufacturerhow they have designed the product. Thereforeagain, best is to evaluate the tools yourselves andsee if there differences between manufacturers.

Handling and easy of useHydraulic rescue tools have always been hard tohandle, caused due to weight. Although since theintroduction the weight has been reduced dramat-ically, and hope that will continue it remains a boldtask. It is a fact that the weight influences theattention of the user. The more control a user hasover his tool the more control he will have overthe whole scenario. In the last years manufacturersare paying more attention to the influence ofweight understanding that they can be improved.Work with aspects like balance, control handledesign and importance of grip to make it easier towork with the tool. Some manufacturers have puteffort on this aspect by researching all factors thatinfluence weight. When working with the tool younotice the difference.

Hoses in general influence handling and easy ofuse. Make sure you evaluate how hoses areconnected in the way of operation, like if theystick out and are easy to swivel.

One thing that in my opinion should be standardis a flat face design connector with automatic lock-ing. A connector that takes sand or other particles,without intensive cleaning are easy to connect. Thisis a major advantages that can save time! Depart-ments are still buying connectors that can not takedirt, so evaluate this when purchasing.

Evaluation of equipmentHaving discussed some of the most importantaspects of tool design at this moment how do youchoose the tool and brand that is right for you?


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The best recommendation I can make is to see theperformance first hand and invite all the majormanufacturers. Allow them to explain what isunique about there tool, but don’t be only biaswhat they say. Test them on aspect like discussedabove. Especially with aspects like cutting perfor-mance you can notice the quality of a product anddifferences between manufacturers. Invite thedifferent manufacturers that you think fit yourprofile, and set out a test procedure.

The best advise I can give in the evaluation oftools is to have clear what tasks need to bepreformed, and the list of criteria you like to testthe tools on.

To help in the choice of rescue equipment I amcurrently developing a guide to assist in the evalu-ation. It will be downloadable from our website,www.artesis.nl

Training and techniquesThere is a common saying shared by many extrica-tion experts, that that even the best tools can be

made to perform badly. During evaluations I some-times hear somebody say they can break a tool.That is correct, as with incorrect use any tool willbreak down. Training in using the right techniquedoes not only result in correct performing of aextrication, but also to take full potential of a tool.

Especially with cars getting stronger, it isessential to make full use of the capacity. Onebasic principle is to make sure when performing acut try and place the blade as close to the centralbold as possible. Forces are much high here. If thecar post is to big, first squeeze the post first andthen cut it.

Training is also important to make sure you stay ahead with new techniques. With new itemsin cars like airbags, break lines can effect anextrication greatly.

Training is vital! Some manufacturers offertraining with the purchase of there tools, or go toa training school, or hire me.

If there are any questions or remarks I lookforward to hearing from you. IFF


HYDRAULIC RESCUE TOOLSMUNICIPAL

Jack Kusters is an expert inextrication and rescue in

general. With over more than29 years as a fireman he has

worked for severalorganisation. He started as a

firemen and did the rescuejob in practice. Several

educations and training laterhe was promoted to fire chief

but his love for theextrication stays. He wroteseveral books and articles

and gives lessons all over theworld. Many tool and

equipment that we use nowfor extrication is started as a

brainwave from Kusters,where manufactures have

translated the idea to auseful product. Begin 90’s hedeveloped a new system for

extrication for the Dutchemergency response services.Among others he was askedby the Dutch government to

investigate all techniquesused around the world to see

if it would be possible toimprove and come up with a

global approach. This becameknown as the “Kusters”

approach.

Email: [email protected]: www.artesis.nl


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Although developed in cooperation with theDutch Home Office, its main task was pro-viding fire fighting water and as such the

system needed to be mobile and had to bedeployed with a minimum of effort, time andpersonnel. Quick deployment is usually not anecessity during floods but comes in handy whenlots of smaller flood planes or cellars will need tobe emptied. The standard system HydroSub 150will provide 3500 liter per minutes with a pressureof 10 bar, which means that transporting thisamount of water can be done over more than2500 meters thru a single 6 in. hose and still haveenough pressure left to fill a tanker vehicle.However, the same power pack will also be able todrive a Super High Flow pump which can pump11,000 liter per minutes with 2,5 bar. The

HFS-3000 submersible pumps impeller can easilybe exchanged to increase the output to 8000 lpmat 2.1 bar. These impellers are generally fitted asstandard as they also put out 3500 lpm at 9.7 bar.The HydroSub 150 pumps is the most popular unitHytrans supplies with their high capacities andmodular design it covers for many eventualities.The HydroSub 150 is transported on an platformwhich can be transported by any hook armvehicle. Other options available are a HS-150 ontrailer or loaded directly on a hook arm vehicle.

Derived from the HydroSub 150 Hytrans pro-vides additional pump systems which range from11,000 lpm @ 12 bar with the HydroSub 450,22,000 lpm @ 12 bar with the HydroSub 900 andthe AutoBoost pump, a fully automated boostpump which can increase the pressure of

By Richard Verhoef

High VolumePumping, TheHytrans PumpingSystemThe need for a water transport system without draft problems was developedover twenty years ago; the High Volume (Submersible Pump) called theHydroSub, which basically is a hydraulic driven submersible pump which is fedvia 60 meters of hydraulic hose by a diesel driven power pack. This enables thesubmersible pump to be hand carried to locations where it is impossible to usestandard suction pumps due to the limited length of the suction lines.

Pic courtesy of Hytrans

P. 41-44 High Volume Pumping 27/7/07 12:49 pm Page 41

22,000 lpm with 12 bar. Hose diameters vary from4 in. to 12 in. The latter is mainly used for industrialfire fighting brigades. With the pumps, watertransport systems can be accomplished overthousand of meters, making it possible to getwater to virtually any location not in the directvicinity of water. To recover the hose after anincident, Hytrans has developed the patentedHose Recovery Unit. The HRU can retrieve all hoseswith a speed of up to 3.5 km/hour.

The latest development is a small power pack(HydroSub 60) which can power a special ‘floodpump’ which delivers over 15,000 liter per minute.This small power pack can be mounted on a smalltrailer is on the back of a small truck. The nextdevelopment will be to power three flood pumpswith a single HydroSub 150 unit, giving a totalcapacity of 45,000 liter per minute! To minimizepersonnel needed to operate and maintain thesystem, optional remote control can be installed.By using the GSM network or dedicated VHFfrequencies, a single operator can monitor severalpumping units from a distance. All vital para-meters are monitored and alarms can come into acentral command post. By using the GSMnetwork, for example the operator can check thefuel level by simply sending a text message via hismobile phone to a unit and he will receive a textmessage back with the requested information.

The system has been acquired by many Fire &


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Rescue Services, Governments and Industrial FireBrigades world wide. In total, Hytrans has deliv-ered over 300 Hose Recovery Units, more than400 HydroSub 150’s as stand alone or completewater transport systems. Numerous refineries andindustrial fire brigades use big 22,000 lpm systemsdelivered by Hytrans. The UK Office of the DeputyPrime Minister is currently taking delivery of 50sets under the New Dimension High VolumePumping project and on several occasions theseunits have already been deployed. For instance,during floods in Carlisle and the Glastonburyfestival. Further, the pumping systems are used inBelgium, Germany, Turkey, China, Japan, USA,Canada, and many more countries to full satisfac-tion for not only flooding but at grand scale firesas well: after the Izmir (Turkey) earthquake in1999, several pumping units were flown in fromGermany to fight the refinery fires caused by thedamage. Water pumped from the sea preventedthe fire from spreading and a complete disasterwas prevented. This is just one of the manyoccasions where a system was successfullydeployed for either large fires or flooding.

FloodingThe Dutch have a love-hate relationship with thewater; they love the water but hate for it to floodthere villages. Since most parts of Holland is undersea level an extensive protection barrier has beencreated to keep the Dutch dry. The biggest threatis seen to be coming from the sea, and rightfully


HIGH VOLUME PUMPING


so, bearing in mind the destruction the sea canbring. However, Holland is also on the receivingend of many of Europe’s big rivers like the Rhine,Waal and Maas. These rivers bring water from asfar away as Switzerland to Holland, and when itrains heavily in the eastern part of WesternEurope, the Dutch will get a lot of water deal with.It may not come as a surprise that even the Dutchget wet feet occasionally, and as a result they havenot invented wooden shoes the size of Wellingtonboots, but invested time and money in developingspecial High Volume Water Transport Systems.Preventing a flood is always the best option, butunfortunately there will always be a flood on someplace where it was not expected. Flooding has aserious impact on both the economy and the envi-ronment of every country; it disrupts businesses byblocked roads, flooded offices, damaged or lostvehicles, etc. The water is often contaminated andthis presents a real danger to the environment andthe public health. To minimize the impact, reduc-ing or clearing the effects of a flood is of primeimportance and the right material will need to beselected to help doing this.

The problem when trying to drain a floodedplain is usually the access to the water; roads may have been damaged or become unstable,preventing big stationary pumping systems to betransported to the location by heavy trucks.Another problem is that most pumps rely on asuction lines which connects the water to thepump. Sucking water has its limits and a maxi-mum draft of 7,5 meters is the result.

BuncefieldDuring the Buncefield incident, 14 High VolumePumping sets (a set consists of one HydroSub 150,3 Hose Boxes with in total 3000 meter of 6 in.hose and several adaptor, Y-pieces and gate valvesto complete a water transport system) weredeployed to provide the fire fighters with themuch needed water supply. The on site fixedinstalled water system got severely damaged and

was rendered useless for fire fighting. The on sitewater basins could not be utilized to their fullextend; some were inaccessible due to smoke andheat, others did not contain enough water toguarantee a water supply for long periods. Anearby rain water collecting basin off the M1 didprove a good location to take the water from, thiswas situated some 1.5 mile from the location. Atthe collecting basis it took 6 HydroSub 150 unitswith to pump 32,000 lpm of water. The pumpscould not be placed closer to the water than 50meters, so it took the full length of the hydraulichose to reach the water. This location could neverhave been used by standard suction pumpequipped vehicles.

Each pump was pumping almost 5,500 thru atwin 6 in. hose line, so in total 12 lines of 6 in.hose were deployed between the basin and theincident location. The total length of hose usedwas about 30 kilometer! On site, three HydroSub150 were used as booster pumps to increase thepressure again to feed the Williams monitor andtankers.

4 each HydroSubs were also deployed on site topump the enormous amounts of waste water aswell! This problem became very clear and futureincident planning on other locations should takethis into account.

ODPM staff did calculate that the supply systemas set up would have taken over 180 standard firefighting appliances with at least double the amountof personnel. Now, only 9 HydroSubs were used.

Flooding UK 2007During the recent floods in the UK, a total of 38units were deployed to cope with the water. TheUK newspapers were full of it. Hytrans dispatchedan engineer to assist during the floods. Althoughthe fire brigades in the UK are extremely welltrained, there is an arrangement in place whereby,during major incidents, Hytrans will send anengineer to assist the fire brigades when operatingthe HVP sets. IFF



HIGH VOLUME PUMPINGMUNICIPAL


INDUSTRIAL

Pic courtesy of Reuters


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INDUSTRIAL

Encouraged by standard writing organizationssuch as the National Fire Protection Associ-ation (NFPA) and industry regulators such as

the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), CanadaAir Transport (CAT), and the International CivilAviation Organization (ICAO), new technologieshave been developed and have entered the marketplace.

As the pictures show, airport fire fighters cansometimes respond well before the aircraft is destroyed. Success in extinguishment is most oftendependent on their training efficiency, whatequipment they have, and how they maximize itsuse to rapidly get control of the raging fire. Re-supply or backup fire fighters are generally notthere early enough to make a difference. Newtechnology can often help narrow any gaps in first

responding fire fighting. The following are examples of some of the

more recently developed technologies to enhancethe capabilities of firefighting services: ● Driver’s Enhanced Vision System (DEVS) ● Global Positioning System (GPS)/Differential

Global Positioning System (DGPS) ● Forward Looking Infra Red (F.L.I.R.) thermal

imaging cameras ● Boom-Mounted Cabin Skin Penetration Devices ● High Capacity Bumper Turret Systems ● Dual Agent Application ● High Energy Cold Compressed Air Foam

Systems (HECCAFS) ● Passive and Computer Controlled Active

Stabilized Strut Suspension ● Specialized Emergency Response Vehicles

By Joseph A. Wright

President, ARFFTechnical Services, Inc.

New ARFFTechnology: A Technical Approach To Improvingthe Aircraft Rescue & Fire FightingServices ResponseAirport Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) services have seen many newtechnologies advanced in the last decade designed to improve the effectivenessof the ARFF response at civil and military airports. In a comprehensive researchprogram, industry manufacturers assist the fire services in developing specializedequipment for airport firefighting use.

Pic courtesy of CrashRescue Equipment

P. 47-54 ARFF Firefighting 27/7/07 1:33 PM Page 47

DEVS – GPS/F.L.I.R. Quite often problems encountered by fire rescueservices during actual aircraft accident responsespoint to the need for new technology develop-ment. Between January 1990 and February 1991,three major accidents occurred in the UnitedStates involving collisions between aircraft onactive runways. All three of these accidentsoccurred at night and involved fatalities. Theresponses by ARFF services to two of these acci-dents were impeded by poor-visibility conditions.ARFF vehicle operators were forced to drive moreslowly to avoid becoming lost or colliding withobstacles in the fog. The fog also made locatingthe accident sites difficult. Poor visibility andresponse problems were the driving catalyst todevelop technologies such as DEVS and F.L.I.R.cameras.

The problem of a poor-visibility response atairports for rescue and fire fighting services can bebroken down into three components: ● Locating the accident sites ● Navigating aircraft rescue and Fire Fighting

vehicles to crash sites ● Negotiating terrain and obstacles in low-visibility

conditions The United States (US) Federal Aviation Admin-

istration (FAA) calls its airport poor visibility systemthe Driver’s Enhanced Vision System (DEVS). DEVSconsists of an integrated system of sensors,computers, and navigational equipment designed

to improve the response and operation of ARFFcrews in low-visibility conditions. Recent opera-tional responses have pointed to the need forairport fire services to have equipment withinrescue vehicle cabs that will permit response underthe limiting operating conditions of fog, rain,sleet, snow, and smoke due to environmental con-ditions of absolute zero fog runway visual ranges(RVR). This need can be met by a Forward LookingInfra Red (F.L.I.R.) thermal imaging camera. CrashRescue Equipment Service, Inc. of Dallas, Texas,working with the FAA Rescue and Fire Fighting(RFF) Research and Development Program, haspioneered the use of F.L.I.R. thermal imagingcameras. F.L.I.R. BALL™ is one of the mostinexpensive and yet most reliable thermal imagingcameras on the market today.

Until recently, aircraft rescue and fire serviceshad no reliable way to locate and navigate to crashsites at airports under poor visibility conditions. AF.L.I.R. camera will facilitate faster and safer travelto emergency situations at night and in adverseweather conditions. It will also provide a substantialincrease in the ability to locate people, otheraircraft, vehicles, and debris at the emergency site.Its ability to see through flames, smoke, and fog in

daytime and nighttime conditions will give ARFFvehicles a decisive increase in effectiveness in everyphase of the emergency operations. A F.L.I.R.thermal imaging camera should be installed in allaircraft rescue and firefighting vehicles.

The F.L.I.R. technology is most effective whencombined with a Global Positioning System (GPS)with moving map capability. The preferred DEVSwould include a F.L.I.R. imaging sensor along witha differential GPS providing accuracy down to one-half meter. A fully functional system wouldalso include a central data and command RF (radiofrequency) link. These elements can be integratedinto a single low-cost functional system.

Boom-mounted cabin skin penetrationdevices The analysis of aircraft accidents involving externalfuel fires has shown that, although external firesare effectively extinguished, secondary fires withinthe fuselage are difficult to control with existingequipment and procedures. In particular, there wasa need to improve post-crash interior firesurvivability by developing better post-crash cabininterior fire suppression techniques. Large amountsof smoke-laden, toxic gases and high tempera-tures in the passenger cabin can cause delays inevacuation and pose a severe safety hazard to the



NEW ARFF TECHNOLOGYINDUSTRIAL


Between January 1990 and

February 1991, three major

accidents occurred in the

United States involving

collisions between aircraft on

active runways. All three of

these accidents occurred at

night and involved fatalities.



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fleeing passengers. The fire fighters put them-selves at great personal risk when attacking anyinterior fire with hand lines. Historically, there hasbeen no proven method to get early waterintervention into the cabin interior within a fewminutes of arrival of firefighting crews.

There is a need to improve post-crash interiorfire survivability through better cabin interior firesuppression techniques. The FAA, along with theUnited States Air Force (USAF) and the SanAntonio, Texas, Fire Department have vigorouslytested the Snozzle™. In a unique, full-scale interiorfire suppression demonstration at the San AntonioInternational Airport, an elevated boom, with acabin piercing device, Snozzle™ system showedthe dramatic effectiveness of the cabin skin pene-tration and fire suppression capability. Some of thesignificant findings of this testing are as follows: ● The “class A” interior fed fire growth was

successfully controlled by the Boom-MountedCabin Skin Penetration System with the injec-tion of water only at the rate of 375 gallons perminute (gpm).

● Fire fighters were not required to provideadditional hand line intervention from the frontentrance of the aircraft; thus, the fire fighterswere not put at risk when entering the burningaircraft.

● Interior temperature reductions caused by thespray of fine mist water provided a safecondition for the fire fighters to later enter theaircraft, if necessary.

● Firefighting services can use elevated boomdevices with their high reach and low groundattack agent distribution to gain quicker controlof post-crash external pool fires.

● Early intervention of water spray can provide ameaningful improvement in cabin post-crashinterior fire survivability. The ability to apply agent low to the ground

reduces extinguishing time and, with the addedcabin skin piercing device, water can be rapidlyinjected into the cabin of the aircraft if neededand has been proven in tests as well as operationalresponses.

At present, more than 400 civil airportsworldwide now have elevated devices in theirequipment arsenals. The 652 extended reachboom was developed to provide second levelpassenger seating protection for the Airbus A380double-decked aircraft

High-capacity bumper turret systems FAA/USAF large-pool firefighting research hasshown that low ground application of extinguish-ing agents produces better results than the


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Large amounts of smoke-laden,

toxic gases and high

temperatures in the passenger

cabin can cause delays in

evacuation and pose a

severe safety hazard to the

fleeing passengers.


raindrop method that was used for many years inAqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF) applications. Amore direct method for application than thetraditional roof mounted turret is the high capacityextendable bumper turret. In Research andDevelopment (R&D) testing, it resulted in a 50%reduction in agent application. The agent is

applied from a low ground position with a high-capacity bumper turret. This location eliminatesagent loss or waste from high-capacity roof turretapplication methods.

In addition to removing the window over-sprayproblem, there is a significant improvement in fireknockdown and control applications when the





agent is precisely supplied using low, parallel-to-the-ground application sweeps.

Dual-agent application A new method has been developed to provideprimary agent and secondary dry chemical appli-cations simultaneously. Developed out of the oilwell fire crises in the Middle East, the new nozzlesystem entrains the dry chemical powder into the master stream delivery system. This hasresulted in better performance in combating three-dimensional running fuel fires. Measuredresults have shown the ability to deliver drychemical precisely at distances of as much as 200feet in USAF/FAA joint tests. Hydro-Chem™ is aconsiderable improvement over other dual-agentapplication nozzles.

HECCAFS High Energy Cold Compressed Air Foam (HECCAF), and Compressed Air Foam Systems(CAFS) allow agent to be delivered at longerdistances than wild fire systems. They also allowthe encapsulation of high visibility PKP drychemicals into the master stream so that it can bedelivered and coat vehicles and equipment that itis sprayed on. The below pictures illustrate thelatest technologies being used, and just how farthe HECCAF and CAFS technology has come inthe last decade. These systems are specificallydesigned for airport firefighting use, but havemany other applications.

How is CAFS foam different from conventionallyproduced foam? Today’s foam nozzles create foamexpansion by mechanically mixing air with thewater/foam solution as it leaves the nozzle. The

nozzle design is physically limitedto producing an expansion ratio of3.5 to 1, up to about 5.0 to 1.Large air-aspirated tubes canincrease the expansion ratio some-what but sacrifice throw distance.With CAFS, the foam is createdbefore it exits the nozzle. Air,under pressure, is injected into thewater/foam stream well before itexits the nozzle. Either by injectordesign or by in-line mixers installedin the piping system, thewater/foam and air is expanded to10:1 or more. The air pressureadds energy to the exiting foamstream giving excellent throw dis-tance.

Why do you want a higher expansion ratio?Water/foam as a liquid has limited ability to absorbheat. A water/foam droplet has a fixed size and asthe surface area is exposed to heat, it vaporizeswhich in turn absorbs the heat and cools the fuelbelow ignition temperature. A single water dropletcan make 3 to 5 bubbles in a conventional foamnozzle – thus 3 to 5 times the surface area is avail-able to absorb heat. CAFS can produce 10 to 12bubbles from one drop of water multiplying thesurface area and the ability to absorb heat. A sidebenefit is that now there are many more bubbleson the fuel surface that continue to absorb heatand seal vapors. The more bubbles, the longer thedrain time (time for bubbles to break down to aliquid) and the longer the foam blanket can workfor you.

Stabilized strut suspension Stabilized strut suspension by Davis Technology ofDallas, Texas is a dramatic improvement. It is nolonger acceptable to consider the ARFF responseas a straight-line race for acceleration and stop-ping. The stabilized suspension shock strut systemis a passive system, and has balanced hydraulicand high-pressure air inputs. These high-pressureair inputs are controlled by a series of internalvalves. Wheel deflection and control are delicatelybalanced to provide a precise handling package.As the vehicle traverses around a turn the shiftingcenter of gravity is resisted by the high pressureinternal fluids and provides precise correction tomaintain a safe, level ride. Coupled with acomputer and lateral “G” force sensors the systembecomes an active system and actually leans thevehicle into the turn for safer handling at high and




A water/foam droplet has a fixed size and as the

surface area is exposed to heat, it vaporizes which

in turn absorbs the heat and cools the fuel below

ignition temperature. A single water droplet can

make 3 to 5 bubbles in a conventional foam

nozzle – thus 3 to 5 times the surface area is

available to absorb heat.



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low speed. Although it may look like a plain shockabsorber it’s what is inside that makes a dynamicdifference. This system is low cost and can beadded to most major rescue vehicles for improvedstability.

Specialized emergency responsevehicles Airport emergency responders may encounternumerous dangerous and hazardous situations.Specialized emergency response vehicles andtrailers have been developed to meet the needs ofthe ever-changing world of airport fire and otheremergency rescue. Fire Wagon™, a division ofCrash Rescue Equipment Services, Inc., offers a fullline of emergency services trailers: ● Foam supply ● Hazardous materials ● Trench rescue ● Triage activities ● Hose supply ● Command and Control ● Structural Fire Fighting ● Technical Rescue ● Decontamination ● Wildland Fire Fighting ● Other Specialty Rescue Vehicles

Crash Rescue Equipment Services are theleading organization worldwide in providing newtechnology to military and civil aviation fireprotection. Technologies which can improveadverse weather response, provide interior firesuppression, provide high performance andsynamic stability to heavy rescue vehicles, have allbeen developed by Crash Rescue.

In addition to research and development pro-grams with the FAA and the USAF, Crash Rescuehas its own in-house testing and Research andDevelopment Program in Dallas, Texas. Some ofthe new technologies provided by Crash Rescuethat will enhance efficiency and improve thefirefighting capabilities of ARFF services at airportsaround the world are improvements to ForwardLooking Infra Red (F.L.I.R.) high reach extendableturrets and agent delivery systems. IFF




Joseph Wright was thePrincipal Airport Fire Safety

Specialist and ARFF ProgramResearch Manger for the FAAfor 33 years. After retiring in

1999, he formed ARFFTechnical Services, Inc.

Phone/Fax 352873-3361 orARFF TEC SRV [email protected]

Goal: Dynamic balsion Installation installed onan older solid axle ance is needed whentraversing a vehicle suspension 30.5 M Radiusturn


Sides w/p 3/2/07 12:33 PM Page 1

TRELLCHEM VPS: PERSONAL PROTECTION EXCELLENCETrellchem® VPS suits combine protection from a wide range of dangerous working situations and uncompromising quality. This makes each suit a very cost-effective, long-lasting personal protection solution.

Designed and skilfully handmade by expert craftsmen, each Trellchem® VPS suit takes advantage of proprietary multilayer laminate technology that provides excellent chemical barrier properties.

Personal protective suits are a signifi cant com-ponent in often risk-fi lled activities. Trellchem VPS suits are therefore built to be extremely durable and strong while still maintaining neces-sary and reliable levels of functionality.

Ask for Trellchem® VPS – Wide-ranging, cost-effective personal protective suits.

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THE SAFETY STANDARD

Certifi cates & Approvals Trellchem® VPSEuropean standard for hazmat/emergency teams EN 943-2.NFPA 1991 incl. chem/bio warfare testing. A Trellchem® VPS suit fulfi ls all demands as a “single skin” suit and does not require any additional cover to meet fl ame and abrasion requirements.


INDUSTRIAL

There are CPS standards that establish minimumrequirements as guideline for decision makersand first responders when evaluating/selecting

CPS. These standards are good tools provided thattheir rather complex content is understood correctly.

The most recognised standards for CPS of ‘LevelA’ (i.e. totally encapsulated) type suits are theAmerican NFPA 1991 and the European EN 943.The former must be considered as the superior (i.e.most stringent) of the two, as shown in thesummary comparison table.

Besides the fact that the chemical permeationresistance test criteria and test duration stipulatedin the American standard is more stringentcompared to the European equivalent, NFPA 1991requires abrasion of test samples prior to thechemical permeation resistance test. This require-ment is regardless of the CPS being of a ‘singleskin/one layer reusable’ or a ‘disposable/limited

use’ type. The EN 943 standard does not dictateany abrasion prior to the chemical resistance test.

The fact that chemical permeation tests inaccordance with NFPA 1991 are made on abradedmaterial is of great importance and advantage forthe users since these results reflect the realitymuch better than corresponding tests madeaccording to EN 943.

A chemical protective suit does not onlyrepresent a chemical barrier protective piece ofequipment but also a working garment which willbe exposed not only to contact with aggressivechemicals but to general wear and tear whenoperated.

Chemical resistance information based on testresults made to the American standard NFPA 1991offers greater confidence for the user since thepreconditioning involves severe abrasion, reflectingwear and tear, which chemical protective suits are

By John F. Eklund

Senior Sales andProduct Manager,Trelleborg ProtectiveProducts AB

Do Type ApprovalCertificates GiveThe Entire Answer?A reflection on chemical protectivesuits from the standards point of viewChemical protective suits (CPS) are available in many different designs andmaterials. The decision of what CPS to use must be based on type of applicationand desired protection factor for the actual user.

Trellchem HPS-T & VPS-VP1 ‘single skin –one layer’ reusable suitsby Trelleborg

P. 57-58 CPC 27/7/07 12:51 pm Page 57

exposed to during operations and training.Do type approval certificates give the entire

answer?The answer to this question could, in fact, be

”yes and no” depending how deep we areprepared to dig into the rather complex content ofthe standard documents and to understand thelimitation of the available options of CPS.

The market offers in principle two differentapproaches/solutions to meet the requirementsoutlined in the stringent American NFPA 1991standard:

Option one includes suits made of delicate andfragile plastic laminate based materials which areoften referred to as disposable or limited use or‘Suit-in-Suit’ ensembles.

These plastic laminate based suits require asecond outer aluminised protective over cover tobe certified according to the American NFPA 1991standard. The second outer aluminised protectivesuit not only provides flame retardant resistanceproperties but (more importantly and unfortunatelyoften not known) also protection from abrasionand other physical wear and tear hazards, whichthese delicate and fragile multi layer thin foillaminate based materials cannot stand. Con-sequently, this aluminised over cover (second suit)is mandatory to meet the abrasion as well as theflame retardant requirements in the NFPA standardand to be certified to the NFPA1991.

Outside the North American market this overcover (i.e. second suit) is often “forgotten” by thedistributors due to price and in some cases alsodue to ignorance. Often, the inner barrier“plastic” suit is sold without any over cover butreference is made to type approval certificates, testprotocols, resistance tables etc. which are valid for

the complete (Suit-in-Suit) ensemble only. A fact,which could jeopardise the safety of the wearer.

Furthermore, these limited use type of “plastic”suits are made of delicate and fragile plastic lami-nate based materials, which do not incorporateany strong base fabric but a non-woven “tissue”only offering very poor mechanical strengthproperties compared to the durable and reusable‘single skin – one layer’ type of CPS whichincorporate strong, safe and flexible true fabric.

The second option is the durable, robust andreusable ‘single skin – one layer’ type of CPS.These exclusive reusable ‘single skin – one layer’suits meet or surpass all requirements of the NFPA1991 standard, including the stringent abrasionand flame-retardant tests without any need of analuminised over cover i.e. second suit. Thesereusable suits are made of garment materials ofadvanced polymeric multi layer laminates incor-porating a barrier laminate and a strong, safe andflexible true base textile.

Lists of all available CPS products certified tothe EN 943 by the various European notifiedbodies are unfortunately not available, whichposes a major problem/challenge for decisionmakers and first responders when evaluating avail-able certified options. Such lists of CPS productscertified to NFPA 1991 exist in America and arepublished on the Internet. However the lists donot group or differentiate disposable or limited use(Suit-in-Suit) ensembles from reusable ‘single skin– one layer’ type of CPS.

Your decision and selection of CPS will not beabout a piece of clothing. It will be about a lifesupport system – your last link in your chain ofprotective equipment. And someone’s life coulddepend on it. IFF


DO TYPE APPROVAL CERTIFICATES GIVE THE ENTIRE ANSWER?INDUSTRIAL

John F. Eklund (b. 1951) isSenior Sales and Product

Manager of the TrelleborgProtective Products AB, a

company within the Swedishinternational industrial group

Trelleborg AB. John is ahighly qualified engineer with

more than 23 years ofexperience in managing thedevelopment, engineering,production, marketing and

sales of advanced chemicalprotective clothing (CPC) and

other personal protectiveequipment (PPE).

USA Europe

STANDARD: NFPA 1991

TEST CHEMICALS: 21 specified chemicals (15 liquids and 6 gases)

CHEMICAL RESISTANCE TEST METHOD: Permeation resistance test method; ASTM F739

DETECTION LIMIT OF PERMEATION TEST: 0,1 µg/cm2/min

PRECONDITIONING OF PRIMARY SUIT MATERIALSPRIOR TO PERMEATION TEST: Flexing and (!) abrasion

DURATION OF PERMEATION TEST: ≥ 60 min

TEST TEMPERATURE OF CHEMICAL PERMEATIONRESISTANCE TEST: +27˚C (+81˚F)

CHEMICAL RESISTANCE TEST OF ZIPPER/CLOSURE: Tested for penetration resistance for 60 min after 50opening/closing cycles.

WARFARE AGENT RESISTANCE TEST: “Chembio” testing with five agents (permeation testmethod CRDC-SP-84010); min. test duration: 60 min.,test temperature: +32˚C (+90˚F) except for CKpermeation test method ASTM F739)

STANDARD: EN943-1 and EN943-2

TEST CHEMICALS:EN943-1: ≥ 2 none specified chemicalsEN943-2: 15 specified chemicals (12 liquids and 3 gases)

CHEMICAL RESISTANCE TEST METHOD:Permeation resistance test method; EN374-3 or EN ISO 6529

DETECTION LIMIT OF PERMEATION TEST:1,0 µg/cm2/min

PRECONDITIONING OF PRIMARY SUIT MATERIALSPRIOR TO PERMEATION TEST:None

DURATION OF PERMEATION TEST:EN943-1: 10 minEN943-2: 30 min (or if failure to pass include warning inusers manual)

TEST TEMPERATURE OF CHEMICAL RESISTANCEPERMEATION TEST:+23˚C (+73˚F) or 20˚C (+68˚F)

CHEMICAL RESISTANCE TEST OF ZIPPER/CLOSURE:Tested for permeation resistance for 5 min (nopreconditioning i.e. opening/closing required). This testapplies to EN943-2 only!

WARFARE AGENT RESISTANCE TEST:No test stipulated.

STANDARDS ON GASTIGHT CHEMICAL PROTECTIVE CLOTHING

P. 57-58 CPC 27/7/07 12:51 pm Page 58

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INDUSTRIAL

In fact, the overall safety of professional firefightershas taken on a whole new meaning with thedevelopment of innovative modular systems that

can be quickly and easily adapted to suit a particular“shout”. Placing the emphasis on usability, perfor-mance and comfort, these new systems can belinked together to meet the exact needs of today’sfirefighters – as well as their needs for tomorrow.

For the first time harnesses, face masks, helmets,communications and telemetry can be selected tooffer the utmost protection against specific hazardsand/or exceptional circumstances. In addition, theeffortless assembly and disassembly of each of themajor components means that not only can the BAbe configured rapidly, but easy care and main-tenance will guarantee quick turnaround times inthe workshop and, as a result, ensure that thebreathing apparatus is always ready for use.

The start of a revolutionBack in 1990, in anticipation of the new PPE Direc-tive, EN137, Draeger Safety seized the opportunity todevelop a new type of CABA. With the standard as aguide, the company made the decision not to simply

amend existing sets but, instead, undertook extensiveresearch to find out exactly what firefighters needed.As a result, Draeger has been able to revolutionisethe design and effectiveness of BA way beyond thebasic requirements and lead the way, technologically,well into the future.

For instance, the burden of weight on the back issomething that every firefighter has to contendwith. Following studies with the Rotterdam FireBrigade to determine the most effective method ofweight distribution and body mounting of BA sets,Draeger found that it was able to significantlyreduce the likelihood of back injuries by minimisingthe stress on the body. In Addition, following carefulconsideration of a study of anthropometrics,Draeger also added a height adjustment feature tothe backplate.

Recognising that BA is worn in dynamicapplications where firefighters are required to move,bend and stretch, a sliding/pivoting waistbelt wasintroduced to ensure free movement and allow forup to 80mm of spinal stretch. Knowing that, beforeanything else is taken into consideration, theaverage firefighter is required to carry 3 kilos of

By Gerd Pearson

Taking a ModularApproach to SCBAWith more “whistles and bells” than ever before, modern day self-containedbreathing apparatus (SCBA) is no longer a device that “simply” allows someoneto breathe. Instead, it now plays an integral role in the safety of firefighters byoffering better protection than ever before and transmitting vital data to theircolleagues about real-time operational conditions as well as their own individualstatus. However, not every situation requires the same breathing apparatusfunctionality and how can something so technically advanced be designed tosuit the needs of every application? The answer lies in one word, “modularity”.

Pic courtesy of Draeger

P. 61-63 SCBA 27/7/07 12:51 pm Page 61

compressed air, Draeger also took the opportunityto reduce cylinder weight. Lighter than traditionalversions, carbon composite cylinders were devel-oped and are now available in a number of differentformats and configurations to suit different require-ments. (In fact Draeger is still the only breathingapparatus manufacturer to make its own carboncomposite cylinders.)

By the late 1990’s, and still listening to itscustomers, Draeger launched the next phase of fullyintegrated CABA: electronic monitoring. This sawthe introduction of the DraegerMan Bodyguardand, five years later in April 2002, the DraegerManBodyguard II.

Easy to use with simple push-button controls toprovide fast access to essential information, Body-guard offers a host of previously separate warningand monitoring devices within a single instrument.

For example, amongst other things, thisadvanced data storage unit can indicate how muchair is left within the cylinder and, by calculating thecurrent rate of consumption, will advise thefirefighter how much time he or she has left. Inaddition, it can provide a temperature reading andact as a distress alarm if a firefighter becomestrapped. If a firefighter is unconscious and cannotmove, it will, after a pre-determined time, sound anautomatic alarm which is both visible and audible.

The availability of electronic monitoring alsobrought about the dawn of telemetry. Developed byDraeger and launched as the first system of its kind,the PSS Merlin takes the guesswork out of entrycontrol and accountability procedures and brings a new level of monitoring and protection tofirefighting applications.

Fast and accurate, it incorporates an entry controlboard, the DraegerMan Bodyguard and a portableradio unit attached to the firefighter’s BA set. Usingradio technology to continuously transmit andreceive data from up to 12 individual firefighterssimultaneously, this self-contained, state-of-the-artelectronic system is able to remotely monitor theirexact status and safety from outside the incident.Put simply, the Entry Control Officer (ECO) seesexactly what the firefighter sees in terms ofBodyguard information.

Unlike traditional manual or semi-manual systems

where the ECO knows the time of firefighter entrybut can only estimate the time out, the PSS Merlinprovides ECOs with a continuously updated supplyof vital information. Enabling them to react immedi-ately in an emergency, this also assists with theplanning of relief teams.

Meeting the requirements of TB1/97 andJCDD40, the PSS Merlin control board is based onthe standard UK control board with additionalelectronic displays. Fully automatic and able to sup-port rapid deployment procedures, it provides onecontinuous display channel for each firefightersimultaneously, with full manual back up if required.In addition to the time that the firefighter is due out(based on time remaining), up to six parameters canbe seen by pressing the information button – thebrigade can choose which parameters and the orderin which they are shown. Data logging is alsopossible for post-incident analysis.

An added bonus is that the radio acts as acomplete slave to the Bodyguard which means thatthe firefighter can forget about it – there is no needto tune to the right channel or to press transmit orreceive buttons. Repeaters can be used in circum-stances where signal transmission may be impairedsuch as in underground tunnels..

The latest developmentsForming part of a revolutionary, complete systemsolution from Draeger Safety, the innovativeDraeger PSS 7000 Breathing Apparatus (BA) hasbeen developed by professionals for use in even themost hostile of environments. Modular in design, itcan be easily and quickly configured to suit differentoperational requirements and provides seamlessintegration with facemasks, head protection andcommunications equipment.

Easily upgraded to meet future needs, theDraeger PSS 7000 is the latest development inDraeger’s ongoing commitment to the provision ofworld class breathing apparatus and incorporatestried and tested pneumatics as well as the mostadvanced materials. Bringing greater confidence tousers by combining the very best ergonomics withreliability, durability and safety, it also offers easycare and maintenance. In addition, the Draeger PSS7000 combines a wide range of features to max-imise comfort and minimise both stress and fatigue,and is ideal for use with personal monitoring and/ortelemetry systems.

The new harness, for example, features advancedcompression moulded comfortable padding thatcombines high temperature performance withexceptional wear resistance. A high grip, anti-slipsurface ensures that the harness stays in positionand the set remains secure on the body, whilst aquick release mechanism on both the waistbelt andshoulder harness allows quick and easy detachmentfor easy cleaning and maintenance.

Adjustable and robust, the new heavy duty stain-less steel strap buckles ensure long life and easyoperation when donning and doffing, and theshoulder pads and waistbelt both feature a newquick release mechanism for easy maintenance. Asan added benefit, the new hose sleeves on theshoulder harness are covered with reflectivematerial to increase visibility and, at the same time,provide additional hose protection and minimise therisk of snagging.

Featuring 3-point height adjustment, the light-weight, high strength carbon composite back plateincorporates further integral hose channels toeliminate snagging and offer improved protection.



INDUSTRIAL

P. 61-63 SCBA 27/7/07 12:51 pm Page 62

Large carrying handles have also been integrated forbetter handling and safety, and a new slide andswivel waistbelt mechanism ensures correctpositioning on the body during donning. The firststage pressure reducer has also been fitted with aquick release mechanism for easy maintenance.

Also designed with the needs of firefighters inmind and fully compatible with the Draeger PSS7000 BA as well as the Draeger HPS 6200 Helmet,the new Draeger FPS 7000 Full Face Mask formspart of the same revolutionary, complete systemsolution from Draeger Safety. Developed as a resultof user consultation and representing a newstandard in terms of safety and wearer comfort, itcombines the very latest ergonomic design with alarge field of vision and a secure fit that feels bothcomfortable and natural to wear. Offering moreflexibility than ever before, with a wide range ofmodular, integral accessories, this robust, easilymaintained mask is also available in a variety ofsizes.

Available with either a hypoallergenic Silicone orEPDM mask body for optimum comfort, the maskfeatures a distortion-free polycarbonate visor andoffers an exceptionally wide field of vision. Aninnovative design optimises the air circulation withinthe mask to eliminate misting and, in addition, anumber of different coatings are also available tomeet every eventuality.

Providing an outstanding fit to both the headand face, the ergonomic, double seal of the maskbody ensures a secure, comfortable fit for all faceshapes and contours. The uncomplicated 5-pointhead harness also allows the mask to be donnedand removed both quickly and easily. In addition,and for those who prefer to use mask-helmetcombinations, the new patented 2-point Draeger Q-fix connection, complete with safety button toprevent unintentional release, ensures that theDraeger FPS 7000 can be quickly connected to the Draeger HPS6200 helmet.

Obviously, effective communication is vital to anyfirefighter. For this reason, the mask can also besupplied with the new, integral Draeger FPS-COMcommunication system. This state-of-the-art,modular system can be easily adapted to suit specificneeds, whether for radio communication or voiceamplification.

Maintenance is also quick and easy. In fact, theclever design of these special accessories and thesimple maintenance of each of the mask parts ensurethat the Draeger FPS 7000 is economical and easy toservice as well as being flexible and versatile in use.

Draeger Safety manufactures a wide range ofrespiratory protective equipment as well as personalescape sets, chemical protection suits and bothportable and fixed gas detection systems that areideal for firefighters. Designed to absorb excess bodyheat and bring improved comfort to the wearer, theDraeger CVP 5220 Cooling Vest a typical example.

Ideal for firefighters and those working in hightemperature surroundings, it is also particularlysuitable for use under gas-tight chemical protectivesuits as well as in industrial, shipping, mining andblast furnace applications. Unlike alternative coolingmethods that require pre-freezing, the DraegerCooling Vest incorporates a special Phase ChangeMaterial (PCM) throughout the garment. Able toreduce the wearers’ temperature by around 4°C, itcan, depending on the level of physical work andthe ambient temperature, provide a cooling benefitfor up to 3 hours. IFF



TAKING A MODULAR APPROACH TO SCBAINDUSTRIAL

Lenhardt & Wagner GmbHBensheimer Strasse 10064653 Lorsch / GermanyTel.: +49 (0) 62 51 / 10 74-0Fax: +49 (0) 62 51 / 10 74-14 eMail: [email protected]

High Pressure Solutions made by L&W!

www.lw-compressors.com

Our breathing air compressors offer you the highest standards in quality, reliability, robustness and ease of maintenance. The high value return for your investment combined with low costs of ownership backed up by a world wide network of service centers allow you to concentrate on fulfilling your mission goals while our equipment is filling your SCBA cylinders.

Compressors

BA filtration and monitoring

Storage

Filling panels

Further information isavailable from: Gary TurnbullDraeger Safety UK Limited,Ullswater Close, BlythRiverside Business Park,Blyth, Northumberland NE24 4RG Tel: 01670 352891 Fax: 01670 356266

P. 61-63 SCBA 27/7/07 12:51 pm Page 63

Universal GoldThe Preferred Choice for Fire Professionals Worldwide1% x 3% AR-AFFF Firefighting Foam Concentrate• The first and original 1% x 3% AR-AFFF listed since 1991.• Meets requirements needed by Industrial, Municipal, and Marine Fire Services.• Proven effective on many large and difficult tank fires.• Excellent vapor suppression for many hazmat applications.• Environmentally responsible formulation with no hazardous or federally reportable substances.• Extensive listings and approvals, unmatched by any other foam concentrate. • UL Listed • FM Approved • USCG Approved • Last Fire Level One Pass

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IFF August Ad.ai 7/24/2007 4:50:15 PMKidde National Foam w/p 25/7/07 10:00 AM Page 1


INDUSTRIAL

All firefighters should also be aware of theimpact that laboratory testing has on foammanufacturing. Does testing produce better

and better foam products? Do standardized test-ing criteria challenge foam chemistry – pushingfoam products to excel?

Most laboratory testing criteria focus onminimum standards. Some laboratory tests willdrive product consistency regarding structuralcharacteristics such as appearance, refractiveindex, density or specific gravity, pH and viscosity.“By measuring the physical characteristics, we candetermine if the product has changed from whenit was first manufactured,” says Joan Leedy/

Laboratory Manager for the independent testinglaboratory DYNE Technologies. A common prob-lem with foam concentrate is inadvertent dilutionwith water. Water dilution is often the reason whythe refractive index, density or viscosity is belowthe manufacturers original specification.

“Another type of testing conducted by DyneTechnologies determines the performance charac-teristic of the foam concentrate. The performanceis determined by mixing the concentrate at itsnominal concentration and measuring such thingsas the expansion of the foam when dispersedthrough a nozzle, or the time for 25% of the foamto drain back to solution,” says Leedy.

Edited by Brent Gaspard

Williams Fire & HazardControl

Foam performanceand PerformanceFoamFoam chemistry today is directed by very distinct goals. Foam products aremanufactured for to be effective in their application on various fire types andproduct chemistry, for environmental protections, and with application specificfactors in mind. Some very distinct business factors also affect foam design.These include the production costs, marketability, and budgetary constraints ofpotential client groups.

P. 65-68 Foam performance 27/7/07 1:33 PM Page 65

“The difference in foam construction is basedon the performance level to which the productswere developed. Some foam companies do notformulate their products to put out fires. Rather,they formulate them to pass certain fire perfor-mance tests or criteria.” Mitch Hubert, ChiefChemist with ANSUL.

Industrial foams – specifically AR-AFFF classfoams – brought to market are tested by standardUL 162. UL 162 protocols use a controlledextinguishment environment using Heptane – alow vapor pressure fuel that is pure in chemicalstructure without additives such as those associatedwith gasoline mixtures, and other more complexhydrocarbon flammable liquids.

It is important to note that the UL 162 is a PASSor FAIL test – results of UL 162 bear no indicationof foam performance and efficiency.

Regardless of performance or potency, a foamthat extinguishes the test fire in 1 minute is viewedequally as a foam that extinguishes the fire in 2 or3 minutes because they are all stamped as apassing grade foam.

From the perspective of the firefighter on theground – as well as the corporate procurementoffice – key practical components of firefightingare extinguishment time and foam efficiency.These factors affect fire brigade strength andsafety, potential exposure to other structures and personnel, environmental impact, and foamstores and logistics.

An important auxiliary test that sheds light onfoam performance and efficiency is the APIChevron test. This test adheres to all UL 162protocol, while also tracking many aspects of foamperformance and efficiency. In addition, variousother fuels are tested along with Heptane, such ashigh-octane gasoline, and high-octane gasoline

blends, as well as Isopropanol to test foam perfor-mance when applied other common fuels presentin a refinery and/or storage environment.

These API tests reveal an interesting observa-tion. Many AFFF foam products designed forindustrial fire related emergencies involvinghydrocarbons and alcohol based products – andgiven a PASSING grade by the UL 162 – fail toextinguish fires during testing! Many other prod-ucts perform very closely as they are tracked forcontrol and extinguishment times and burnbackperformance during testing.

There is one exception, however . . .ThunderStorm® ATC AR-AFFF. ThunderStorm isblended as a potent performance based foamdesigned with gasoline and blends in mind.


Many AFFF foam products

designed for industrial fire

related emergencies involving

hydrocarbons and alcohol

based products – and given a

PASSING grade by the UL 162 –

fail to extinguish fires

during testing!


ThunderStorm 1x3 performance stands out whentracked in the API test, performing 100% betterthan the nearest competitor – extinguishinggasoline fires in half the time, and performingthree times better when tested on blended fuels!

Recent tests concerning the impact of Ethanolproliferation into our economies, and its presencein the public transportation environment, haveshed further light on the strength of AR-AFFFfoam such as ThunderStorm. When compared tovarious other foam types for effectiveness in theextinguishment of Ethanol, AR-AFFF is the onlyfoam type that repeatedly will extinguish this polarsolvent when applied properly.

The Ethanol Emergency Response Coalition(EERC) sponsored testing under the guidance andparticipation of the International Association ofFire Chiefs (IAFC), and the Independent LiquidTerminals Association (ILTA) with the intent to findout what foam agents would work most effectivelyon incidents involving ethanol fires in bulk storage,and in transportation scenarios. The testing wasconducted over a two-week period, starting inFebruary 2007, at ANSUL’s Fire Technology Center,in Marinette, Wis. Using the UnderwritersLaboratory 162 (UL162) Standard for Safety thistest was performed as a blind test with the foamconcentrates being put into sterile containerslabeled A,B,C,D,E,F Foam Equipment and LiquidConcentrates. Forty-three individual tests wereconducted on denatured ethanol (or E95), andE10 (gasohol) using Type II, Type III, and sprinklerapplications. The following types of foams weretested in the blind test: ● Alcohol Resistant AR/AFFF ● Class A foam ● AFFF● Emulsifying/Wetting agent ● Regular Flouroprotein ● Alcohol resistant Film Forming Flouroprotein

AR/FFFP ●● specific manufacturers and products

remained anonymousThe results indicate that AR-AFFF was the

only foam agent that successfully passed theUL162 tests against both E10 and E85/95.While some of the other foams may havesome degree of effectiveness, depending onthe situation and their application rate, thetests confirmed that AR-AFFF will be the mosteffective foam for fires or spills involvingethanol-blended fuels.

These results beg a further and critical pointabout application. Due to the water miscibility ofethanol, plunging of foam during application isdetrimental to the extinguishment efforts. In anygiven scenario responders must address theirapplication methods to overcome the chemical

characteristics of the fuel. With fixed systems,apparatus, and even handline applications thereare options available in applying the foam in ameans conducive to successful extinguishment.One method when using nozzle applications as inpersonnel on the ground with handlines is to bankthe foam against any structure adjacent to the fireto agitate the foam, break its velocity, and cascadethe foam down onto the surface of the fuel for agentle application.

When 3M withdrew from AFFF foam manufac-turing Williams Fire & Hazard Control challengedthe foam industry to build a superior AFFF foamthat would be effective on both hydrocarbons andalcohols with proportioning requirements of 1%for hydrocarbons applications. The protocoldeveloped for this evaluation process utilized the3M foam concentrates as the benchmark.Products were tested on high-octane gasoline andhad to meet or exceed the 3M Light Water ATC


FOAM PERFORMANCE AND PERFORMANCE FOAMINDUSTRIAL

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With fixed systems, apparatus,

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there are options available in

applying the foam in a means

conducive to successful

extinguishment.


performance. The severity of most large-scaleindustrial fire related emergencies easily outstripsthe minimum requirements needed to be accept-able in the eyes of a laboratory.

Over 50 separate formulations offered by sevenof today’s top foam manufacturers (3 companiesoffering 12 formulations each) were tested duringthis intense search for the best foam concentrate.This thorough evaluation program led to arelationship between Williams Fire & Hazard Con-trol and ANSUL. Together, Williams and ANSULbuilt ThunderStorm to fulfill field performancerequirements based on 25 years of some of the

meanest, most dangerous flammable liquid firesknown to industry. The result – ThunderStorm farexceeds the performance required by UL 162. Itwas also formulated to pass stringent stabilityrequirements established by Williams’ own “RealWorld Plunge Test”.

Those who make a living as firefighters, as wellas protect the lives of firefighters around them willwant to have the most potent blend of foamavailable. Greater confidence of fast knockdown,control, and extinguishment of any volatileindustrial fire results in immeasurable benefits tothe firefighter.

The magnitude of the increased performance of

ThunderStorm can be seen when reviewing APItest results. (Figure 1) In all cases, theThunderStorm product extinguished the UL firemore quickly than the other products and, also,consistently had longer burn back times than theother products.

ThunderStorm 1x3 presents many advantagesnever seen before in industrial firefighting. Asstated, performance is unsurpassed results in asafer and much more effective response effort.Furthermore – and this is a key budgetingconsideration – 1% concentrate allows for pro-curement, storage, staging, and application ofmerely one-third (1⁄3) the amount of foam productwhen compared to 3 x 3! These proportions mustbe considered when assessing foam costs andlogistics.

One challenge with ThunderStorm was seen inthe training environment. Once the premiumgrade of ThunderStorm had been used toextinguish a prop, ThunderStorm’s overpoweringextinguishment factor, and its extended vaporsuppression times made it impossible for trainingcenters to relight training modules quickly enoughto facilitate multiple rotations through their livefire training props. The foam was too strong!

Therefore a sister product was blended for thetraining industry – named “T-STORM”. While T-STORM maintains the knock down force of thepremium grade of ThunderStorm, its chemistry istailored to the training market and is non-flourinated. T-STORM’s characteristics feature anaccelerated drain time allowing for quickerturnaround for rotations on the training ground.

The difference between the foam blends is inthe relative levels of each of the raw materials.These various blends have allowed ThunderStormto address all aspects of market demands as wellas budgetary considerations. IFF


Figure 1

FOAM PERFORMANCE AND PERFORMANCE FOAMINDUSTRIAL

Those who make a living as

firefighters, as well as protect

the lives of firefighters around

them will want to have the

most potent blend of

foam available.


TRAINING

Pic courtesy of Texas Engineering Extension Service


E2V (IFF14) w/p 26/4/07 4:17 PM Page 1


TRAINING

Estimates from the Government and Associa-tion of British Insurers suggest that 27,000homes and 5,000 businesses have been hit so

far and the final claims bill will reach more than£1bn.

Calls for a single body to take charge of floodresponses in the UK have put the fire service underpressure to create a water incident taskforce thathas standardised equipped and trained firefighterswho can deal with natural disasters.

As part of this evaluation, Merseyside Fire &Rescue Service carried out an agency-wide studyinto the growing number of water rescue incidentsstaff was called to in 2005, resulting in the estab-lishment of a water rescue unit and realised it

needed to train every firefighter in waterawareness, and those who have a water risk intheir station area in waterskills rescue techniques.

The concept of the International WaterskillsCentre was formed in response to the increasingnumber of water incidents each week attended byMerseyside Fire and Rescue involving everythingfrom pleasure craft to vehicles immersed in waterwith trapped passengers.

Working in partnership with VT Critical Services,Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service established theInternational Waterskills Centre in Mersey Dock,the first centre of its kind in the UK. The state-of-the-art facility is designed not only to meet thetraining needs of the modern fire and rescue

By Paul Gibson

Merseyside Fire& RescueServices WaterRescue UnitFlash floods, cities populated by 10,000 people under feet of water brought onby heavy rain and a low pressure weather system sweeping in from the Atlantic.

From the description it sounds like a film starring Charlton Heston or GeorgeClooney, but it is the frightening reality that greeted firefighters in Yorkshire andthe North East of England in June.

P. 71-74 Merseyside 27/7/07 12:53 pm Page 71

service, but also the public sector and businesscommunity.

The centre not only trains its own integratedriver rescue teams, but has grown into the world’sfirst flood water training environment. It has thecapacity to equip emergency service staff withbasic, still-water rescue knowledge through toswift water technicians. It can also train thetrainers particularly in advance water rescue, andhas links with Federal Emergency ManagementAgency (FEMA) water rescue units and trainersbased in Texas, USA and Europe.

The trigger event that catalysed the examina-tion of the UK’s ability to react to such events wasthe Carlisle floods in 2005, when three naturalweather systems met in the North West of

England, causing three rivers to burst their banksand left rescue teams virtually unprepared for thelevel of flooding that would engulf the area.

Heavy rain fell in 36 hours, affecting many ofthe county’s biggest towns including Keswick,Cockermouth, Kendal and Penrith, but the worstof the weather was experienced in Carlisle, flood-ing more than 1,700 homes and businesses.

Firefighters and emergency service workerswere forced to improvise the rescue of peopletrapped by rising water, using whatever equip-ment they could find at the scene, highlighting theneed for dedicated flood and water Fire andRescue teams across the country.

In Liverpool, Paul Gibson, Group Manager ofMerseyside Fire and Rescue’s newly formed WaterRescue team watched the news unfold on the TV.ACFO Bill Evans contacted the CFO of Cumbria


TRAINING

The centre not only trains its

own integrated river rescue

teams, but has grown into the

world’s first flood water

training environment.


and called the team together so they couldprepare and mobilise.

“Within an hour there was a request for assis-tance being made by the emergency services inCarlisle, so we deployed to give whatever help wecould. When we got there we were faced with thevery unreal scenario of seeing a Victorian highstreet that was under six or seven feet of waterand realised it was a major incident.

“It was completely un-nerving as the onlysound you could hear was the lapping of waterwhere there would normally be cars and peoplegoing about their everyday business. It was thefirst time we had experienced anything on thisscale.”

Over the next 48 hours the team rescued morethan 150 people, helping them escape theirhomes with small non-powered dinghies and sliderafts in areas where coastguard rigid inflatableboats could not reach because of their largepropeller-powered engines.

“Many of the rescues we performed involvedthe extraction of people from the upper floor win-dows of residential properties which were difficultto reach. We were obstructed by submerged carsin the roads, garden gates, fences and brick walls,making it impossible to use any form of propeller-powered boat or rigid inflatable,” adds Gibson.

“Our training prepared us to a point, but itmeant that the team was constantly adapting theways in which they were working. Rescue teamsfrom the emergency services on site informed eachother on any new methods that worked as weprogressed.”

Technical rescue skills learned in Carlisle haveevolved and become part of the training coursesand daily operating procedures at the InternationalWaterskills Centre.


MERSEYSIDE FIRE & RESCUE SERVICES WATER RESCUE UNITTRAINING

When we got there we were

faced with the very unreal

scenario of seeing a Victorian

high street that was under six

or seven feet of water and

realised it was a major incident.

MFC Survival’s Rescue Sled used by theMerseyside Water Rescue Unit


An internal strategic water working group atMerseyside constantly assesses their trainingneeds, to the point where real-time scenarios arecreated in the dock from river rescues using jet skisand rigid inflatable boats (with slide rafts) to urbanflood rescues and incidents involving vehiclesimmersed in water.

Chris Braithwaite, VT Critical Services BusinessManager, said: “VT Critical Services owns andoperates two fire training centres in the UK,Severn Park Fire and Rescue Training Centre nearBristol and Cardiff Gate Training and DevelopmentCentre in Wales, which it designed and built. It hasdeveloped a similar partnership with Merseysideand the International Waterskills Centre.

“VTES has worked with Merseyside Fire &Rescue since 2006 to establish training needs offirefighters and trainers at The InternationalWaterskills Centre. Our role in the partnershipincorporates the research and development of fireand rescue simulators, to the contract manage-ment of fire and rescue out-sourced training. Thisalso includes management of the facilities of thecentre along with fire training course design anddevelopment to the procurement of any fire andrescue training equipment the team may needboth on a daily and annual basis.”

The call to assist rescue teams in Carlisle hasalso resulted in the establishment of a specialistflood response team that is on constant standbyand can be mobilised to anywhere in the North ofEngland or Wales within three hours.

As International Firefighter goes to press, theMerseyside Water rescue team have been workingalongside other emergency services in Humbersidein a range of support roles.

Over the next two years, the partnership is plan-

ning to develop a new range of urban floodresponse courses, and expand a swift water rescuetraining centre in North Wales.

Paul Gibson said: “The service saw there was aneed for an integrated Water rescue team to cope with the growing number of daily incidentsrequiring water rescues.

“The events in Carlisle taught emergencyservices that when it comes to water, the perfectset of circumstances can create very unreal rescuescenarios so we need each member of our team tobe ready for anything.

“Fire and rescue services in the UK are reactingto the growing need for water safety and floodresponse training so they can deploy experiencedand knowledgeable staff in the field. Search andrescue training techniques are evolving all the timeas we learn from each incident.”

The model developed by Merseyside and VTCritical Services is being assessed to investigatewhether the partnership can be rolled-out to otheremergency services, so that every firefighter in theUK is trained in water rescue techniques over thenext five years.

With this in mind, the vision for the InternationalWaterskills Centre is one of expansion and furtherinnovation using a dry dock near the centre inMerseyside.

Paul Gibson adds: “The partnership we havewith VT Critical Services is valued and vital as theyhave a long track record in Government and cor-porate blue chip training. This means we are ableto draw on their expertise and resources and haveaccess to the best and most up-to-date trainingfacilities, encompassing our vision of a dedicatedwater training environment for the benefit offirefighters in the UK.” IFF


MFC Survival’s RescueSled

MERSEYSIDE FIRE & RESCUE SERVICES WATER RESCUE UNITTRAINING


Unifire w/p 18/5/06 5:07 pm Page 1

When quick reactions under extreme stress are

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HotFoam is a trademark of a subsidiary of Tyco Holdings (UK) Ltd. Copyright © A subsidiary of Tyco Holdings (UK) Ltd.

810t IFP/Skum/0507 FPB 11/4/07 6:48 pm Page 1


TRAINING

Héctor Raúl Gonzáles Alvaran (Instructor, Offi-cial Fire-Fighters Unit, Manizales, Colombia)and Diego Moreno (Official Fire-Fighters

unit, Medellin, Colombia) spent the month of mayinvolved in a practical fact-finding mission in theCounty with a view to providing their own trainingfacility in Colombia.

The aim of their visit was ultimately to gainsufficient experience as Fire Behaviour Instructorsto safely deliver training in their own country, andto this end the members of staff at the Devon cen-tre of ‘training for excellence’ had arranged to givethem ‘one to one’ tuition in all aspects of thetraining.

The schedule for the month was an intensiveone, with our colleagues taking part in an initialBreathing apparatus course alongside recruits from

Royal Berkshire, Somerset and Devon. The coursewould include our UK BA procedures that wouldbe used during the training and it would beimperative that this knowledge was refreshed priorto concentrating on the Fire behaviour theory andpractical drills at Devon & Somerset’s Breathingapparatus & Fire Behaviour centre at ExeterAirport.

The first week followed the Initial BreathingApparatus course; from breathing apparatus setdescription and familiarisation, fresh air wear,search and rescue techniques, confined spaceprocedure leading up to a series of challenging‘cold smoke’ exercises.

The week culminated in an introduction to theFire behaviour element of Initial training in theform of a Demonstration ‘Carbonaceous hot fire’

By Paul Furler

Colombian FireOfficers Breathingapparatus andFire behaviourtraining in DevonFollowing the training visit to Colombia in September 2006 by Peter Sandel andPaul Furler and at the invitation of the CFO, two Colombian Fire Instructorsrecently travelled to Devon to continue the collaboration between Devon &Somerset Fire & Rescue Service and the Colombian Fire Service.

Pic courtesy of PaulFurler

P. 77-80 Colombian 27/7/07 12:54 pm Page 77

container exercise.During our September 2006 training visit to

Colombia the last day of the basic BA coursesincluded an introduction to Fire behaviour withvideo and photographic explanations of the signsand symptoms of Flashovers and Backdrafts, andso this first practical demonstration was extremelygraphic for Héctor and Diego.

While debriefing the first week’s progress it wasdecided that it would be advantageous for ourcolleagues to continue being attached to therecruit course until the Fire behaviour element hadbeen covered in full at which time they would starttheir individual Instruction. Another Initial coursehad been scheduled for the third week and theywould then be able to ‘cherry pick’ parts of thecourse to re-visit if necessary to view Instructorskills in a real training environment.

Héctor and Diego while predominantly workingas a team, took part in Attack 1, 2, 3 and 4sessions over the ensuing second week, puttingthe branch techniques that they had learned usingour UK equipment to safely deal with fire gases in‘compartment fire’ scenarios to good use.

The final exercise for the Recruit fire fighters ontheir initial training is a ‘Hot fire’ exercise in the‘Villa’, incorporating all the skills that they havelearned, including the search and rescue andbranch technique elements.

The ‘Villa’ is essentially 6 containers weldedtogether to form a two-storey building with aseries of compartments inside connected by stairsand corridors. It is a multi-use facility that can beused equally well with cold smoke for search andrescue exercises.

Héctor and Diego took part in this challengingexercise and demonstrated an extremely good level ofexpertise.

The intention of the Authori-ties in the region of Manizales,Caldas is to provide oneDemonstration and one Attackcontainer based on the designused in Devon.

The site for the Centre hasbeen allocated on the outskirtsof the City adjacent to one of the Fire stations there, and it only remains for our col-leagues to return with sufficientinformation to be able topurchase and construct suitablecontainers.

To further facilitate this MrGraham Leney the ManagingDirector of ‘Transitional Fire’ the Company who currently



TRAINING



fabricate Devon’s containers wasapproached and was extremelyhelpful in providing professionalknowledge and detailed plans toenable the Colombians to startthis process.

A day was spent during thesecond week observing the man-ufacturing process at thecompanies HQ in Ottery St Mary,Devon, where a number of com-pleted and partially completedcontainers could be viewed.

Transitional Fire currently pro-duces both Basic Demonstrationand Attack containers, and alsovarious multi-container combina-tion units for a large number ofFire Services across the UK.

The third week of their visitinvolved both Officers increasing-ly taking the Instructor role with Devon Fire Behav-iour Instructors, Nigel Snowshall and Paul Furleracting as students in a number of ‘demo’ and‘attack’ sessions.

(The ‘Demo’ session involves a measuredquantity of fuel situated on a raised stage being allowed to develop from an initial small fireto the verge of a fully developed, well-ventilated




COLOMBIAN FIRE OFFICERS BREATHING APPARATUS AND FIRE BEHAVIOUR TRAINING IN DEVONTRAINING

While debriefing the first week’s progress it was

decided that it would be advantageous for our

colleagues to continue being attached to the recruit

course until the Fire behaviour element had been

covered in full at which time they would start their

individual Instruction.


fire under the control of the Instructor. Thestudents are able to observe the progression of thefire’s development and suppression a number oftimes.

The Attack container has no ‘staged area’, butonce again a measured quantity of fuel is loaded,the students are briefed and under the control ofthe Instructor they learn to treat the Fire Gasesand progress through the compartment safely andefficiently. Increasingly as the student’s progressfrom Attack 1 to 2 and 3, the ventilation in thecompartment is reduced to demonstrate the onsetof potential ‘back draft’ conditions.)

Both Héctor and Diego were both able to runsessions as Instructors in a safe manner but were

the first to say that they will need to refresh theirInstruction technique ‘in house’ before they cansafely train students at their new Centre inColombia and it is envisaged that Fire behaviourInstructors from Devon will travel to Colombia indue course to assist with initial training.

A ‘window container’ session was also run forthe benefit of both the Recruit Fire-fighters andHector & Diego to create a series of Backdrafts.

A specially designed 6m ‘window’ container isloaded with a larger volume of carbonaceous fuel.The fire is allowed to develop and then suppressedby limiting the ventilation and then the process isrepeated. The ventilation of the container is man-aged in order to build up sufficient energy for aBack draft to occur.

This demonstration is extremely valuable, as youare able to clearly recognise the signs andsymptoms of an impending Back draft from aposition of safety.

The final week of the visit involved consolida-tion of the intensive and extremely steep learningcurve that our colleagues had experienced.

Both Officers returned to Colombia burstingwith their usual enthusiasm and acquiredknowledge and very keen to set the ball in motionin Manizales.

Thanks must go to Chief Fire Officer Paul Youngof Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service for hiscontinued support to the project and to histraining staff at the D&S FRS Breathing Apparatus& Fire behaviour centre under the leadership ofTam Alford. IFF



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TRAINING

There has been a car accident on the highway.3 passenger cars, 2 big trucks and a mini van.The van is on his side. There are bystanders

screaming for help. There are multiple injuredvictims and there is a car on fire. There are severalpeople who are trying to help but the fire isholding them back.

There is black smoke coming out of the windowfrom a house in the middle of the street. A fire isburning in the kitchen. It is night, very dark and itis raining hard. It’s not clear if the family is still inthe house. Neighbors are standing on the streetand trying to get into the house but there is tomuch smoke and it is to hot. On the samemoment the window is breaking, the firefightersarrive on the scene.

What do you do! How do you prepare andmost importantly, how do you train for thesescenarios or any other – as this specific scenario’sor a million others can happen.

Fortunately the victims are not real, the fire is

not hot and the smoke is not toxic. These threeaccidents are just a small example of what ispossible with the Artesis Virtual Training Program.

Especially in the Asian pacific region training is ahot topic seen that the development of the emer-gency organizations are growing rapidly. Thisgrowth raises the question countries are trainedadequately to deal with the available equipment,and with all possible emergency scenario’s thatmay arise. Not all countries in the Asia Pacificregion are, but how do you train the large amountof people to a specific level and keep cost withinproportion. With the development of virtual train-ing programs there may be a opportunity to dealwith this.

Virtual training programs offer advantages thatcan change the way fireman are trained andprepared for scenarios and the proper use ofequipment. Virtual training can be a big stepforward and offer countries and organizations, butthe programs that where around so far had

By Jack Klusters

Artesis Fire FightingGroup

Virtual Training:The Realistic Option for Training ofCountriesImagine! A train station in the town centre, the train is standing still and one of thewagons is leaking. What kind of liquid is leaking out of the wagon is not clear.Passengers at the station are in panic. You can hear the sirens from thefirefighters coming to the accident.

P. 83-87 Virtual Training 27/7/07 1:34 PM Page 83

limitations making it use limited. With the newdevelopments and new technologies, is virtualtraining ready for large deployment and whatadvantages and changes will it offer? This articledescribes the development and what you need toknow about this revolution in training.

What is Virtual Training?Training is a essential part to be adequatelyprepare for incidents with which emergencypersonnel will be confronted. A fire departmentteam consists of several people with everyone adifferent function. So to make a team functiontogether properly, all team members need to betrained separately, and as a group. Every teammember needs to know how equipment work andbe able to perform his individual part. All with theobjective that ones a incident occurs the team is awell organized machine were everybody functionsproperly and can handle any scenario ad ade-quate. Basically it comes down to the fact thateverybody is comfortable in what he is doing andthe tools being used.

Training is the only tool that provides thatobjective, but unfortunately to become comfort-able to handle equipment and all the differentpossible scenario’s repetition, real live feeling andvariation is necessary. Unfortunately somethingthat physical training cannot offer, but virtualtraining can. Virtual training is nothing more thana digital surrounding where numerous scenariosand procedures can be created to train an individualor team to an adequate level. It is a digitalrepresentation of the physical one, but due to thefact it is digital, it offers many advantages whichwe will discuss in more detail.

Any training, including virtual, can be separatedin a procedure or scenario based training.● Procedure: the correct steps in a process for

correct operation of a tool or specific operationlike extrication.

● Scenario: a real life surrounding and incident totrain a team to take correct actions during thewhole incident.

Why Virtual Training?Virtual training offers many advantages aboveother ways of training. Out of research it has beenproven that approx 30% of training can be donevirtual. Logically, this results in a huge saving in


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time and money. There is little to no need to setuptrainings, which with physical training is needed.No need to put down all the necessary equipment,and no need to have the trainings objects in place,just to name a few. With virtual training ones theprogram is loaded it can replay itself over and overagain. The main advantage therefore is that manypeople can be trained in a short period of time. Astudent can go on his own place and repeat aprocedure over and over until the necessary level isachieved.

So besides that 30% can be trained virtual,more important is that physical training is done, itis much more effective, as the class or student is toa higher level and has the basic understanding.The main believe why virtual training can become

a success is that training should start at the base(see a procedure), where you grown your knowl-edge over time. This base can be trained virtual! Itis furthermore also a fact that lessons learned in avirtual training is better retained then theoreticallessons.

Besides the possible tremendous savings thatcan be achieved, virtual training also offers thepossibility to train and exam people to a safe levelor standard. Also in there own level from assistantto commander.

Working of a Virtual Training SystemLike mentioned before the working virtual trainingprogram is based on procedures and scenarios.Procedures for learning the correct predefinedsteps and scenario’s for making correct choices ina real life surrounding. This approach is based onthe Dutch guidelines of training. A proven method

which the Dutch fire services use reaches its highrequired level and maintains it. It is a collection ofindividual as well as group training, both onfireman and commander level.

Procedure TrainingTo teach the rescue workers and to let thempractice the use of for example hydraulic rescueequipment, there is a possibility to use this virtualsystem. With this system, the men learn how touse the tools, which preparation the tools need,how to connect them properly and how to usethem on a wreckage. The big advantage of thisway of working is that the procedure can berepeated till the rescue workers can work with itwithout making any mistakes. The Virtual Systemhelps the rescue workers to be ready for workwith real incidents. The rescue workers canpractice there skills on realistic designed cars.

To safe victims from a car accident, there aresome standard procedures. For example, how totake a door out or do a dash roll. These proce-dures are applicable for all car accidents. With theVirtual training these procedures can be practicedwithout the use of several car wrecks.

These procedures come out of the guidelinesand are build in cooperation with leadingmanufactures. Students therefore truly use theequipment that looks the same as they would inreal live.

Scenario TrainingIn the virtual training world there are severaldifferent scenes to make, so the men will have anew challenge every time they use the virtualtraining system. Men can build specific scenario’swith existing buildings, so you can practice specificneeds without having to go to the building itself.The virtual practice can be done in different levels.The experience most people who has worked withthis training have is that the training is lifelike andthey have the same tension as when they practiceoutside.

Training CommanderTo train the commander and to practice, thewhole team has to be on the scene, without the


TRAINING

Virtual training is nothing more

than a digital surrounding

where numerous scenarios and

procedures can be created

to train an individual or team

to an adequate level.


opportunity to train the team. This is not efficient or instructive for the team.

With the use of the Artesis Virtual training system,the commander has the ability to practice his skillsin a realistic environment without the rest of theteam has to be present. The commander can prac-tice on every suitable moment and can be done asmany times he needs the practice.

The way the system is built it gives the com-mander the feeling that he is actually at the scene.

Possibilities with Artesis Virtual –scenarios and procedure practicesArtesis Virtual is the leading manufacturer when itcomes to virtual training programs. In the lastyears they have developed a new system that usescutting edge technology. Let’s take a look how itworks.

How does the system work?The Artesis Virtual Computer system is a standalone system and can be placed on every location.There has been a virtual world created in thesystem where there can be different scenario’sbuild in and which can be used for training ingroups or alone. Procedure training a student canso by themselves.

The system exists from a computer and twoscreens. One screen is for the instructor and theother screen is for the student. The instructor hasa keyboard and a mouse to operate the system.The instructor can design the scene and follow thestudent on every move.

The student has his own screen. Every order he

gives his team, the instructor has to make thischanges in the scene. The operation of the systemis very simple.

Design your own scenarios The system gives you the possibility to create yourown scenario’s. You can make virtual fire’s on theplaces you want them. You can create car crasheson very different ways. You can put tank andfreight cars on every location you want or cars canbe places on his side. Every existing vehicle andrescue device is available to use on the screen.

Instructor’s screenThe instructor can see on his own screen whichactions his student is making and can help if thesituation needs it.

The scenario can be adjusted during thetraining to make the scenes more difficult or eveneasier for the student. During the training all thedetails will be saved so it all can be discussed andevaluated after the training and it can be com-pared with previous scenarios.

The system is now used for the emergencyservices in The Netherlands is in Dutch languageand typical Dutch buildings and airports are usedfor this. It is very easy to adjust this to any countryin the world with its own language, buildings andairports.

The system can be used mono or multidisciplinary.

The instructors for this system will receiveenough training to design the scenes and to helpthe students through the training. IFF


VIRTUAL TRAINING: THE REALISTIC OPTION FOR TRAINING OF COUNTRIESTRAINING



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