* To the Stirling-Rawdon Fire Department on their new headquarters. F/C Gene Thompson shares the building with Police Chief Brian Foley and Police Services. This may be the first fully sprinklered Fire/Police Station in Canada.
* T
o Darren and Karen Neff on the safe arrival of Kaden on February 26.Don’t forget about the 59th annual OAFC Conference and Trade Show coming up April 30 to May 4. Stop by the M&L Supply display booth on the 1st or 2nd and say Hi.
http://www.oafcevents.com/home.asp
A couple of weeks ago on our annual trip to FDIC in Indianapolis, I once again had the opportunity to attend the "Stop, Drop, Rock and Roll" fundraiser for the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. The live music is always a hit, the buffet is great and there are lots of items to be auctioned off to raise money for the Foundation. This year was no exception; Turnout gear, helmets, a thermal imager, tools, jewellery and other items too numerous to mention. Of particular interest to me was a one-of-a-kind, 911 Commemorative leather helmet kindly donated by Phenix Technology Inc.
Well, you guessed it - I had to have it. And yes, I got it. The response of the firefighters in that room was amazing when the bidding was complete. There was a line-up at our table to get pictures of it. Many went away with photos of them wearing the helmet.
Amid all of this I asked a few at our table, "Why aren’t we doing something like this at the Chief’s show in Ontario?" The need is as great here as it is south of the border; witness the 2 Listowell firefighters that were recently lost. This particular auction raised over $40,000 for the Foundation in a matter of about one hour…truly amazing!
The point is that we, as firefighters have to step up to the plate and show our support for those that need it most; our fallen brothers and their families. If we don’t do it, then who will?
What’s in your toolbox?
- Spare Nozzle
- Sparkplug and wrench (and other tools as needed)
- Water thief and a set of adaptors - Quick Connect to male thread and QC to female thread
- Coupling Wrench, Hose Clamp and Hose Mender
For years, foam has been used as a fire extinguishing medium for flammable and combustible liquids. Unlike other extinguishing agents, a stable aqueous foam can extinguish a liquid fire by the combined mechanisms of cooling, separating the flame/ignition source from the product surface, suppressing vapors and smothering. It can also secure for extended periods of time against re-flash or re-ignition. Water, if used on a standard hydrocarbon fuel, is heavier than most of those liquids and if applied directly to the fuel surface, will sink to the bottom having little or no effect on extinguishment or vapor suppression.
So what exactly is foam? A fire fighting foam is simply a stable mass of small air-filled bubbles, which have a lower density than oil, gasoline or water. Foam is made up of three ingredients - water, foam concentrate and air. When mixed in the correct proportions, these three ingredients form a homogeneous foam blanket.
To make foam, you start with a FOAM CONCENTRATE. This liquid is supplied from the manufacturer which, when mixed with water in the correct proportion, forms a FOAM SOLUTION. Send that foam solution through an aerating nozzle, and you get FINISHED FOAM.
So how much foam can you make? Well, that depends on the expansion rate of the foam which is the volume of finished foam divided by the volume of foam solution used. A ratio of 5:1 would mean that one gallon of foam solution after aeration would fill an empty 5-gallon container with the expanded foam mass. LOW EXPANSION FOAM is foam aerated to an expansion ratio of between 2:1 and 20:1. MEDIUM EXPANSION FOAM is between 20:1 and 200:1. HIGH EXPANSION FOAM is above 200:1.
Now, what about mixing the correct proportion? The MIXING RATE
which is the correct amount of foam concentrate to be mixed with water is
normally shown on the pail or drum of concentrate. The container will
normally display a figure or combination of figures. Normal figures shown
are 1%, 2%, 3% or 6% or a combination of 1% and 3%, 3% and 3%, or 3% and 6%.
If the container of foam concentrate has 3% shown, it means that for every
100 gallons of foam solution required, 3 gallons of the foam concentrate
must be used in the solution with the balance being 97 gallons of water. If
6% were displayed, this would mean that 6 gallons of the foam concentrate
would be required to be mixed with 94 gallons of water to form the 100
gallons of foam solution. From the above, it becomes obvious that a 3% foam
concentrate is twice as concentrated as a 6% foam concentrate. On the same
size and type of flammable liquid fire, half as much 3% foam concentrate
would be required than if the 6% foam concentrate has been used.
Fire burns because there are four elements present. These elements are heat, fuel, air/oxygen and a chemical chain reaction. Under normal circumstances if any one of the elements is removed or interfered with, the fire is extinguished. Fire fighting foam does not interfere in the chemical reaction. Foam works in the following ways:
• The foam blankets the fuel surface smothering the fire.
• The foam blanket separates the flames/ignition source from the fuel
surface.
• The foam cools the fuel and any adjacent metal surfaces.
• The foam blanket suppresses the release of flammable vapors that can mix
with air.
In the next newsletter we’ll look at the different fuel types and determine the correct type of foam to be used on each one.
A Halligan bar (also called a Halligan tool or Hallagan, and is often referred to as a Hooligan Tool in various British and Australian fire services) is a special forcible entry tool commonly used by firefighters and law enforcement. It was designed by and named after Hugh Halligan, a First Deputy Fire Chief in the New York City Fire Department, in 1948. While the tool was developed by a Deputy Chief of the New York City Fire Department, the department did not initially purchase it because of a perceived conflict of interest in buying from a member of the department. The City of Boston Fire Department was the first major customer of the tool, purchasing one for every fire company in their city. The tool was popular enough that members of New York ladder companies went out and bought it with their own money until the department ultimately decided to purchase the tool.
The Pulaski is a special hand tool used in wildland firefighting. The tool combines an axe and an adze in one head with a rigid handle. The pulaski is a versatile tool for constructing firebreaks, as it can be used to both dig soil and chop wood. The invention of the pulaski is credited to Ed Pulaski, a ranger with the United States Forest Service, in 1911, although a similar tool was first introduced in 1876 by the Collins Tool Company. Ed Pulaski was famous for taking action to save the lives of a crew of 45 firefighters during the disastrous August 1910 wildfires in Idaho. His invention (or reinvention) of the tool that bears his name may have been a direct result of the disaster, as he saw the need for better firefighting tools.
