Firefighters arrive on scene to reports of a fire deep inside a large structure. It might be a high rise or factory or sub sub basement of an underground railway system. From the street there is nothing showing and no signs of fire. Sound familiar?

They send an investigation team to locate the fire and report on status. On arrival they find a reasonably 'small' fire that could be immediately extinguished .... if only that had some suppressive agent with them! By the time they get hose-lines laid in and a fire attack initiated the fire has developed into a conflagration.

This scenario happens daily! In many cases it has led to the deaths of firefighters and multiples of trapped occupants. The concept of 'fast attack' uses special strategies, tactics and highly innovative equipment to achieve immediate knock down on arrival of a small fire that is threatening to spread out of control.

Fire confinement may not be possible and it may take several minutes to establish water supply and lay in attack lines deep into the structure. An 'on-the-spot' suppressive action with just a few liters of water might be all that it takes to prevent a conflagration.

This approach, to be effective, relies on strict protocols -

• Do not make entry into a fire compartment without reading the smoke and fire conditions
• Where a fire has escalated beyond a controllable 'minor' fire then a hose-line must be laid in before entry is made
• Confine and zone-off the fire where possible
• Do NOT place firefighters at risk but appreciate that an early attack may prevent a fire spreading and intensifying where any attack is delayed

The tactical backpack is the most mobile support unit to be used in combination with the fog gun. The unit holds a 13 liter water/agent cylinder, a 2 liter air cylinder and a pressure regulator with two outlets giving air pressure to the gun and to its water support. Water and any additive can be filled directly into the water cylinder, the concentration of additive should be reduced to 0,5 - 1% rather than the 3 - 6% normally recommended. The harness is provided with an additional bracket for mounting an extra air cylinder to support a breathing apparatus.

Air resistance acting on the water stream breaks the water droplets down and reduces the normal mean droplet size from about 700 microns to an average of 100 microns. So the cooling surface of one liter of water is increased from the normal 5,8 sqm to 60 sqm. This small amount of water is applied in rapid series high velocity bursts, to knock back small fires before they become big problems!

CLICK ABOVE FOR VIDEO OF IFEX OPERATING ON A 1.5MW FIRE

Information from ops1@fire2000.com 

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