By Alan M. Petrillo
Approximately 250 wildland firefighters, chief officers, incident commanders, and others had an opportunity to see the latest developments in wildland equipment, tools and gear at the recent Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) conference in Reno, Nevada.
WATERAX had its Mark 3 wildland portable fire pump on display, a 58-pound four-stage unit powered by a WATERAX 10-horsepower gasoline engine with a two-inch suction intake, and 1½-inch-inch discharge that puts out a maximum of 105 gallons per minute (gpm) at 380 pounds per square inch (psi). "This is a portable pump that can be handled by one firefighter," says Mario Janson, WATERAX's domestic sales manager. "It's a great pump that's able to push water long distances, which often is needed in wildland firefighting."
Raffaele Gerbasi, WATERAX's president, says the Rancher® series unit WATERAX displayed has a Mini-Striker® WATERAX pump powered by a Honda GXH50 four-stroke gasoline engine with a 65-gallon water tank that puts out 80 gpm at 85 psi through a ¾-inch hoseline on a manual reel. Gerbasi says that the Rancher also is available with a 125-gallon water tank, and that the unit, fitted on a skid, can easily slide onto the back of a utility terrain vehicle (UTV) or the bed of a pickup truck.
Rick Isaacks, municipal foam sales manager for North America at Johnson Controls, which owns Chemguard, says the two most popular foams it makes are the Silv-ex-Plus, and the DirectAttack foam agent. "DirectAttack foam agent fire suppression concentrate is designed specifically for use on Class A fuel fires, including wood, paper, coal, structure, and rubber fires," Isaacks points out. "The foam agent gives the firefighter suppression capabilities, exposure protection, and increased safety. And, it can be effective on some Class B flammable liquid fires when applied by medium- and high-expansion devices."
Isaacks says that Silv-ex Plus is a low-, medium-, and high-expansion Class A foam concentrate formulated from specialty hydrocarbon surfactants, stabilizers, corrosion inhibitors, and solvents. "The latest development in this original forest fire control concentrate is that Silv-ex Plus has been proven effective on deep-seated Class A fires such as tire, paper, coal, structure, and wildfires," he says.
PHOS-CHeK displayed several of its products for wildland and structural firefighting, including its Flash 21 fuel gelling agent, its WD881 Class A foam concentrate, ground-applied Long-Term Retardant for wildland use, First Response Class A foam concentrate and wetting agent to make water more effective for firefighting, PHOS-CHeK Insul-8 structural fire protection liquid gel, and the PHOS-CHeK Solid Class A Foam Stick.
FireStopper USA makes the AB40002 FFC all-purpose firefighting foam concentrate designed to extinguish any class fire quickly, according to Philip Held, national sales manager. The catalyst is a high kinetic catalytic foaming agent, he notes, that can be used on structure fires, hydrocarbon fuels, transformer fires, wildland fires when applied from the air or the ground, or class D magnesium aluminum and titanium fires.
Scotty Firefighter makes the 4010 Fast-Foam applicator that uses PHOS-CHeK Solid Class A Foam Sticks for wildland fire use. (All photos by Alan M. Petrillo.)
Scotty Firefighter, displayed its wildland foam nozzle, as well as its 4010 Fast-Foam applicator for wildland use. "The Fast-Foam applicator uses PHOS-CHeK Solid Class A Foam Sticks," says Lloyd Rees, sales and support for Scotty. "A firefighter can flow from 15 to 95 gpm from the Fast-Foam nozzle, and