By Kevin L. Jones
FireRescue1 Product Editor
With wildfire seasons seemingly longer and more destructive every year, better preparing communities to protect property has never been so important.
With this growing awareness has come an increase in suppression tools geared toward both firefighters and residents to assist in the prevention of fire damage to homes.
It’s yet to be seen whether the United States will follow the Australian lead in drafting policies would allow some people to stay and defend their homes, although the idea is being looked at by California fire officials.
But regardless of any shift in policy, a number of products and equipment are becoming available that can make a firefighter’s job a whole lot easier in wildfire-prone regions, particularly in rural areas.
One example is the “Stay and Defend Pump” (SAD Pump), which is aimed at property owners, from Nevada-based Specialty Fire Pumps. The SAD Pump is a compact, electric Compressed Air-Foam (CAM) pump that can spray foaming agent 250 square feet per minute, at a distance of 70 to 80 feet.
The $13,000 SAD pump is so small that it can be mounted on a pull-cart or All-Terrain Vehicle and as it comes with its own 68-gallon water tank, it doesn’t need to connect to a water source like standard centrifugal pumps. It sprays foam on land and structures when property is at risk of being threatened by fire, and larger capacity, more powerful versions — that can be either electric or gas-powered — are available for fire suppression agencies.
“Volunteer fire services, like home and business owners, are often ill-equipped to protect themselves against large blazes that are often assisted by hot winds and drought conditions,” company president Gary Wittig said. “We have another tool that can be used to protect the boundaries that are the responsibility of volunteer fire services.”
A product becoming increasingly popular, and which some fire departments have been successful in attracting grants for, is Barricade Fire Gel Home Kits, available from Calif.-based Pride Fire Systems, Inc. It works just like any other fire-suppressing foam — it is sprayed onto whatever flammable objects you need to protect, and when all is safe and clear, it can be sprayed off with water.
“It has saved a lot of civilians’ lives, and they can leave the area knowing their homes are safe,” said the inventor of Barricade fire gel, Capt. John Bartlett, of the Palm Beach County Rescue department, an active firefighter for 26 years.
The gel can handle heat of more than 3,500-degrees, according to the company, and consists of non-toxic materials.
It comes in homeowner-friendly kits that include a 4-gallon container of Barricade, an attachment that allows the gel to be applied by a garden house, and a video that provides information on how to use the kits, which all retails for $324.
In addition, more and more fire departments, particularly in wildland-urban interface areas, are taking on supplies of the gel.
One of the largest is the L.A. City Fire Department, which carries Barricade gel on every engine in service.
“They also have a cache system, so when they have a significant wildland-urban interface event they can bring out these larger amounts to reinforce the supply,” Capt. Bartlett said.
The increased availability of such products highlights the need for fire departments, residents and even insurance companies to be working more closely together, according to Capt. Bartlett.
“We need to be looking at the bigger picture, and look at how it can most have an impact on the wildland-urban interface problem,” he said.