The International Association of Fire Chiefs’ technology council released a whitepaper on testing its members observed using TetraKO‘s water enhancer.
The water enhancer, a white gel-like substance, is a corn-based product that is biodegradable and nontoxic, TetraKO CEO and Founder Doug Ruth said. The product is 99.5 percent water that converts under pressure.
When in a tank, it is a thick material, he said. When pressurized, it becomes the consistency of water, then reverts back to a gel state. That is how it is able to coat burning material and deprive fire of its fuel, he said — something he demonstrates with an ordinary spray bottle at his booth.
The gel is mixed at a 0.06 percent rate to water in an apparatus tank. The gel costs about 65 cents per gallon sprayed (mixed).
If an apparatus needs to draw water from a hydrant or other source, more gel cannot be added. The product is meant to be used for quick attacks, Ruth said. The product will knock down most fires using less than 500 gallons.
The tests for the whitepaper were performed at TEEX’s product development center and showed that material lowered the upper thermal levels by 30 percent in 3 seconds, Ruth said. It will knockdown a fire 10 times to 30 times faster than just water or foam, he said.
In addition to firefighting from a truck, the material can also be dropped by air over wildland fires.