Research needed on Class A foam
I have read Bill Manning`s editorial “Will Foam Save Our Babies?” (Editor`s Opinion, March 1996) with some concern. Be there “scientific” proof of the superiority of foams on solid fuels over plain water or not, I feel that some general statements on this affair need to be expressed.
The University of Wuppertal started to investigate Class A foam in 1994. During this research, we have been running crib fire trials in the open and inside enclosures. Our results indicate Class A foam is superior to plain water. We have been using several agents provided by the manufacturers. The basic concept was to provide a performance-based list and to state that product A is best, B second, and so on.
As we started working on this and were exchanging ideas and findings with users and manufacturers from the United States, we changed our concept and decided not to publish this type of trial results because the obtained data are not valid for the present problem: We cannot–and I think nobody else can–claim the superiority of a certain product based on crib fire trials because they do not represent firefighting reality.
Thus, our aim now is to familiarize the European fire services with Class A foam technology as such and then let the user decide about the preferability of a certain product or brand.
The performance of firefighting foams depends on a large array of parameters, such as air humidity and temperature, even air purity (less expansion ratio due to smoke during interior attack), wind speed, nozzle, nozzle pressure, water quality (saltwater?) and a lot more we might not even know of yet.
So if we want to know more about this, we need some fundamental research and not just somebody`s putting out some tire fires in the backyard. We need working parties of scientists and front-line firefighters to find out what we are looking for and to find ways to get this information.
The whole Class A foam industry still suffers from not having a performance-based standard or any other means of proving its efficiency on the fireground. What we have so far are laboratory-like test settings on the one side and convinced (or disappointed) users on the other side–but nothing scientific to link these two. In other words, we know that Class A foam works, but we do not yet know how to quantify that properly. This is so disappointing.
The credibility of the Class A foam industry is at stake if agencies try to promote the use of certain products. I might at this point mention that PYROCAP, after numerous telephone conversations and faxes with Theodore A. Adams, Jr., did not provide a sample of its product. Things like that make me wonder, given that PYROCAP did not provide a sample to a British research facility we cooperate with, either.
Furthermore, it needs to be mentioned that people of any ethnic background do not die from the lack of the use of foam but from carbon monoxide and/or hydrogen cyanide intoxication or burns. The use of foam is not related to the deployment of structural search and rescue teams–these personnel often are inside a dwelling before charged handlines are laid.
Anyone in the fire service or the fire industry is welcome to help increase fire safety by all means, but those involved in Class A foam technology or who have some influence on it should resist making this valuable firefighting tool a lobbyist`s playball. It has been observed that “reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.” The issue of fire casualties is too serious a matter to fool with.
We need to approach this with common sense and proper understanding. One thing that might help before we know how we want to test and approve foams for structural firefighting is to have users try to fill the “evidence gap” with properly documented published reports.
By the way, if you look closely at the bubbles of a foam layer in the sun, you will see the whole spectrum of color. But, this has to do only with physics.
Holger de Vries
Fire & Explosion Protection Engineer
University of Wuppertal, Germany
Department of Fire Safety Science
Leading Firefighter & Safety Officer
Wuppertal Fire & Rescue
