SAM AND DAVE (AND FIREHOUSE FRIENDS)
EDITOR’S OPINION
7 p.m., Zak’s Bar, a national Fire conference.
Sam: Hey, Dave, you hear about that new firefighting technology?
Dave: Yeah, it’s called pump, hose, and water.
Sam: No, not that. The Class A foam stuff, the CAFS, you know, like Palmolive and water in a big can and you bubble it with air.
Dave: Sure. My friends from East Overshoe tested it. A manufacturer came to the fire department. But my friends say that a 15/16 and even the fog did better.
Sam: That’s not what 1 hear. You shoot it inside, you shoot it on exposures. I read in a magazine it knocks down the fire fast, with a long burnback time.
Dave: Yeah sure, like you want to throw bubbles at a fire….
Sam: No, foam and water and air. This is….
Dave: Heh, heh. heh. If 1 wanted to throw’ air at a fire. I’d set a fan in the door.
Sam: Now don’t get me started on the fans. Waiter, bring us two more!
Dave: Amen, brother!
The songs play on the jukebox. It’s a good night….
Dave: Hey. Sam. I’ve been thinking….
Sam: That’s dangerous….
Dave: Don’t get smart. What do you say we get our departments together for some fire tests? I know a good vacant house we can get; the EPA won’t hassle us…. Say, look who it is!
Kilroy: Hello, fellas. Been a long time!
Dave: Yeah, since yesterday. What’s up?
Kilroy: Just came from a nice presentation on future technologies in the fire service….
Dave: Like blowing bubbles at the fire! Waiter! Another brew! Kilroy: No, just a pop for me. I tell you what, the guy was right when he said the fire service needs more practical fire research, that we need to use scientific criteria for technology decisions.
Sam: Why not just use the “purchase by contest” method? You know that chief’s getting that 2.0(K)-gpm pumper because Overshoe’s is 1.5(H). I mean, I think the gold leaf wars are kind of fun. Kilroy: Crazy, isn’t it? I heard you guys talking about a bum.
Sam: I was suggesting to our esteemed colleague that he might want to go in with us on some test bums.
Dave: Sure, we can shoot those bubbles around, see if they put out the fire. Kil, you bring the thermocouples.
Kilroy: Yeah, right. But you know, that’s just what the lecturer was talking about. We can do some tests. But they won’t be scientific, quantitative. They’ll give us anecdotal evidence, just like a hundred Other tests.
Sam: Yes. but l thought we left that kind of thing up to the Bureau of Standards.
Kilroy: It’s called NIS I’ now. National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Dave: They still around?
Sam: You haven’t heard of that groundbreaking research on feeling a door to see if it’s hot?
Kilroy: You guys may not be as stupid as you look. Listen and learn. In ‘68 they passed the Fire Research and Safety Act. That called for a mechanism within the Department of Commerce so they could study lire. One ot the objectives was to get some scientific data that could help improve the way we fight fires. In
1973, after America Burning, they split the testing function between the Center for Fire Research and the Fire Administration. That was okay if the two could work together. Up until about 1980 the USFA earmarked about $4 million of its budget each year for fire testing. Then they shrank the fire budget and put the USFA under FEMA but left Fire Research with Commerce, because the real thrust of NIST’s Building and Fire Research Laboratory program is buildings, buildings, buildings. Fire is like a stepchild, and most of the time you get stuff that’s great if you’re an engineer but pretty much useless if you’re a municipal firefighter. So NIST has its agenda and the USFA gets cut. and research is the first to go. Fire is just not a big priority in Washington. Plus, as I understand it, one or two administrators along the way weren’t so keen on fire research, among other things….
Dave: There goes Kilroy. knocking our administrators!
Kilroy: Well, I’m talking to people. Listen, you guys may want to get out and about. This gig could be a lot more than just a vacation from your wives.
Dave: I’m on sabbatical. But you’re right about priorities. Remember all that fanfare about the Arson Prevention Act? Remember the dinner and the backslapping, the praise and the promises? Stick told me they’re appropriating $2 million instead of the $10 million they promised for the program. They got some pair of….
Kilroy: Well sure, but they’re not going to do a thing about it because we—I mean, we the fire service—aren’t telling them it’s important to us. We’re not telling them that we’re holding them accountable for no $10 million, for no real practical testing that has some real meaning for us guys on the line, for bare bones USFA funding….
Sam: Hold on, Kil, let me get you a chair to stand on!
Kilroy: You talk about CAFS. You—we—could sure use some definitive testing on the agent, its applications, its knockdown capabilities, you know’. I mean real mathematical data, something you could take to the city fathers if you wanted to, not just modeling but real results from real fires. And not just Class A foam. PPV, wood trusses, turnout gear, you name it. Information you could really use instead of relying totally on word of mouth, anecdotal evidence, and sales pitches. But Washington dollars are tied to Washington politics.
Dave: Hey, maybe Carrye Brown will get funding for real testing. Kilroy: She’s making a speech to the scientists at NIST’s annual conference. Do you think she’ll even mention the word “firefighter”? Anyway, she hasn’t even picked a deputy director. She got a list of candidates but threw it out because the list didn’t show enough diversity. Who knows? By the time we get the right mix and fill all the positions, it’ll be election time.
Sam: Watch what you say about the First Lady of the Fire Service! Kilroy: All I’m saying is. it doesn’t look good for research funding these days. James Lee Witt didn’t cut the USFA budget but didn’t increase it. either. Sometimes I’m amazed that we’re not still stoking the steam pumper. Thank God for the free market economy. Say. what about that burn you were talking about?
To be continued.
