REGIONAL FOAM BANK
INNOVATIONS: HOMEGROWN
The Western Missouri Fire Chiefs Association is a regional fire service organization that coordinates mutual aid, a regional training library, a regional critical incident stress debriefing (CISD) team, and other cooperative programs. One of the most successful programs has been the operation of a small regional foam bank.
The bank was established to enable member departments to share the cost of providing sufficient foam without each department duplicating fixed and consumable resources. The foam bank consists of three principal parts: a supply of aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) multipurpose synthetic concentrate, a foam stabilizer for hazardous-materials incidents, and a Class A foam system with an additional Class A foam supply.
The AFFF multipurpose synthetic concentrate foam bank consists of 200 gallons of a three/six percent foam concentrate, stored in a single apparatus-mounted tank, and an additional 100 gallons of foam supply, carried in five-gallon cans. Two 250-gpm foam eductors are located adjacent to the foam tank, allowing member departments to apply a 500-gpm foam solution on a flammable liquid fire using two foam handlines, a portable master stream device, or an elevated foam stream.
Whenever a member department utilizes foam, it is billed for the cost of replacing the amount used. The foam bank will respond at the request of nonmember departments, but they are billed double the replacement cost of the foam used. The foam bank has been an excellent program, allowing participating departments to pool their resources and enhancing flammable liquid firefighting throughout the Kansas City metropolitan area.
(Photos courtesy of Lee’s Summit Fire Department.)
