By DOUG RUTH
The objectives of firefighting include a quick knockdown, longer lasting suppression, and reduced rekindling. With those outcomes, precious resources are protected and preserved while firefighter safety is enhanced. The firefighters doing battle; the public; land and property; and natural resources, including the increasingly scarce and more costly water, are all at risk from fire.
Hoping to create a more effective and environmentally sensitive fire suppression product to protect people, structures, and natural resources, EarthClean Corporation has developed the TetraKO water enhancer, a new firefighting technology that uses a mixed solution that has been certified “ready biodegradable”—the highest possible rating—by an accredited independent research lab.
TetraKO’s excellent knockdown capability and other performance characteristics reduce firefighter exposure to flame, heat, and toxic fumes. TetraKO also reduces the risk of ceiling collapse, and winter operations are less slippery because less water is required.
The product features “stick and stay” characteristics that result in tremendous heat calorie absorption to attack, suppress, and contain fires; it has been awarded two U.S. patents (7163642 and 7476346). TetraKO employs shear thinning technology, which is similar to the technology used in bottles of hand sanitizer. This technology converts the product into a free-flowing liquid when pumped under pressure through firefighting hoselines and nozzles. It then reverts back to a thick gel after it leaves the nozzle. Moreover, when heated by fire, it becomes thicker and converts to a dense steam with excellent heat calorie absorption.
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| Photo courtesy of EarthClean Corp. |
The main ingredient in TetraKO is cornstarch, which acts as a thickening agent and allows the product to adhere and stay where applied. This capability translates into extraordinary firefighting potential. All other ingredients are environmentally safe, which is why TetraKO solution has been certified to National Fire Protection Association 18A, Standard on Water Additives for Fire Control and Vapor Mitigation, by four accredited and independent laboratories for aquatic and mammalian toxicity, biodegradability, and corrosion. Using Earthclean’s PowderBlaster™ eductor system, TetraKO is batch mixed into a pumper with the pump in circulation mode.
TetraKO is preparing to undergo testing with the U.S. Department of Forestry. It has been positively evaluated by California Hotshot crews from Los Angeles County and the Mountains Recreation Conservation Authority for wet fire line and fuel coating, knockdown, mopup, ease of use, and cleanup.
Earlier TetraKO tests indicate that its performance is significant and will render considerable safety benefits to firefighters. In side-by-side comparisons, 1,700°F torches were placed next to TetraKO, Class A foam, and compressed air foam (CAF). The Class A foam-treated plywood ignition began after just five seconds. CAF-treated plywood ignited after 12 seconds. The TetraKO-treated plywood was protected for a full three minutes, 20 seconds.
Other tests with temperature probes show the upper thermal layer of a fire quickly dropping by 58 percent (from 1,079°F to 448°F) and the mid-thermal layer—the work zone for firefighters—dropping 79 percent (from 820°F to 173°F). These strong data indicate how well the product will help reduce danger to firefighters.
In addition, TetraKO has been tested and observed by peer group fire departments in a wide range of controlled and live fire scenarios in the upper Midwest and other regions of the United States. Some of these events have been captured on video and/or with fire incident reports, which follow:
- An eyewitness with a cell phone video camera captured footage of TetraKO knocking out a fully engulfed fire of an attached two-car garage containing two cars and a snowmobile. According to the incident commander, the fire was fully suppressed in less than one minute, leaving the home’s structure and contents unaffected, with only minimal water damage.
- On a test burn in Rockford, Minnesota, attended by representatives from 12 fire departments, a team of firefighters completely extinguished a kitchen fire in five seconds with less than 10 gallons of mixed solution.
- Multiple car fires in Fridley, Minnesota, were fully contained, using far less agent than the assistant chief—with 30 years of experience—had come to expect.
- A church fire in Blaine, Minnesota, was profiled on its CBS-TV network affiliate after the product was used on a working fire that had already extended through the building’s roof. The church was saved.
- At a test burn of a rural farmhouse in northern Minnesota, a portion of the roof was coated with TetraKO. A thermal imaging camera reading on the unprotected portion maxes out at 1,095°F but reads only 200°F where the product had been applied.
These results point to a game-changing technology. Firefighters are using less product, seeing less water damage, experiencing fewer rekindles, and observing tremendous heat calorie absorption.
DOUG RUTH is CEO and founder of EarthClean Corporation. He has founded and operated several successful startup companies in the Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, area.
