Foam, How effective is it on wildland?

[arhaney]

We are in the process of building a 5 ton 6 X 6 in addition to the 2.5 ton 6 X 6 that we already have. This truck will be a bit nicer and be used more than the other truck and I've been thinking about addind a foam system to make it more effective. Do you use foam and if so does it help a good bit or not?

Thanks, Alan

[bobsnyder]

Our brush unit has a Darley skip-mounted CAFS on it. I think it works very well, both because the foam aids in supression and because the CAFS saves on water consumption.

[Bushwhacker]

CAFS is a great system, but is not comparable to foam proportioner. Class A foams, are a great, almost must have, addition to any wildland rig. There are several, types of Foam application systems from the "down and Dirty" to the exspensive CAFS system. If you have the money, get the better foam system. But I do not belive that you get any less of a prouduct because of price, It all depends on what you want for bells, and whistles. Also If i was to build another system, I would get atleast a 25 gallon foam cell.

[clifton36]

We have avoided CAFS and class A foam proprotioning due to cost. Only 2 of our 56 engines even have class B systems (but everyone has foam and an in-kine proprotioner). However, we do have a significant wildland threat, and routinely batch-mix class A foam in the 0.1 to 1% range. The results are incredible. Although I would prefer some real investment in CAFS, you can't argue with the simplicity and the results.

Years ago when I worked in a more rural fire department, we carried gallon jugs of cheap dish detergent. We batch-mixed the soap, and also with good results. That was before the widespread use of class A foam.

[sdff1520]

Do you use foam and if so does it help a good bit or not?

YES! and YES!

Class A foam definitely makes water a more effective extinguishing agent. All of our wildland apparatus have foam capability, and one soon to have CAFS. Class A foam in combination with a good aspirating nozzle works wonders.

The older ones have a simple (read: cheap) around the pump foam pro-portioner, they work, but we waste foam concentrate, they arn't enitrely accurate and often the operator forgets to close the tank-fill/recirculate line and we end up with a tank full of foam solution.

Our most recent wildland apparatus has a Foam-Pro 1601 and it works great, we use it more often, its accurate, its firefighter proof and you don't have to worry about closing the tank fill/recirculate valve. Plan on retrofitting the other two brush trucks andd getting rid of the around-the-pump systems.

[iceman7104]

We've been using class A for wildland applications for several years with great results. We started off with a couple portable units that attached to the end of a 1" line, but our current brush trucks have simple proportioners that work well. The foam makes the water go farther, and it seems to have more "staying power" on the unburned fuel.

[Dalmatian190]

While most of our fires are small and primarily grass or duff...Class A has allowed our area to become very lazy with building fire lines.

Fire goes out and stays out compared to the smouldering re-kindles you could see with plain water.

The mid-July burning deep in the roots fires that can take several days to root out don't seem to be affected that much by foam...they take such a flooding quantity of water when they occur a small amont of surface tension just doesn't matter.

[SilverCity4]

Foam makes a HUGE difference!

We did some reseach on Class A foam a few years ago, and found that dish detergent is a great wetting agent.

We batch-mix Dawn dishwashing soap in all of our brush trucks. We've tried other brands, and Dawn seems to work best. Dawn in the tanks of engines will also help with pentrating fuels for overhaul and such.

We also carry Scotty Foam Units, which simply attach to the end of your hose (1 1/2" or booster line), which we such for laying wet lines. These work great as well.

I have no experience with CAFS units.

Even if all you can afford is batch-mixed Dawn, I assure you that you will see a difference in water usage and rekindles.

[fireslayer123]

Foam is twice as good as plain water,,, CAF is twice as good as foam.

We don't use CAF's because of the price. Someday we will look into it.

[biggravy]

One thing I would caution is to set up your apparatus with an easy to use system or it won't get used when people are "in a hurry". Our current setup has class A and B foam tanks on all apparatus with a very simplified system. Future apparatus will be CAFS which to us seems well worth the investment.

[FyredUp]

arhaney...

For several years we used the Scotty jugs that silver city described. We used them on garden hose and on 1 inch forestry hose. They worked GREAT. They were a cheap alternative to the TFT portable foam system and if I remember right we could get 4 of these with spare jugs for about the cost of 1 TFT set-up.

Our new brush truck has a built in eductor that supplies foam to the intake side of the pump. One switch and we have foam. We have used this truck for brush fires, and before we got our new pumper that is foam equipped, it was used for overhaul in structure fires.

Class A foam realy shines for brush fire work. It penetrates down into the deep seated fires as well as down to the base of grass fires. We use a few different types of nozzles to include TFT Bubblecup nozzles, Scotty low and medium expansion nozzles, and regular combination nozzles.; We normally run the foam for fire attack to make a mixture almost like dishwater. For overhauling or fully covering brush or railroad ties we use the medium expansion nozzle and make almost shaving cream type foam.

Don't build a brush truck without Class A foam.

FyredUp

[kuntrykid]

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[chfPFR]

SilverCity4;
Dawn dishwashing soap. Interesting. At what ratio? Just curious. No problems with the pump cavitating? Sorry for so many questions!

[jkfiremanbellFL]

Wildfires with out foam is like trying to fight a fire naked!

Which ever type of system you choose make sure it is well maintined. These things can be very picky and will not work if not taken care of.