Compressed Air Foam Systems come in a variety of sizes and formats, to suit individual requirements. It is a relatively new firefighting technique, where self-contained apparatus mix compressed air with water and foam.
One of the benefits is that the systems typically use only a 3rd of the water normally required to extinguish a fire using water alone. Or, put another way, a given amount of water will cover 3 times the fire area.
The portable versions are capable of being filled in under 1 minute using purpose designed mobile refill kits.
Benefits
- Versatile – comes in many different sizes and capacities from small portable backpacks up to vehicle and building protection systems
- Tactical – can use different types of foam with different spray modes and different jet guns
- Economy – optimised foam generation for high efficiency, lower collateral damage and cleaning costs
- User-friendly – easy to use, maintain and repair with lower component costs
- Powerful – even the smallest system has a jet range of over 20 m and operates at a constant 38 bar pressure
The portable devices are superb for getting quickly to fire threatened areas, which may be some distance from a reliable water source, and containing the threat before it gets out of control.