Larry Haftl.com
PRODUCT REVIEW: Firesno
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Have you ever seen a new product or tool for the first time and found yourself saying, "Now this makes sense. Why didn't someone think of this sooner?" That is probably what will happen when you see the Firesno Aerial Foam System.
Helicopters with water buckets have become commonplace on wildland fires, but until now their payloads have essentially been limited to water. The use of Class A foam has not been a practical option. Some attempts to inject a foaming solution into the bucket prior to dropping have had, if you'll pardon the pun, mixed results. When an air tanker drops a mixture of water and foaming agent, it is usually traveling at more than 100 mph. At that speed, the air slams into the water/foam solution and aspirates it (turns the liquid solution into foam). The effect is very similar to blasting a water/foam solution out of a hose nozzle on a pumper engine. But when a water/foam solution is dropped from a Water bucket, it doesn't get that blast of air. The only pressure available to aspirate the solution is the pull of gravity, and that is not necessarily enough to turn all of the solution into foam.
Enter the Firesno Aerial Foam System. The system consists of two foaming units and a support trailer with the tanks, pumps and hoses needed to quickly recharge the foaming units. Each foaming unit is basically a 250-gallon pressurized tank with nozzles. The unit can be filled with any mixture of water and foam, slung from a helicopter's long line, and drop properly mixed and aspirated Class A foam anywhere it's needed. Water buckets deliver their entire payload in one shot. They also lose some of their payload on the way to the fire line from leakage. The Firesno unit can be turned on and off by the helicopter pilot to make partial or full drops as needed, and it does not leak. A helicopter can take a fully charged unit to the fire line, make its drop (or drops), and by the time it returns to the support trailer with the empty unit the second unit is recharged and ready to go. Turnaround times have been as low as two minutes and 10 seconds.
Since the unit has standard hose fittings, it can be delivered to ground crews for use as a portable pressurized water or foam system similar to what they would get from a pumper engine.
Even though the foaming unit is pressurized, it is not a compressed air foam system. The pressure is used to drive the foaming solution out of the tank and through a screen that naturally aspirates the solution. In normal operations the solution is under 80 psi of pressure.
Expansion can be as high as 40:1 (one gallon of solution will make 40 gallons of foam), but is usually adjusted to 20:1 or lower. If the foam is very light, it will collect on top of the fuel. If it is too heavy, it will run down to the ground. With the Firesno, each load can be mixed and adjusted to fit the specific application of that load.
Firesno was created by Arnold Baker, a fire chief from Manson, Washington, with help from his brothers John and James Baker. "I was doing structural protection on a wildfire in October of 1991 where we were using Class A foam," said Arnold Baker. "It's a very effective tool, and I got to wondering why those very expensive helicopters only used water. It seemed less efficient. When I got home, I did some research and found that there was no equipment capable of effectively expanding foam from helicopters. I got together with my brother John, who is a helicopter mechanic, and we began experimenting with tanks. We found that you could not make foam effectively with just free-fall. We had to use pressure and nozzles and a screen to get a consistent foam.
"We got our first working unit finished in August of 1994, about the time of the big Tyee Fire, but we could not use it on that fire because regulations require helicopter pilots to be carded for each type of equipment they work with. Ours was a new type. We tested it for the Forest Service fire labs in 1994, and used it for the first time on the Joshua Tree National Monument fire in 1995. In 1996, Scott Baker [no relation], pilot-owner of Westwind Helicopters, saw our unit and said, 'This is what should be done.' Scott has lots of experience with long lines, and his experience and interest were a major asset. He spent a lot of time experiment- ing with the unit to perfect the mixtures and delivery tactics, and his pilots are now carded to fly our unit."
"The only control you have with a Water bucket is air speed and altitude,"
said Scott Baker, vice president and chief pilot of Westwind Helicopters, Inc. "With a Water bucket there is no controlling on and off. With Firesno, you have twice the dropping time, almost 12 seconds, can turn it on and off, and do a spot, several spots, and actually fly a circle around small spot fires and put a wet line completely around them. The feel to a pilot is about the same as a Water bucket, but you have to look at what you are doing. You can't do it with mirrors the way you can with a Water bucket. We can vary the density of the foam to fit the weather and fuels. We can make a heavier mix to penetrate light fuels and brush, or a light shaving cream foam that will just sit on top. We just change the amount of foam and water for each load. It is idiot- proof. We have also used Barricade gel in the Firesno unit. I think the combination of Barricade and Firesno will lay down good lines in light to moderate fuels that will hold for at least 45 minutes to an hour.
"We put maybe $30,000 in flying time into experimenting with the unit. We tested it on different fuels with different pressures and mixtures, and looked at the long-term effects. I've done long lines for a long time, and the Firesno unit at least doubles the capability of the aircraft. I think when people see it in use they will realize how effective a tool it is. That happened on the North 25 Fire up near Chelan in August."
The North 25 Fire on the Wenatchee National Forest next to Lake Chelan burned almost 8,000 acres, threatened several multi-million dollar homes, and kept more than 1,000 firefighters, four air tankers, 15 helicopters and numerous engines very busy. It also gave the Firesno units a workout that earned it high marks from the firefighters. When resources were being mobilized to control the fire, Chelan District Ranger Al Murphy included the Firesno unit in his requests. "I saw a demonstration at our heliport before the North 25 Fire," said Murphy. "I think it is a good system and has great applications for specific fuel types. It works especially well in lighter fuels. It's a new and different product, and there are people who are skeptical about new products. I thought the North 25 Fire would be an excellent demonstration of the Firesno's capabilities, and I was not disappointed by the results."
Jim Bailey, the Air Attack Supervisor on the North 25 fire, was just as favorably impressed and more specific in his comments about Firesno. "Once we figured out the right way to use it, I think we did a pretty good job for the folks holding the lines," said Bailey. "We'd come in and put a couple of buckets of water on the ground, get it good and wet, then put a layer of foam over the top of that. It's an impressive machine and it did a good job. I think the water and foam combination helps hold the humidity in the ground and the foam longer. It was getting so much expansion on the foam that it was actually covering as much or more ground as the heavies. With the Firesno unit, the medium could lay a little foam, turn it off, reposition it, lay a little more - and the foam lasts about as long as foam delivered out of a truck."
The Firesno units are assembled in Manson, Washington, which happens to be right across Lake Chelan from the North 25 Fire. The next generation of foaming unit will have a lighter tank, which will enable it to carry 320 gallons with a gross weight of 3,300 pounds. "Right now we only have one system, and only Westwind has pilots carded for the Firesno unit," said Arnold Baker, "but we have gotten some inquiries from other companies. We currently rent out our system for $775 per flight hour, not including helicopter time and foam, but our plan is to manufacture and sell the completed systems to other helicopter services with Westwind providing the training. We can also build larger units for use with heavy helicopters."
Arnold Baker can be contacted at: Baker Aerial Foam, L.L.C. P.O. Box 609 1281 Totem Pole Rd. Manson, WA 98831 Phone: (509) 687-9270 E-mail: firesno@kozi.com Scott Baker can be contacted at: Westwind Helicopters, Inc. 11353 Sunrise Gold Circle Rancho Cordova, CA 95742 Phone: (916) 852-0476.
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