[GSBN] FW: Straw Bale House Fire

[martin hammer]

This from Don Fisher (firefighter), with my comments below his.  I assume
there is no way for Don (or any other outside party) to reply directly to
GSBN (Bill C., any thoughts?)

------ Forwarded Message
From: don fisher <fishdl48843 at yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2009
To: martin hammer <mfhammer at pacbell.net>
Subject: Re: [GSBN] Straw Bale House Fire

Martin and others,

I am sorry to hear of the fire in Denver area.I do think that it shows the
need to educate fire fighters on SBC.My article is coming out in Fire
Engineering Magazine this month.It should generate allot of interest in fire
fighting techniques in SBC.
I have attached a few pics to help describe the testing that I would like to
conduct. I appreciate your attempts to look at alternative extinguishing
agents for fighting these fires. I am convinced that the best methods for
fire departments are to use a thermal imaging camera to locate the fire and
then use a piercing nozzle that it is driven into the wall and use short
burst of water to extinguish the fire.The thermal imaging camera would
confirm the fire is extingushed.
I have included pictures of a new nozzle that was demonstrated to me
recently at the Northern Arizona Fire Training Center.The cost of the nozzle
is $850.00.Fire departments that have SBC in their area could ea sly afford
to purchase these and most already have thermal imaging camers.
I have contacted Fire Engineering and forwarded the article from Denver.I
would like to do some testing with the California and Colorado Straw
Builders Associations. Are any of you interested in in doing some testing
and publishing the results? We could also put together a training program
that could be used by fire departments.

Don Fisher 


Thanks very much Don.  A few questions:

What do you think of the idea of using CO2 instead of water to inject into
hot spots?
Do firefighters commonly carry CO2 fire extinguishers on their truck?
Are there financial resources or testing facilities available in the
firefighting community to conduct the testing you propose?
Are there financial resources available for developing a training program
and for subsequent education of firefighters?

And as Don asked, are CASBA and/or COSBA, or other organizations or
individuals who have participated in other fire tests willing/able to
partner with Don and the firefighting community on some tests?

Don if you could define scope, suggest location of tests, and answer my
resource questions, that might help us determine how able we are to partner
on testing.

Regarding Don's article, the "current issue" of March 2009 is on the website
www.firefightingmagazine.com.  Apparently the article will be in the April
issue, and it seems it will be available on the website when the April issue
is posted.

Martin Hammer




-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: thermal image.jpg
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 5432 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.sustainablesources.com/pipermail/gsbn/attachments/20090401/9703fbf8/attachment.obj>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: piercing nozzels.jpg
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 51207 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.sustainablesources.com/pipermail/gsbn/attachments/20090401/9703fbf8/attachment-0001.obj>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: piercing1.jpg
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 5012 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.sustainablesources.com/pipermail/gsbn/attachments/20090401/9703fbf8/attachment-0002.obj>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: piercing2.jpg
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 3560 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.sustainablesources.com/pipermail/gsbn/attachments/20090401/9703fbf8/attachment-0003.obj>