Foam Party!

Shawn

Shawn

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Shawn
Wow, those hangar fire suppression systems work better than I would have ever imagined!

From SJC airport:

FOAM FLOODS MARTIN AVENUE IN SANTA CLARA AFTER ALARM MALFUNCTION

http://abc7news.com/news/mysterious-foam-floods-martin-avenue-in-santa-clara/1614495/

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1614716_630x354.jpg
 
Dang. That's like when I put dish soap in the water fountain.
 
Saw that on the news tonight.... wtf ??
 
I am sure NFPA and International Building Code have been complied with. And that's all that counts ;-)
 
I also saw it on the news. Seems as if would put out the fire but might drown anyone caught inside...
 
There's another video floating around of a dude who saw the foam and decided it'd be fun to ride his bike into it. LOL.
 
I happened to be over at the airport at APG when they were testing the foam generator in the hangar there. Pretty amazing stuff. Someone got the bright idea of trying to drive a pickup truck through the middle of it but quickly found that wasn't a good idea. They did taxi a King Air on one side of the open hangar (the big doors on both sides were open) and used the prop blast to blow most of it out the other side.
 
I would assume it is not hazardous to airplanes, no point in keeping the fire down if the solution destroys the plane.
 
denverpilot said:
There's another video floating around of a dude who saw the foam and decided it'd be fun to ride his bike into it. LOL.
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I saw that on the news. My first thought was how toxic is that stuff. We have a Naval Air Station NAS Willow Grove that became JRB Willow Grove and was then closed with the Brac Commission. It sits in the middle of a suburban area and it is still vacant but for I think remote UAV flying. The County and Township are having major issues because allegedly the water supply is contaminated from fire fighting foam. Its been a pretty serious issue for them, environmentally.
 
I used to fly a Hawker that had been foamed...I don't remember the details of the logbook entry, but it certainly involved a good cleaning.
 
I was working the tower at Columbus AFB when a T-37 RTB and couldn't get their gear down, 2 IPs on board. FD foamed a section of the runway for the gear up landing. There were 2-3 staff cars adjacent to the foam off the runway, Wing Commander, DO, and others. T37 flares and touches (scraps?) down beyond the foam! It was funny (to us in the tower at least) as they obviously forgot about not having the drag of the gear. I'm sure it was hell back in their squadron ops and the 'O' Club later.
 
Lando said:
Seems like such a slow way to fight a fire. By the time that foam was deep enough to suppress a fire, the entire hangar could be engulfed. What am I missing?
Click to expand...
What type of fire is most likely, where in the hangar is that type of fire most likely to occur, and what would be a faster way of dealing with that type of fire?
 
Lando said:
Seems like such a slow way to fight a fire. By the time that foam was deep enough to suppress a fire, the entire hangar could be engulfed. What am I missing?
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You beat me. Not to criticize foam, but unless the a/c involved was directly under a generator, would it not experience destruction before the foam was able to do anything?
I was wondering about broadcast nozzles to cover the entire area instead of focal dumps.
 
Don't know about that foam, but some of these foams are toxic to people in two ways. First, it's a skin irritant. Second, it pollutes the water table. Southern Colorado is having serious problems in the water supply due to fire fighting exercises at Peterson AFB. So bad that thr DOD has halted practices (not legit use for fires) at all bases until it can figiure out how to deal with the foam.
 
What's sad is that I have seen tons of photos of accidental foam discharges in hangars over the years, but can't say that I know of any hangar fires that have been put out by foam systems.

Kind of makes you wonder if it is really worth it?
 
Fearless Tower said:
What's sad is that I have seen tons of photos of accidental foam discharges in hangars over the years, but can't say that I know of any hangar fires that have been put out by foam systems.
Kind of makes you wonder if it is really worth it?
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The 'worth it' might be solely in insurance premiums.
Which makes me wonder where the actuaries are getting their info, if there is no proven benefit.
 
Fearless Tower said:
What's sad is that I have seen tons of photos of accidental foam discharges in hangars over the years, but can't say that I know of any hangar fires that have been put out by foam systems.

Kind of makes you wonder if it is really worth it?
Click to expand...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankee_Air_Museum
"On the night of October 9, 2004, the Yankee Air Museum's hangar on the northeast side of Willow Run Airport (KYIP) burned down.[2] The B-17, B-25 and C-47 were saved through heroic efforts by museum volunteers. The Stinson was at another hangar. Everything else inside the hangar was destroyed, including the original prototype North American YOV-10A Bronco, Waco CG-4A Glider, a former Thunderbirds Republic F-105, Aero L-39, Link Trainer, artifacts, spare parts, tools, and the Museum's library."

http://www.localhangar.com/cgi-bin/...?POP=yes&CLUBNO=3&reason=show_page&PAGEID=211

As I understand it, they were in the process of raising funds for a fire suppression system at the time.
 
A lot of the photos I've seen (along with the one I witnessed) weren't accidental.

The reason you don't hear about hangar fires put out with foam (or fire sprinklers) is because they are largely a non-event. As a former firefighter are job on sprinklered buildings was largely: turn off the water, replace the head, turn the water back on. I've seen the remains of a few hangar fires that didn't have automatic suppression systems (I have two friends who lost their planes in maintenance hangar fires and another whose logs who were severely damaged).

Oh, and both of the two plane loss fires mentioned above involved defueling incidents on another aircraft in tha hangar. Defueling should ***NEVER** take place indoors.
 
That stuff is toxic. But still better than a hanger full of planes blowing up, I guess.
 
Thought that was head, like, "I like head". Especially when the chicks give you that scumbag look, and you finish with "on my beer" with a big ole smile.
 
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