Live Fire Training

[Mr. P]

Nearlythere wrote- 'How does one use the washing up liquid to create foam?'
Nearly, Were you not deprived as a child as many of us were and resorted to mums washing up liquid and a bent bit of coat hangar to play bubble blowing?

[Tall Paul]

Hard times to be sure.  The ultra economy washing up liquid that my mum bought helped to smear the dirt around the dishes... what are bubbles?

[cbfire999]

Following every course I have ever performed the feedback regarding live fire and the use of the extinguishers is always very positive.  Students always comment that they feel far more confident once they have received the training.  Would they be as confident if they had just discharged into the open with no fire?  Maybe!  However, surely it is also about value for money and as a training provider I strongly believe that you get what you pay for in life.  The only down side of providing live fire training is the increase in liability insurance and this can be a significant increase but a must have to safeguard yourself!  It surprises me that this part of the original question has not been answered!!

As far as the safe disposal of the foam solution, I fully concur that a normal detergent is just as affective as AFFF and looks pretty much the same when discharged on the simulator.  At the end of the day it is a simulation and is not expected to be an exact replica of any given situation but I feel it should be an important part of any fire training.

[Redone]

Carn't beat the LPG rigs, safest controlled way for fire blanket training.

Very cost effective as the customers always prefer a touch of realism.

A small rig will fit into the back of a van, set you back about 2,600K, bin, tv, tray and pan fires.  provides me with the flexibility for training in the city, where an area the size of one car space may be all you have.  DP and Foam can be done via DVD.

Do your RA, check the weather, control the size of the fire so it's either on or off.  Not everyone wants to play to a crowd, so a bit of one to one is great for staff confidence, and shows you care.  Given a choice managers prefer live fire input.

[nearlythere]

Nearlythere wrote- 'How does one use the washing up liquid to create foam?'
Nearly, Were you not deprived as a child as many of us were and resorted to mums washing up liquid and a bent bit of coat hangar to play bubble blowing?

Sorry P but I was brought up with a dishwasher. Thats why my hands are so soft.

[gm137]

I've started to use stored pressure afff extinguishers, refilled with detergent solution and pressurised with a foot-pump for training.

Generally, such units will extinguish small class B fires effectively and they do give students an idea of what to expect if they ever have to use foam for real. In my experience, the only downside of using detergent instead of AFFF is that the resulting foam is less stable, and breaks down quite rapidly. Detergent foam is not as resistant as normal AFFF to breakdown in alcohol / polar liquid fires, but for simple training runs, I've found it really useful.