Clothing on fire

[TFEM]

"good water supply"....."trained first aiders".
Some of the churches we go into don't even have a water supply, we have to take water on board whenever an extinguisher is up for test.
I'm sure even a trained first aider (if there are any close by) would not want to beat out a clothing fire with their bare hands.
Ensure the blanket is wall mounted with the extinguisher(s) in a prominent place....that way it's readily available when hairsprayed-up lady ignites.
John

[SamFIRT]

They don't have to beat it out with their bare hands.

The person on fire is told to STOP DROP and ROLL.. or tripped up and rolled on the floor . That way they will have minimal burns and a few bruised. .........and live.

If people ponce around looking for a fire blanket then the poor person alight will almost certainly die.

[Tom Sutton]

If people ponce around looking for a fire blanket then the poor person alight will almost certainly die.

They don't, there are alternatives, a rug, coat, blanket, jacket or overcoat and in the case I was involved in the Lff used his fire tunic.

The fire blanket in this case was because the insurance required it and if the RP was to ignore there advice, and later need make a claim it could be turned down.

[Phoenix]

It sounds like the insurance company don't know what they're talking about.  Buzz, Buzz! as Hamlet would say.

[Tom Sutton]

Agreed Stu but would you take the chance of your claim being knocked back.

[SamFIRT]

They don't, there are alternatives, a rug, coat, blanket, jacket or overcoat and in the case I was involved in the Lff used his fire tunic.

My point entirely....... You don't need a fire blanket. There are easier ways.

[Clevelandfire 3]

Sod the insurers. anything at hand to smother the flames should be used. cant waste time running off for a fire blanket. the victim wouldnt be very happy at all.

[Tom Sutton]

The person on fire is told to STOP DROP and ROLL.. or tripped up and rolled on the floor .

Sorry Sam I didn't realised you were talking about alternatives I thought you were relying on telling the victim to STOP, DROP and ROLL or trip the victim up. I don't think I would like to try that one.    

[SamFIRT]

It Works. Trust me 

[Midland Retty]

It most certainly does!

Is imperative to take control, get the victim on the ground and smother the flames. Trip them up if you have to because instinctively the victim will try and stay upright. Some victims flail when on fire but others do not and become disorientated (The sad images of the Bradford City Football Disaster springs to mind, and cctv footage of man on fire in petrol station)

Don't beat the flames, smother them, even if its with your own coat. Victim should be encouraged to roll but not flail around else this could fan the flames further.

[Tom Sutton]

Thanks everybody for your submissions.

Check out http://www.safelincs.co.uk/video_player.php?vid=50

[lancsfirepro]

Ah the JS water mist extinguisher.  We bought a 6 litre one earlier this year for training purposes.  Has anyone actually opened one up to see how they work?  That's one cheap-ass extinguisher being sold for a scandalous price.

[AnthonyB]

Like Amerex's Water Mist that has been around for decades the can & valve are standard manufacture, the same as used for water, foam, wet chemical - the key components that differ from normal are the misting nozzle/lance instead of the spray lance and the distilled water instead of plain.

Not sure how this inflates the cost as much as it does, it's probably the misting nozzle as the machining of a nozzle that produces 25 micron droplets will require a very precise manufacturing process than a bog standard plastic coarse spray nozzle.

Plus a lot of R&D and field testing was put into it as it's new to the market & they need to claw that back - Wet Chemical used to be tremendously expensive at first & whilst it's still at the dearer end of the market is has come down in price.

[lancsfirepro]

There's a bit more to it than that Anthony.  There's a tube that runs parallel to the syphon tube and meets at the filter.  This tube has a series of holes along its length that allows the gas in the ullage to "aerate" the water.  (It should be noted that the cylinder for a 6 litre water mist extinguisher is larger than a standard 6 litre extinguisher to allow for the extra gas that is required.)  The trouble with this design is that as the water level drops (when discharging) more holes are uncovered which allows more gas into the water - so what you get is less and less water being discharged and more gas as the extinguisher empties.  Bit silly really; all they needed to do was limit the holes to the ones in the ullage space.
The nozzle is very simple in design and would be inexpensive.  There's nothing material-wise in this extinguisher that should push the price up to anything like what they're attempting to sell them for.

I spoke to JS sales manager about the requirement for refilling with distilled water and she confirmed (albeit verbally) that in reality, standard water is fine; they just stipulate distilled water because they were concerned that deposits in tap water may, over time build up and block the small holes in the gas intake tube.

The first 6 litre water mist we bought we opened up to see how it worked and noticed the cylinder lining had failed and started to corrode.  Also you need to be aware that the tube with the holes is flexible and is only held against the syphon tube with an o-ring.  The first one we had, the tube was too long which meant the tube caught on the cylinder neck and bent away which effectively meant that you couldn't remove the valve assembly.  Not good.  I have pics if anyone is interested.

[AnthonyB]

That's interesting, I only had the tech spec from Jewel to go off.

Britannia Fire when they redesigned their extinguishers to meet EN3 used the gassing tube normally fitted to powder models in their Triclass AFFF models to produce a similar effect in aerating the foam solution, although they didn't use this feature to get increased ratings. They didn't put holes in it's length, it was just an open ended tube (as it didn't need the rubber boot)


Pictures would be handy as I don't want to buy one just to disassemble.

Lining issues seem to plague most non EU manufactured extinguishers, I hear more reports of failed linings at 5 years or less than I ever did before the big advent of far/middle east models and the switch to EU production by UTC for it's own retailers (Chubb FX) is telling.

The reason that it hasn't been more controversial is most defects will be undiscovered as you don't normally open up a stored pressure wet until the Extended Service and now most service companies (but not all) just replace with new instead.

Admittedly I treat non US/EU manufacture equipment as disposable, it's so cheap it's not worth the time doing an ES with the risk of it failing. For training extinguishers we only have UK made stuff in the inventory for wets (Britannia)