Fire suppression system releases mountains of foam

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Charlie Miller
  • 445th Airlift Wing
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, Ohio --  A final fire suppression foam test was conducted in the 445th Airlift Wing's new Fuel System Maintenance Hangar Nov. 15, 2007. The test was the last step before the hangar was officially turned over to the wing from the contractors.

The fire system can cover 90% of the hangers' floor with foam in a minute. In two and a half, maybe three minutes, the foam will be over seven feet deep and completely blanket the floor of the hanger. And this is a hanger where you can house most of a C-5. That's a massive amount of foam.

According to Master Sgt. Robert Williams, 445th Maintenance Squadron, the foam and its delivery system was designed to smother a fire in or around an aircraft inside a hanger. It's not really a new system, just an improved, more effective way to fight fires inside hangers. The biggest innovation is that the foam generators are now in the ceiling and the foam falls almost like a white-out condition snow storm.

The old system had what Sergeant Williams called canons placed around the hanger to shoot the foam at the aircraft. They were attached to a wall and looked like a nozzle from a fireman's hose and would shoot foam at the aircraft or wherever they were aimed.

Evacuation plans remain the same.

"If a fire is detected, horns go off and people exit the building," Sergeant Williams said. "There is timer on the system and the workers have just so long to get out before the foam generators kick in. You can also pull a lever to dump the foam immediately, but you really want to get the workers out first."

What about the foam itself? Is it dangerous, poisonous?

"It's like soap and it's very, very light," the sergeant said. "Imagine bubbles like what kids play with. It smells like soap, reacts like soap; you can touch it, run your hand through it. It's not dangerous."

Amazingly, it takes only about 10 hours to clear that much foam. Since it is a fluffy soap-like substance it melts, or dissipates, at a fairly rapid rate.

The Fuels hangar is the first hangar completed since the 445th acquired the C-5 Galaxy aircraft. The entire $65 million construction project accommodates the wing's ten C-5s and includes two new tail-in hangars, the fuels hangar, a new squadron operations building and other renovations.