28 CES Fire Department tests new prototype

  • Published
  • By Airman Matthew Flynn
  • 28th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, S.D. --  The Ellsworth Fire Department was selected by the Air Force Civil Engineer Support Agency as one of five bases to test an ultra-high pressure firefighting technology prototype on a standard P-19 fire truck [the first response vehicle on scene of aircraft fire emergencies]; the prototype, first tested here Sept. 16, is designed to reduce the time needed to extinguish a fire. 

"The normal training fire extinguish rate for JP-8 jet fuel [which the B-1B Lancer uses] has been cut down from two minutes to 50 seconds," said Staff Sgt. Adam Martin, 28th Civil Engineer Squadron fire inspector. The new system uses a compressed air foam system, which combines water, foam and compressed air to blanket fires, separates both the fuel and oxygen and extinguishes the flame. 

The decision to choose Ellsworth as a test site was based on climate conditions. 

"Ellsworth was chosen due to the area's high winds and how these conditions may effect the stream of the compressed air foam," Sergeant Martin said. 

Testing the UHP system at Ellsworth also allows the Air Force to view the system's functionality. The fire department's main concerns about how well the UHP system would work with low temperatures possibly causing the water to freeze, wind effecting the stream's flow, and whether fires ignited with JP-8 jet fuel would be extinguished effectively; these concerns have not affected testing. 

The tests were originally meant to last only a couple of months; however, due to modifications made during the testing process, tests are set to be completed in February 2009. 

The modifications consisted of changing the bumper turret [the device which discharges the stream], updating the joystick that controls the system and installing a new hand line [the manual line connected to the fire truck]. Another change is the removal of the roof turret because previous tests have shown a 300 gallon per minute UHP bumper turret has the same effectiveness of a standard 500 gallon roof turret. 

These modifications helped make the P-19 smaller and air transportable for deployments. 

While utilizing the UHP, the Ellsworth fire department has to test extinguishing 28 different types of fires. At present, the fire department has only completed 13. Ellsworth's analysis of the UHP will aid the Air Force's goal in distributing and installing it in all fire trucks Air Force wide, Sergeant Martin said. 

UHP technology has proven to be more than three times more effective than traditional firefighting agent delivery systems. 

Using the turret and hand line, the UHP systems ability to smother and blanket the fire more effectively is amazing, said Senior Airman Robert Friedman, 28 CES fire fighter. 

Research for the use of the UHP system originally began in 2002, at the Air Force Research Laboratory Materials and Manufacturing Directorate Airbase Technology Division at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. In addition to Tyndall and Ellsworth, Dyess AFB, Texas, Mountain Home AFB, Idaho, and Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz. are also testing the new UHP system technology. 

Editor's Note: Some of the information in this article originated from "Air Force Research Laboratory technology results in improved fire fighting vehicle" by Adriana Casarez