ECN Forum Forums Safety Discussion and News Safety News and Product Recalls Fire Extinguishers?

TW,

Regarding Halon. I heard when it was first outlawed that it is an ozone depleting chemical. I also heard that the oil companies used tons of it. If I remember right the reason they used it was they had to test their pumping stations. They would fill the pumping station with Halon when they would turn on the power, just in case there was any problems the station would not catch on fire.

Of course I coiuld be wrong, but that is what I remember.

Scott

Sven,
The large diameter hose is used to provide a large volume of water to the Pump.
It's the pump that provides the pressure,
the size of Feeder, is governed by the type and number of deliveries(hoses) on the Output side of the pump.
Paul,
Our hydrants are also in the road, they have a 1 metre yellow circle around them, park anywhere in this circle, and it will cost you NZ$150, if you are caught.

Texas Ranger,
I've turned up to more than one fire call with the Fire Brigade, to find a burning car, house or whatever, only to find either everyone is in such a panic, that they don't know what is going on, or they are pointing a garden hose in the general direction(not at)of what is burning, instead they point it at the smoke for some odd reason, unfortunately, that's already burnt!.

Since our blocks aren't nearly as big as US ones, hydrants are usually located only at the corners where it is illegal to park anyway. Sometimes you can also see them near garages. Most of our hydrants are beautiful retro sytle metal ones, about 4ft high.

The worst thing about the car incident was that the firefighters didn't seem to know what they were doing either!

Ranger,
Yeah, I find that really amazing, the first thing they should have done was lift the bonnet(hood) to get better access to the fire.
Stands to reason, doesn't it?.

Definitely. And upon doing this they should have realized that the fire was actually beneath the car and not inside it.
It definitely gave us a good laugh, but it also scared us quite a bit when we thought of having to rely on these guys.

Ranger,
Yeah, you would sort of hope that they would know how to extinguish a burning house a bit better than just spraying the roof.
But what it really all comes down to, is the amount of initiative(common-sense)that the Fire-Fighters have.
You will be hoping that you don't have a serious incident(LPG Tanker,Hazmat)near your place any time soon.

Good thing he parked with the shovel raised:

what?....
no stories of FF's puttin' out car fires with magnesium blocks?.......

Sparky,
The last time I used magnesium, was 20-odd years ago in Chemistry class.
We burnt a piece, it was BRIGHT!!
Sure you are not confused with something else?.