FIT-5 Technology Test Burn 11/22/2008

I attended a product test on the FIT-5 device this morning, conducted by students from the Dutchess Community College Fire Science Program in Dutchess County, NY. It was an interesting demonstration, and I'll describe it as best I can.

The students constructed a 12x15-ft room with 2x4 studded walls sheathed in 1/2" sheetrock, with one entry door and one window. The room was filled with several couches, a couple of wooden cabinets, and a TV - typical fireload for say, a den or living room. The room was 8-ft high, as the documentation for the product claims it can extinguish a fire in a room up to 1500 cubic feet. The 12'x15'x8' size gave a total volume of 1440 cubic feet, close to the recommended maximum room size for the product.

The burn was conducted at the Dutchess County Fire Training Center in Poughkeepsie, just up the road from the college. Dave Walsh, who oversees the Fire Science Program for the college, emceed the morning's activities, and fire suppression and hot coffee were both efficiently provided by the Pleasant Valley Fire District.

I worked the night before, and my camera was NOT happy at having spent the night in my truck; it kept shutting off at inopportune moments during the morning due to the sub-freezing temperatures. Thus, I apologize for the questionable quality of the photography.

A sizeable crowd of firefighters, chiefs, county Emergency Response personnel (including County Coordinator John Murphy and several Deputy coordinators) was on hand to witness the FIT-5's performance.

The device is a steel drum, not unlike a land mine in appearance, which is activated by pulling a cord attached to the firing mechanism, then tossing it into the involved area.

A representative from S&S Fire Equipment in Sullivan County, NY (who provided the device) spoke briefly, explaining the basic function of the device and its design parameters and limitations. He specifically mentioned that it CANNOT completely extinguish a fire by itself - it's designed to quickly reduce the volume of fire by reacting within a closed space to interrupt the conditions in which a fire can burn - hence the name: FIT stands for Fire Interruption Technology.

The fire was ignited in the closed room, and after several minutes, it was decided to take out the window in the room to allow the fire to progress to a flashover condition faster. The fire escalated quickly after that, and soon rolled out the window and popped the small panes in the front door. At this point, the device was activated and tossed into the room.

The device went off with an impressive WHOOSH! of chemical discharge, and an immediate change in the fire conditions was evident. The visible flame decreased dramatically within the room, and white smoke and steam vented from the existing openings in the window and door.

The device exhausted quickly, however, and it seemed that the fire resumed as soon as the air from the openings overcame the chemical being discharged by the device. The fire around the door and window never fully extinguished, and within a minute of discharge, reignited and the room quickly reached flashover temperature again, at which point the fire was extinguished by the team standing by in front.

I spoke to Dave Walsh as the fire was being extinguished, and we agreed that the device would have had a MUCH more profound effect had the door and window remained intact, controlling the flow of air to the fire after the device was activated. It seemed to cut off the fire immediately for a period of a minute or two, and to take full advantage of its potential, the key would be to have control of the air to the room, and be ready with a hoseline IMMEDIATELY after that first minute or so - once air gets to the fire, it WILL reignite. This is right in line with the points made by the salesman just prior to the exercise.

All in all, it was a VERY interesting demonstration, and the product may well have a future in the fire service. As with any new technology, it's important to use it within the parameters of its design, and don't expect it to perform a miracle - it doesn't. What it will do, it appears to me, and fairly effectively, is to temporarily extinguish a fire in a compartment the size of a typical residential room with limited airflow, giving us time to get the hoseline in place and/or the search team into another area that may not have been accessible due to the fire conditions.

It's vital to our safety to also remember that whatever structural effect the fire has already had is unchanged - even though the fire darkened or went out, any fire impingement on the structure is still there, the same as it would be if the device was never used. Entry should still be made in full caution mode, with TIC in use, and if anything, extra care should be taken due to the vision impairment caused by the white chemical reactant smoke and steam emitted by the device. It's non-toxic and non-asphyxiant, according to the salesman, but still obscures our view of conditions inside the structure, perhaps even more than the smoke from the fire.

I'll be interested to see what the continued use of these devices brings to actual fire conditions in the service in the coming years.