"New" Fire Extinguishing Agent

[Bob Drury]

  I just watched a NOVA program on the local PBS station which featured new safety devices such as seismic bracing in buildings and most importantly... the use of Corn Starch and water which when heated forms a gel (think of thickening gravy) and which turns into liquid when sprayed but returns to a sticky non burnable gel upon contact with any surface.
  It is now being used by some Fire Departments and is harmless to virtually anything or anyone, and you can eat it when the fire is out!
  My devious mind tells me that if you put Dry Sump Oil Tank blanket heaters around your fire bottles (filled with the gel solution) and with a onboard power inverter, this system might be the answer to toxic Halon extinguishants, or Soapy solutions such as ColdFire (which are in fact not fire extinguishants, rather retardants).
  They showed two mock up fires; one in a Conex shipping container, and one in a fully engulfed automobile and in both cases the fires were out within less than five seconds.
  If I wasn't brain dead I would figure out how to post it on You Tube.                  Bob

[TIIILSR]

Great info Bob. Do you know the name of the show so we can look for it in the future?

[Geo]

Bob,

I saw that too.  I love those shows!  I thought the gel material can be at room temperature. And the fire went out extremely quickly and stayed out. No minutes, hours of running water and flushing debris down the waterway, street, spreading whatever is in the burning place.  You can spray it on the day before the fire, think of the wild fires this year and spraying your house as the fire gets nearer.

NOVA Science Now - Making More Stuff - Making Stuff Safer with David Pogue

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/making-more-stuff.html#making-stuff-safer

Geo

[manta22]

Thanks for that link. Interesting stuff. It looks effective on non-petroleum fires; I wonder how it does on a petroleum fire?

The host, David Pogue is really annoying. He comes across as a 7th grader. WGBH, a "Public" broadcasting station is running commercials on their web video. So much for "non-commercial" broadcasting. They also run up the audio volume at least 10dB during their commercials.

This is almost unwatchable!  :x

Regards Neil  Tucson, AZ

[Bob Drury]

  Neal, no commercials on Oregon PBS thanks to a lot of support by member/viewers.
 If your disgusted with commercials on PBS, write your congressman, He is probably one of those whose votes have gutted Federal Funding to Public Broadcasting.
 The good news is that YOU can dig into your pocket and donate Today!
                                                                                                                           Bob 

[Stainless1]

Thanks for that link. Interesting stuff. It looks effective on non-petroleum fires; I wonder how it does on a petroleum fire?

The host, David Pogue is really annoying. He comes across as a 7th grader. WGBH, a "Public" broadcasting station is running commercials on their web video. So much for "non-commercial" broadcasting. They also run up the audio volume at least 10dB during their commercials.

This is almost unwatchable!  :x

Regards Neil  Tucson, AZ

Neil, PBS programing is designed so it is understandable at the 8th grade level... their target audience.  That is why One Run enjoys it... without commercials... lots of audience    if you watch it on the computer the commercials are painful. 
Good to know if you have a fire at dinner, throw the gravy on it. 

[Bob Drury]

  Yeah but three years in the eighth grade must mean something, huh?                   :-P

[Tman]

Here is another one. http://dakfire.com/index.php?page=gel Local firefighter here developed a way to spray this gel to protect homes. He also put out a locomotive fire in a mine tunnel. Cool stuff. Literally

[Stainless1]

  Yeah but three years in the eighth grade must mean something, huh?                   :-P

Yes Bob, it means they throw you out of school when you're over 21...   

[TIIILSR]

This very good to see what people have come up with to save structures, but would it be something we can use in a car?

Mike

[Tman]

This very good to see what people have come up with to save structures, but would it be something we can use in a car?

Mike

Maybe not but Gordon (guy that invented the spray system) used it successfully to put out an ore train fire in a tunnel out West. They had tried for days to put the fire out, he showed up and smothered it within a couple hours. Would be great to have a safety truck set up with it. It cools while it puts out the fire and is nontoxic. Would be a great tool in the event of a runaway fire.

[TIIILSR]

Great to here about the ore fire he was able to contain.
Guess I will continue to shop for the 10 pound R36? setup.
Thanks greatly for the info.

Mike