March Madness

The March issue had several interesting articles. The one from Phil Stittleburg ("What's in a Word? Court Says Everything") reinforces my administrative and consulting philosophy that we can no longer do as we please and expect it to be unconditionally accepted. We must take responsibility for our actions.

"Hush" brought out points that I have preached to our members and taught to my emergency vehicle driver training classes for years — not only does the use of lights and sirens elevate the anxiety of the driver and crew, it also irritates the community at 2 a.m. Additionallly, it makes it difficult to monitor radio communications. Audio-visual warning systems are required by our state law when exercising one of the priviledges granted under the vehicle code, the two most prominent being exceeding the speed limit and passing stop signalling devices. We require a full stop at all stop signalling devices and limit speed to 10 mph over posted speeds. Lights are generally used, but sirens and air horns (more effective than sirens) are used only at intersections as necessary.

In Rod Carringer's article "Foam Factors," I will have to disagree with some of his procedures. We have been using Class A foam since the mid-80s and CAFS since 2003. I had the opportunity to do fairly extensive research on CAFS while on the road with NFA courses. We were committed to the concept several years earlier, but the $40,000 cost of the compressor and connections held us up.

First, "cheap" foam has worked well for us for many years. We get it in superconcentrated form to save on shipping and pay around $9 a gallon. We start at 0.3% and go to 0.2% upon darkening the fire. For overhaul we go to 0.1% without air.

Second, the foam may work at its optimum with lots of nice white bubbles, but we have found that it does a very good job even when it bears little resemblance to "foam."

Third, most of our application uses a dual nozzle that is capable of adjustable pattern and a solid bore stream. Since I am a staunch proponent of the combination attack and maximizing the use of stream, I would not like to be in the building without the capability of an adjustable pattern.

— Asst. Chief Allen Clark
Bell Township (Pa.) Fire Department