The three-day International Class A Foam and CAFS Academy was held this week in Glendale, Ariz., with more than 100 participants from six countries in attendance.

Keynote speaker Garry Briese, co-founder of the Center for New Media Resiliency, challenged the participants to raise the awareness of advantages of Class A foam and CAFS, particularly as they relate to firefighter safety and reduced resources.

“Do we believe that as soon as this recession is over, everything will go back to normal? I don’t think so,” Briese said. “If we can do the job with less, why do we think we will ever get more? … It’s up to us to figure out how we can better format the argument for CAFS for what’s important today.”

Though Class A foam was developed more than 30 years ago, many fire departments still use it only for wildland or wildland-urban interface fires.

“Why not use it on every fire?” Briese asked. All fire departments respond to more vehicle and dumpster fires — on a square-foot basis, the most toxic fire you can encounter.”

After the opening session, the program moved to the Glendale Regional Training Center for three separate tracks: chiefs and officers, mechanics, and advanced hands-on training. Between classes, equipment and apparatus demonstrations were held behind the training center. 

The track for chiefs and officers included the basics of foam, foam concentrates, fireground applications and more. During “What Does CAFS and Class A Foam Really Cost?” a chief officer from the Honolulu Fire Department said his department uses CAFS on every fire and the public-information officer always points that fact out to the media.

The technicians and mechanics’ track ranged from a basic understanding of foam systems and CAFS types and components to hands-on proportioner/CAFS troubleshooting. The advanced track included a basic review of foam, nozzles, hose and flows; structural applications; vehicle fires; and live-fire drills.

“There is a real need for information and hands-on training on foam and CAFS from experienced instructors,” said Keith Klassen, the academy’s operations chief. “We hope participants will provide us feedback so we can continue to grow and improve this academy.”

The first academy was developed by Waterous, Phos-Chek and Elkhart Brass and open to all vendors and manufacturers.