Your department took the plunge and purchased a compressed-air foam system for your new apparatus. You've heard the talk about enhanced operations and better performance, with ratings that increase water's extinguishing effectiveness up to 10 times. That sounds almost too good to be true. So the big question is how much will operations actually improve? The answer depends on the extent of your training.

We've all heard that “practice makes perfect,” and CAFS use is no exception. Training should be the first thing on your mind when you are writing the specifications for your new apparatus.

Manufacturer training

One of the most important points to consider when deciding on a system is what type of instruction is included with the purchase, as this varies widely throughout the industry. Some manufacturers provide no instruction. Others provide a half day at the factory during final inspection. Still others provide up to three days of instruction at your fire department.

Consider the advantages and disadvantages of each type of instruction. For example, holding the class at your department allows most if not all of your personnel to participate. Or you can use the train-the-trainer concept and only require key training personnel to attend. In both cases you still get home-field advantage, so to speak. With training at the department, you will save on travel time and expenses, scheduling, and overtime — there's simply less hassle. Also, you would be at home where you can discuss with your trainer all the variables that make your department unique. This can include call types and volumes, mutual aid companies, the foam concentrate your department uses, the water supply and quality in your area, and even the local climate.

Another important point to consider is training instruction. The extent of your training ultimately depends on the qualifications of the trainer. When looking for qualified CAFS instructors, there are some important questions to ask: Do they have firefighting experience? Do they have firefighting experience using CAFS? Are they qualified fire service instructors? Besides giving credibility to the instructor, positive answers to these questions will help make your classes more effective.

We've all attended a class where the salesperson or factory representative came to teach. They told you to turn this knob and pull that lever, but they had no idea why it worked or how to troubleshoot if it didn't, and they simply couldn't answer the “what if” questions. With a qualified instructor, you get just the opposite — you get communication on a user-to-user level, making equipment operation more comprehensible. Even beyond basic operating instructions, qualified instructors also can discuss how the system can be used in a variety of situations specific to your needs.

When you receive your delivery instructions, take time to review the main points. This is an important part of training even if it's just the tip of the training iceberg. You have to remember that this sets the foundation for effective CAFS operations. Being able to run the system and get foam out of the line is the easy part; once you have that, you don't lose it. Firefighters learn quickly and will easily master the steps needed to add foam and air to the water. They will even learn how to readily change the foam consistency. That isn't to say that training should stop here.

Which switch is which

A compressed-air foam system will become a tool that will be used frequently; however, you and your staff also need to understand when and where to use your foam proportioner with an aspirating nozzle to your tactical advantage. Your personnel must thoroughly understand what type of foam to use in various tactical situations. For example, should compressed-air foam be wet and sloppy or thick like shaving cream? The answer is both. They are both tools, and each has its own proper tactical application.

Besides knowing what types of finished foam to use and when to use it, pump operators need to understand the variables. A question I'm often asked when conducting training is, “How long will the foam stay after the application?” The response I give to my classes is that there's no specific answer to this question. Time will vary according to how you made the foam, what you applied it on, the weather conditions, the foam concentrate used and the quality of water you are using. As you can see, these are all important variables to consider, and they depend a lot on where you operate.

Learning what will happen in different situations takes practice. Besides simply understanding that there are in fact variables, you need to train in various conditions and become familiar with how the foam works. This helps solidify how the variables work, so whether you are fighting fire or protecting an exposure, you will be applying the right product at the right time for the best results.

Where to train

Most importantly you must train with live fire. Filling the parking lot with bubbles or coating the side of the station have their place in learning basic operations, but they don't necessarily prepare you for real-life situations. The real handle on extinguishing fire using foam can only come from hands-on, live-fire experience. Live-fire experience helps you understand the differences in both application techniques and in how the fire environment changes when using compressed-air foam. Discussions in a classroom can work, but most firefighters will tell you that experience is the true educator.

The best opportunity to experience CAFS is in an acquired structure where you are surrounded by Class A fuels. Knowing the logistical and safety issues that come from this type of training, you may want to try a burn facility. If you elect to use a burn building, it must be capable of using Class A fuel. Propane-fired burn buildings won't give a real-life experience with compressed-air foam. Even a burn building using Class A fuels is still a concrete or metal box, so you won't get the full experience. Another point is that most burn rooms are fairly small and easily overwhelmed, so it's harder to see the true effectiveness of the foam.

Just like anything else we do in the fire industry, the more you train with a system the more proficient you will become. Keep in mind that there is no one right way to use CAFS. You need to find out what works best for you and your department, and that comes from proper training and experience.

Keith Klassen has 31 years of experience in the fire service, both as a volunteer and as a career firefighter. He is currently a captain for Summit Fire Department in Flagstaff, Ariz. Klassen also is the CAFS instruction program manager for Waterous Co.