HOT TOPICS Product Innovations No.2

New aerosol fire extinguisher

Around 200,000 home fires occur every year in Germany, according to the GDV association of German insurance providers. In addition, the association estimates an annual occurrence of some 40,000 automobile fires. All of these fires have one thing in common: they all start small, meaning a fire extinguisher would be the perfect antidote in the vast majority of cases. But how many private homes even have a fire extinguisher, and how many people know how to use one? With the new PRYMOS aerosol extinguisher, being exhibited by the German Firefighters Association at INTERSCHUTZ 2010, virtually anyone can quickly and easily nip a small blaze in the bud.

At first glance, the new extinguisher looks like a can of hairspray, and is just as easy to use. If there is a fire, you simply hold it a meter or so away from the blaze and press the spray nozzle. Weighing around one kilogram, the can contains a highly effective extinguishing foam which is nevertheless mild on the skin and respiratory tract. For this reason, the extinguisher can also be used to put out flames on human bodies, in contrast to powder extinguishers.

German Firefighters Association
Reinhardtstr. 25
10117 Berlin, Germany
Tel: +49 30 288848-800
Fax: +49 30 288848-809
www.dfv.org
Your contact for further information at INTERSCHUTZ 2010:
Rolf Schäfer
Hall 1, stand F62
Stand tel.: +49 34141455913
E-mail: Schaefer@feuerwehrversand.de

Europe's toughest firefighter

Things are going to get really tough for 140 firefighters on Thursday, 10 June at INTERSCHUTZ 2010 - the day the European challenge for the Toughest Firefighter Alive begins. Contestants will need to endure four grueling stations in full gear, including a helmet and compressed-air respirator. The first station: Competing firefighters have to connect an 80-meter hose with a centrifugal pump and pull it all the way to a designated mark. The next station requires even more effort: Contestants need to deliver 100 blows with a sledge hammer, then carry a load weighing 25 kilograms through a tunnel, then shoulder a load weighing 90 kilograms over a distance of 90 meters, then climb a three-meter high wall. The final station is perhaps the toughest: Here, contestants need to run up 30 stories of stairs to reach the top of the Leipzig exhibition center tower.

The winner of the competition - Europe's Toughest Firefighter Alive - will be honored on Saturday, 12 June at 5:00 p.m. at the Scott company exhibition stand (C62) in Hall 3.

TFA / Toughest Firefighter Alive
Berlin Challenge, European Challenge
Stockholtweg 132
41239 Mönchengladbach, Germany
Tel: +49 2166 9989-2330
Fax: +49 2166 9989-2339
www.fit-for-112.de
Your contact for further information at INTERSCHUTZ 2010:
Armin Taube
Hall 1, stand E65
E-mail: armin.taube@moenchengladbach.de

Flying drones help decipher poisonous clouds

Plumes of smoke that occur as a result of a major blaze are disquieting for nearby residents since, on the ground, it is impossible to determine how hazardous these dark clouds composed of gaseous elements and dust particles really are. Although fire brigades are outfitted with manual devices which can measure the concentration of different gases, these are only good for hazards on the ground. Up to now there has been no technology available for analyzing plumes of smoke at great heights. But now the new "drones" being exhibited at the GfG stand at INTERSCHUTZ 2010 are about to change all that.

The core of these small, unmanned aircraft consists of the gas and sensor technology developed by the Dortmund-based enterprise. For missions involving a major blaze, a radioactive cloud or a chemical disaster, a bevy of wireless, networked drones equipped with state-of-the-art gas measuring technology, are sent up into the sky to analyze the poisonous substances in the air and the direction of propagation. The flight routes of these reconnaissance drones are dynamically determined and continually adapted, allowing them to autonomously track the propagation direction of the hazardous substances and transmit detailed analyses and prognoses to the operation command point. A key element in this innovation involves the sensors, which need to be extremely lightweight: This is because the drones can only have a maximum weight of five kilograms, otherwise they will not receive flight clearance.

GfG Gesellschaft für Gerätebau mbH
Klönnestr. 99
44143 Dortmund, Germany
Tel: +49 231 56400-0
Fax: +49 231 516313
www.gasmessung.de
Your contact for further information at INTERSCHUTZ 2010:
Udo Linnenbrink
Hall 3, stand C58
E-mail: udo.linnenbrink@gfg-mbh.com

22,500 liters of water per minute

Two plant chemical disaster and fire brigades have come to INTERSCHUTZ 2010 to demonstrate how experience and know-how can help emergency teams to quickly and safely master the consequences of transport accidents involving chemicals. Of course they have brought just the right equipment with them. Part of the gear includes an impressive water cannon, brought by the BASF plant fire brigade based in Ludwigshafen, which the chemical industry can employ in the future for operations involving fires at chemical depots. The water cannon can deliver around 22,500 liters of water or a mixture of water and foaming agent per minute, and has a range of 120 meters.

The plant fire brigade at Infraserv Gendorf on the other hand is displaying a transfer system for liquid gas and chlorine. The transport container is brought to the accident site by truck. Its main feature consists of a pump with a capacity of 10 cubic meters per hour. The liquid gas or chlorine is pumped through a flexible stainless steel hose with a total length of 200 meters to the transfer tank. Special connectors are available to hook up the liquid transfer system to the tank container involved in the accident - for example, a chlorine tank car - on the one hand, and the disaster recovery container on the other.

TUIS - Transport, Accident and Aid System for the Chemical Industry Association (VCI)
Mainzer Landstr. 55
60329 Frankfurt, Germany
Tel: +49 69 2556-1503
Fax: +49 69 2556-1612
www.vci.de
Your contact for further information at INTERSCHUTZ 2010:
Monika von Zedlitz
Hall 5, stand A20
E-mail: presse@vci.de

World first: Tunnel training

A fire in a road tunnel can quickly develop into a catastrophe. This makes it particularly crucial to thoroughly prepare rescue squads for missions involving these special conditions. At INTERSCHUTZ 2010, the Lower Saxony Ministry of the Interior, Sports and Integration has brought a special training system designed exactly for this purpose.

The new innovation can be used to simulate conditions in a road tunnel following an accident. The mobile system consists of a 12-meter long tunnel, a tunnel portal and a road section. The designers of this unique training system plan to offer it for training sessions not just in the state of Lower Saxony, but throughout Germany, as requested by local units.

Lower Saxony Ministry of the Interior, Sports and Integration
"White IT"
Lavesallee 6
30169 Hannover, Germany
Tel: +49 511 120-6009
Fax: +49 511 120-6590
www.mi.niedersachsen.de
Your contact for further information at INTERSCHUTZ 2010:
Hall 1, stand F38

Rescuing the rescuers

Firefighters are the heroes who come in from the outside and rescue us in dangerous situations. But what about the firefighters themselves, when they need to escape from a burning multi-story building? The Krah Co. has just the right equipment for this, on display at INTERSCHUTZ 2010.

Background: After a tragic accident in 2005, the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) decided to outfit all firefighters with their own personal escape system so they could swiftly leave burning buildings. The EXO system was the result of FDNY's collaboration with a private company. Using this system, every firefighter is now able to escape from burning structures quickly and safely. Designed for the fire brigades, the EXO EASHOOK rescue kit consists of an EASHOOK carabiner, a heat-resistant Technora rope and a self-braking descent control device. This system is designed for use within the scope of a rescue plan with specified anchor points.

Christoph & Markus Krah GmbH,
Petzl, Beal, ActSafe - Vertrieb D
Brauhausstr. 19
82467 Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
Tel: +49 8821 9323-0
Fax: +49 8821 9323-23
www.krah.com
Your contact for further information at INTERSCHUTZ 2010:
Andrea Werner
Hall 3, stand G24
E-mail: awerner@krah.com