10/4/2024
WT Staff
October 7 836 am EDT
Blazing the innovation trail, Part 3: Building out the PFAS-free Firefighting Industry
Jack Bermingham, Business Unit Director, Oshkosh Airport Products
Great minds with a vision can accomplish remarkable feats. Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport was the first in North America to jump on a regulatory exemption, completing the circuit that has transformed the chemical and environmental footprint of airport fire rescue in 2019. From our first installment in this series to break down the steps to replace "forever chemicals" in the fire rescue business, PortsToronto Deputy Fire Chief Mark Smith, it was a matter of golden timing and building the team to get the job done.
The Canadian airport operations regulator was in first, ahead of the USA in permitting alternative foam product for airport fire rescue response. According to Transport Canada, this is not a simple matter, the products do not work the same. "There are some fire suppression differences in performance between the aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) and the F3 foams. With AFFF, fuel fires are extinguished in three ways: the foam blanket suppresses fuel vapors, cools the fire, and the fluorinated surfactant drains from the foam to create a film between the foam and fuel layers. The new F3 foams extinguish a fuel fire in two ways: cooling and suppressing vapors. The lack of the fluorinated surfactant means there is no film forming properties to create a film. This requires specific training in technique and minor changes to the strategies and tactics."
In Part 2, Perimeter Solutions Chemist and Business Development Manager, Mark Siem, illuminated the different modes of action, from AFFF to the fluoropolymer-free foams, we learned the characteristics are different enough to warrant a new specification and development of new tactics in managing the fire, training teams for the new product.
In this segment we hear from the Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) vehicle manufacturer Oshkosh Airport Products, the industry giant with thousands of vehicles in service around the world.
Jack Bermingham is the Business Unit Director for Oshkosh Aiport Products, headquartered in mid-west USA. Oshkosh has built and supplied somewhere in the order of 5000 ARFF units in its history, these have performed the works, from major incidents to daily spills at airports around the world. Incidentally, Oshkosh is just down the road from Perimeter Solutions worldwide headquarters in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Proximal serendipity is part of the golden timing of this story, permitting easy collaboration of product developer with the manufacturer of the delivery equipment. Before any airport could take on this new product with its different properties and mode of action, it had to be tested in the very equipment used in a real case. When Perimeter Solutions was ready to test their new creation, Oshkosh drove a unit down from one HQ to the other. A day of testing and tweaking ensured the higher viscosity of the new foam concentrate would mix in correct proportion (3% solution) and flow through the valves and nozzles of the delivery vehicle.
According to Jack Bermingham, thanks to Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, Oshkosh has a "play book" for airports opting to switch out forever-toxic foam for the sort that breaks down in a matter of months. "Confidence is up", says Bermingham, now that turnovers have been successfully completed with many ARFF vehicles and multiple fluorine-free products in the market in 2024.
Five years after Billy Bishop made the change, approximately half the airports in Canada are using the new foam products, each with unique properties. The play book shows which valves and orifices are going to work with each foam product. The choice of product is a commitment, as the ARFF unit is adapted to suit. We asked if there has been action in the last five years specifically with the new foam product, Bermingham responded, "I'm going to guess YES, they do the job."
Bermingham could not elaborate on the firefighting tactics employed with the new foams to prevent burn-back, the reigniting of hydrocarbon vapors. He explains, the main role of Oshkosh Airport Products is to ensure the ARFF equipment is effectively handling the higher viscosity of the new foams, that the concentrate is proportioning and mixing properly, and flowing through the valves and nozzles as flawlessly as intended.
Oshkosh not only participated in the testing at Perimeter Solutions in Green Bay, they also attended to run testing ahead of the session with Transport Canada at Billy Bishop Airport in Toronto. It goes without saying, the testing was a success, the new green foam got the green light.
A statement from Transport Canada says, "Canadian airport and heliport operators are allowed to transition to a fluorine-free foam. This foam is a more environmentally friendly option currently available on the market and is being used in some Canadian airports, as well as in other countries.
Transport Canada issued an exemption in 2019, allowing airports to use the new fluorine-free foams (F3). This exemption allows all Canadian airport operators to use the performance specifications set out in the standards provisions of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). This exemption allows Canadian airport operators to elect to transition to a fluorine-free foam, a more environmentally friendly option that is being used in other countries.
Approximately 50% of the Canadian airports have transitioned to the new F3 foams already. Projections are showing an additional 30% of Canadian airports plan to transition to the new F3 foams in the next few years.
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