Fire Engines Photos

great appliance!!!!!

Added by Mitch on 30 December 2007.

These CAFS appliances can also be used for large urban fire incidents in the ACT.

Added by Ben C. on 07 January 2008.

Being the first of its kind in Oz to use the CAFS technology I've seen how these tankers worked during one bushfire incident a few years back in a Canberra suburb. some houses in one street were completely blanketed in the foam. It looked as if it had snowed.
A huge advantage for the ACTRFS and Fire Brigade and also other fire services in Australia.

Added by Adam Collison on 08 January 2008.

How does the CAFS system work???

Added by Joe on 31 January 2009.

Joe

CAFS stands for compressed air foam system and there is a seperate foam concentrate tank in the system holding a concentrate that s like washing up liquid, this concentrate is mixed in with the water by a compressor and then fed down a dedicated cafs delivery line to the branch (again a special branch) the supposed advantages are very minimal amounts of both water and concentrate are used thereby reducing water damage, the hose is very light to handle - cos its full of bubbles thereby causing less effort on the part of the branchman especially if in BA, disadvantages are it makes a lot of mess, and allegedly in the UK the enviroment agency ain't too keen on it entering drains and watercourses - although the manufacturers seem to have ommitted that fact when selling it to brigades the foam can be made 'wetter or drier' by adjusting the settings at the pump, to get technical the foam acts as a 'surfactant' and clings to surfaces both cooling and smothering the fire - I think - from memory prior to retiring we had just got a CAFs pump in Humberside and this is where I have my info from, personally whilst in some situations its undobtably better in most I think crews will tend to use water alone as an extinguishing media.

Added by Rick Loudon on 01 February 2009.

Attitudes to CAFS have evolved quite a lot over the years. Although no two fires are the same, evidence from several countries suggests that CAFS reduces extinguishment (and time) by 25% to 50% in most fire situations, when compared to plain water. This means less water consumption, less material damage in structure fires, less smoke damage, reduced pump engine emissions, less polluted water runoff and less time spent at each incident by fire crews. On balance, this makes it actually more environmentally friendly than plain water, as well as reduced wear and tear on both firefighters and their equipment. It is now the "go to" first attack solution in many fire services for almost all classes of fire, and increasing numbers are discontinuing the use of high pressure hose reels in interior fires - with many deleting these altogether. One example is Berlin, where the 23mm hose reel has been replaced by a 38mm flaked CAFS line. While the benefits of CAFS at wildland fires have long been acknowledged, its wide acceptance as the best way to tackle structure fires is a more recent development.

Added by Rob Johnson on 22 June 2022.

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