All week long, I’ve been looking at new fire service technology. Always one for gadgets and things with buttons, I’m still amazed by some of the products that are under development. Big changes in the way we fight fires are right around the corner!
In my research, I ran across one of the new ways that homeowners are tackling the protection of their houses without standing on the roof with their 5/8 line during the inevitable wildfire season.
Most houses are in danger well before flames hit their doorstep — burning embers can travel up to a mile in the wind. So the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) teamed with Foster-Miller to adapt a tent typically used to protect military vehicles from chemical attacks into a system that deflects flames from houses.
A year and a few hundred yards of fireproof, rugged nylon cordura later, they produced the SAFE Quick Cover, a rooftop system that automatically covers a house or other fire-threatened structure with fireproof fabric. It rolls out the fabric at the flip of a switch, covering an evacuated house in minutes (you couldn’t stay in the covered house, because the fire’s heat would still kill you). “
There are 3 steps to the fireproof tent deployment process:
1. The Quick Cover system is activated, this sets off a semi-explosive chemical reaction similar to inflating a car airbag that unfolds fireproof fabric from roof-mounted storage.
2. Two large fans, like the ones at carnival bounce tents, pump air into airtight, flexible exoskeleton tubes.
3. The fabric cover follows the exoskeleton lead and unfolds along the roof, dropping over the sides of the house.
The system reportedly works and remains rigid, even in strong winds. It could potentially save hundreds of people who die each year trying to save their homes in the face of fire. Additional benefits include the cost savings to insurance companies and home owners who are spared from property loss because of the protection.
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