These days fire and rescue services are living in their own bubble to avoid causing trouble in daily shifts due to infection by Covid. This affects municipal fire services as well as the industrial fire brigades.
But the result is a lack of information from external sources, especially in fields of rapidly changing knowledge. One of these fields is firefighting foam.
With new worldwide regulations and restrictions on foam concentrates containing PFAS the world of foams is changing almost daily. That means the whole industry is moving away from the well-known AFFF and alcohol-resistant AFFF to the new F3-type foam concentrates.
F3 foam concentrates are the replacement solutions for fire brigades dealing with hazmat scenarios and industrial fire brigades in high-risk industries. However, users rightly have many questions on this transition process and its implications.
Accurate answers are rarely provided in the world wide web. Therefore, international foam schools are beneficial. There are different providers, who offer hands-on training for practical foam attacks.
In the focus of transition H2K from Rotterdam, Holland and Dr. Sthamer from Hamburg, Germany, have chosen another way of training. This March 2022, for the sixth time, this joint venture offers a foam school focused on team leaders and fire chiefs.
H2K are professional providers of fire training and Dr. Sthamer is a German foam manufacturer with nearly 100 years’ expertise in formulation, production, testing of foam concentrates and consultancy in firefighting foam technology. Both companies are international partners of fire and rescue services and were asked in the past to set up specialized training with foam. To increase the value of this course programme the content is accredited by JOIFF (Joint Oil Industry Fire Forum) with CPD rated training. This is of great value for the oil and gas companies to raise the level of competence and understanding of their incident commanders and front-line firefighters.
The 2022 edition is focused on the topic of foam transition. Alongside the much-needed Hands On Training (HOT) the speakers are presenting the background of all important parts of the foam transition journey. This foam school combines the theoretical parts with practical demonstration and several scenarios on how to handle F3 foams.
Subjects will include formulation of F3 foam and how they work on polar and non-polar fuels. Furthermore, on the transition issues of proportioning, we will discuss several mixing systems and their ability to handle F3 foams and show the differences in viscosities of different foam concentrates. Also, application methodologies such as gentle and forceful foam application will be discussed and compared to compressed air foam technology (CAFS).
During workshops the participants will learn how to calculate the requirements for large fires according to NFPA and EN standards. In the evening there will be time for the exchange of ideas between the participants and to discuss their specific questions and understanding of the day’s courses.
For more information, go to www.h2k.nl/en/training/foam-school
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