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Drop it like it's hot: Hangar unveils fire-suppressant system

  • Published
  • By 2nd. Lt. Jessica Clark
  • 60th Air Mobility Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Within five minutes 1,000 gallons of fire-suppressant foam was released from Hangar 818, leaving a 6-foot layer of foam in the 85,000 square-foot building Wednesday at Travis Air Force Base, Calif.

"This is a new high expansion foam system," said Casey Covone, Desert Design and Construction Company. "We've installed 14 new foam generators and a new closed head fire protection system and today is the day we are testing it."

Desert Design and Construction Company specializes in all fire suppression systems and has installed two at Travis.

The old system was an open-head system and when there was a fire, water would come out through the piping and deluge the building, Covone said. The new system features a closed-head. There is water in the piping that is pressurized in the 1,100 sprinkler heads, making foam that acts as the main focus of putting the fire out.

"It is a much quicker fire-suppression system," said Navy Lt. Joseph Iacovone, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, project manager.

The new system brings the fire suppression system up to current standards and fire codes, said Robert LaPlante, 60th Maintenance Group facilities program manager.

"It's non-toxic and it's a more efficient way of putting out a fire," Covone said. "When you have aircraft fuel, it's tough to put out. So the foam lays on top of it in a 4 to 5 foot blanket and will suffocate the fire. When there is not oxygen, there is no fire."

"They've never had a hangar fire so we are lucky," Covone said. "Prevention is the key."