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New trailer to be used for foam |
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Tuesday, 07 July 2009 |
By KAREN CAMPBELL
Assistant Managing Editor
The county has come up with a solution to better transport foam when it’s needed to prevent an emergency situation from becoming worse.
Foam, which is used to smother fires like a blanket, as described by Auglaize County Emergency Management Agency Director Troy Anderson, currently is stored in 5-gallon buckets at the Neil Armstrong Airport near New Knoxville.
But, if it is needed in an emergency situation, it can’t immediately be hauled there, as first it must be loaded on a truck for the responding department.
The EMA came up with a solution, by allowing the foam to be stored inside an 18-foot trailer it purchased for a little more than $400.
Anderson said that way the foam is always ready to go and time can be saved by not having to load it first.
The responding fire department simply hooks to the trailer and pulls it where it is needed.
“They can just take it off and go with it,” Anderson said.
The foam bank belonging at the airport is the only supply of the material in the county.
“The county fire chiefs were looking for an easy way to have the county foam bank stored at the airport,” Anderson said. “It’s been kept at the airport in case there is an accident there, but then it’s also available if area fire departments need it.”
As it is used, those fire departments are billed and the material is replaced.
The trailer is able to hold up to 450-gallons of the foam, which the county has used in emergency situations since the late 1980s.
Anderson said foam is used in situations where there are limited water sources, those involving gasoline, and in the possibility of a semitanker or similar vehicle crashing.
“Water isn’t always as effective as foam, which basically lies like soap, sitting on top and smothering, depleting oxygen away from the source,” Anderson said. “There are different types of foam used for different situations, but all of them will be on this trailer ready to go.”
Wapakoneta Fire Chief Kendall Krites said foam has a life expectancy, but it is lengthy, so the foam storage is a good way to keep the material ready when needed.
“We can just hook it up and go,” said St. Marys Fire Chief Ken Cline.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 08 July 2009 )
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