Economy of firefighting foam concentrates, foams and mobile foam systems according to European standards

Europske norme za pjene, pjenila i sustave pjene postoje već dugi niz godina. Zbog njihove složenosti, vatrogasna zajednica i struka zaštite od požara ih ne poznaje dobro niti ih u dovoljnoj mjeri koristi, iako su one primjenjive na fiksne i na mobilne sustave pjene. Analizirani su zahtjevi za gustoćom primjene i vremenom djelovanja mobilnih sustava pjene pri gašenju požara lokve površine do 400 m2. Gustoća primjene značajno ovisi o klasi pjenila, što dalje određuje količinu pjenila potrebnog za intervenciju. Potrebna količina pjenila je gotovo dvostruko veća ako se koriste pjenila najnižih klasa umjesto pjenila najviših klasa. Povećana količina pjenila, zahtjevi za dodatnom opremom i većim brojem vatrogasaca te zahtjevnijom logistikom operacije mogu značajno nadmašiti uštedu na cijeni pjenila niske kvalitete. Uz to će i kapacitet gašenja s postojećom opremom biti mnogo manji. Činjenica da je neko pjenilo certificirano prema europskim normama bez navođenja postignute klase ne govori ništa o njegovoj kvaliteti i može vatrogasce navesti na potpuno pogrešnu odluku o izboru. U radu su prikazani bitni detalji požarnih testova pjenila i vremenski slijed ispitivanja, te zahtjevi prema pojedinim klasama pjenila s novim grafičkim prikazom. Korištenjem prikazanih podataka, svaki JVP ili DVD može napraviti vlastitu kalkulaciju troškova na bazi predviđenih požarnih scenarija, postojeće opreme i broja vatrogasaca.European standards for foams, foam concentrate and foam systems have been in existence for many years. Because of their complexity, firefighting community and fire protection professionals do not know them well enough and do not use them sufficiently, although they are entirely applicable to both fixed and mobile foam systems. We analysed the requirements for application rate and time on mobile foam systems for fighting of spill fire of up to 400 m2 size. Application rates depend significantly on foam performance class, which also determine the amount of concentrate required for an intervention. The amount of concentrate is almost twice as high when using lowest class foam instead of highest class foam. Increased quantity of concentrate, requirements for additional equipment and larger number of firefighters as well as more complicated operation logistics can significantly outperform savings on the price of low-quality concentrate. In addition, firefighting capacity with existing equipment and firefighter safety will be much lower. The fact that a foam has been certified to European standards without specifying the class achieved gives no information about its quality and may lead firefighters to a completely wrong selection decision. Beside the essential details of foam fire tests and the time sequence of testing, this paper presents particular requirements to all foam classes in a new graphic format. Using data provided, each professional or volunteer fire station can produce their own calculation of costs, based on expected fire scenarios, existing equipment and number of firefighters