Foam Transition – Have You Done Your Homework?

By Peter de Roos and Jochem van de Graaff | H2KFOAM TRANSITION: HAVE YOU DONE YOUR HOMEWORK?

A Seveso company starts using new fluorine free foam concentrate and finds out during training that its fire crew lacks knowledge on the changed characteristics of the new foam: far from perfect. A public fire brigade calls H2K because their foam truck delivers no foam during an incident after changing foam concentrate: near miss? An agency seeking last minute assistance in performing F3 fire tests, one day before tendering for a new concentrate: poorly prepared. Three examples of illmanaged foam transitions.

To H2K this raises big concerns with regards to firefighter safety, public safety, protection of valuable assets and sometimes even protection of critical infrastructure.

More and more parties consider replacing their current foam concentrate to a fluorine free type (F3). Some are already taking steps to do so. With upcoming EU-restrictions and bans on usage of PFAS-components, it is actually a good moment to consider a transition to fluorine free foam. The awareness of companies, public fire brigades and other stakeholders regarding the PFASproblems has been raised. That in itself is, environmentally speaking, a nice first step. So, for many parties it is clear WHAT to do. A change to fluorine free foam concentrate is inevitable. So why not get started? The biggest challenge now – as the examples above show – is HOW make this transfer in a responsible and careful way.

Exchanging foam concentrates is not a free exercise. A foam concentrate is a part of a very well-developed and wellbalanced system of fire safety that has been established and evolved over the past 50 years. Changing an important part of this system (such as the foam concentrate) should not be taken too lightly! An insufficient thought-out transfer can lead to a possible fail in delivering the required safety, and perhaps even unsafe situations.

To our regret we see a lot of ‘swip-swap’ changes happening. Empty the system to get rid of the old foam and pour the new one in. Although most (Seveso) companies have strict Management of Change (MoC) procedures in place, somehow the change of foam concentrate seems invulnerable to these kinds of procedures. And with this, a lot of critical focus points are missed. This inevitably leads to potentially dangerous situations.

For our consultancy projects, we use a performance-based model to guide foam transitions. The model is now published in our new whitepaper. By ‘performancebased’ we mean that a now working foam system (fixed or mobile) is analysed on its current performance. And that the outcome of the transition, should have equal or better performance.

First step in our approach, is a full analysis of all stakes and stakeholders. The fire chief and operational procurer are namely not the only two. A new type of foam concentrate will influence most likely equipment, insurance, authorities, pre-fire planning, certification, (sub) contractors for maintenance, firefighting training programs, techniques, finance, etc. So, there is a broad playing field with many interests at stake.

Subsequently a definition phase starts. What will happen if we change a foam concentrate in this system? Is the current equipment and material suitable for the new type of foam? What are possible disadvantages of making the change? From our practical experience: a lot is still unknown about the working properties, effectiveness, etc. of fluorine free foam. Especially in larger scenarios with specific fuels. Hence, we introduce phase three as option phase. What different options Cont... 29