FOREST FIRES 



149 



COMPARATIVE EFFICIENCY OF CHEMICAL EXTINGUISHER 

 AND SPRAY PUMP. 



Cost 

 Capacity 



Weight when 

 full. 



Length of line 

 of fire put 

 out. 



Material 

 used. 



Cash outlay 

 for recharg- 

 ing. 



A ccompany- 

 ing eqiiip- 

 ment. 



Bucket pump. 



Depends on size of pail. 

 Should use large pail hold- 

 ing 3 to 4 gallons. 



A 4-gallon galvanized pail, 

 with pump, containing 3 

 gallons of water, weighs 

 under 35 pounds. 



50 to 150 feet. 



Skill of operator in using only 

 a little water in the right 

 spot governs the length of 

 line which can be put out. 



Chemical extinguishe 



$9 

 Between 2\ and 3 gallons. 



Approximately 37 pounds. It 

 is a much harder article 

 to carry than pail and 

 pump. 



50 to 200 feet. 



This depends mainly on how 

 fast the operator walks 

 and his skill. 



The severity of the fire influences length of line with both. 

 If very carefully handled and the country is easy to get 

 over, making rapid walking possible, the extinguisher 

 should put out a longer line of fire than the bucket pump. 



Water. 



bi- 



Water, sulphuric acid, 

 I carbonate of soda. 

 Practically same amount of water needed to recharge either 



of the two. 

 Nothing. 10 to 25 cents per charge. 



In order to make either the bucket pump or chemical extin- 

 guisher most eflfective there must be facilities for refilling. 

 Several empty cans (big milk cans are among the best) 

 or pails for bringing water are necessary. Besides this for 

 the chemical extinguisher there must be extra supplies of 

 sulphuric acid and bicarbonate of soda. 



The statement is frequently made that the chemical extin- 

 guisher is forty times as effective as water in extinguishing fire, 

 i.e., one hundred and twenty gallons of water would be needed 

 to do the work which one charge (three gallons) of the chemical 

 extinguisher accompHshes. Whether this is so in the case of a 

 fire in a building in which a great volume of fire is concentrated 

 in a comparatively small space, the authors do not know, but 



