^H I ■_ ^B WITH SMOTHERING 



Fight Fires water fog 



Left is a barn fire being combatted by the Chadwick fire depart- 

 ment with high pressure fog equipment. Notice fog stream at 

 left and blacic smolte rising high as fire Is smothered by vapor- 

 ised water. Right is another gutted barn after fire with cow 

 carcasses still visible at right. Fire got a good start in eorly 



morning and barn was beyond saving when firemen arrived from 

 seven miles away at Leckport in nine minutes, and from Plain- 

 field later. Water supply was Inadequate but firemen saved 

 silo, barn and house in rear of picture. This bam burned down 

 in 1945 with a loss of 32 cattle, three horses, and 30 tons of hay. 



■•$30,000 IN THE BANK — AND 

 YET HE DIED A PAUPER"! Youll 

 rtad such an item in the papers now 

 and then. It's news. 



But have you heard of the farmer 

 whose home burned to the ground in 

 spite of the fact that he had one of 

 the most effective types of fire-fighting 

 apparatus lying idle in his barn? That's 

 news, too, but we doubt if you've heard 

 about it even though it just happened 

 on an Illinois farm a few weeks ago. 



This idle "fire-equipment " was none 

 other than the common high-pressure 

 orchard spray in use on many Illinois 

 farms. Unfortunately, the farmer had 

 not been notified of its varied uses. 



Just a very few years ago, Michigan 

 State College made extensive tests on 

 the use of high pressure water fog in 

 putting out rural fires. Many interest- 

 ing discoveries have resulted from this 

 study and subsequent use : Water 

 sprayed under pressures of around 600 

 pounds per square inch, 1. will put 

 out the same fire conventional equip- 

 ment will — and do it with 10 times 

 less water I 2. minimizes water damage 

 by as much as 90 per cent. 3. cools, 

 absorbs heat, blankets and smothers 

 fires in short order. 



Are these things important in rural 

 fire fighting.' You bet they are. Look 

 around your farm and think of where 

 in case of fire you might right quick" 

 get the conventional equipment re- 

 quirement of one to five thousand 

 gallons or more of water. The lAA 



By W. W. WHITLOCK, Director, 



lAA Safety Department 



Safety Department survey on rural fire 

 departments in Illinois shows the water 

 supply problem to be a grave one in- 

 deed. High-pressure water fog appara- 

 tus, carrying its own water supply, 

 is one of the best answers to this water 

 problem. 



Of course, e\\ry farmer doesn't have 

 an orchard spray rig. Nor would it be 

 possible for all to have one. But they 

 can have other means of extinguishment, 

 both individually and collectively. 



If the high-pressure idea hits your 

 fancy, these units can be had in "fire- 



truck" size for Rural Fire Departments. 

 After the Michigan tests, manufacturers 

 built a bigger pump and tank, put them 

 on a truck, painted the outfit red and put 

 them on the market for fire departments. 

 Other manufacturers have followed with 

 different styles and patterns. The war 

 interceded on making these outfits avail- 

 able to rural areas when the Army and 

 Navy bought them up to successfully put 

 out some of the hottest fires in the books 

 — airplane crash fires. 



Now these fire-trucks are back in 

 "civvies" and already 15-20 Illinois de- 

 partments answer rural calls with high- 

 pressure equipment. 



Let's get back to our farmer whose 

 house burned to the ground. Aside from 



10 



I. A. A. RECORD 



