By Ryan D. Wilson
Clay Center Dispatch – December 3, 2013
Fire Chief Johnny Ihnen, left, looks at a burnt-out grenade held by firefighter Phil Kasper. The grenade deployed potassium nitrate as fire-retardant in a test during training Monday night. (Ryan D. Wilson/Dispatch)
Testing a new fire suppression device went better than expected, Clay Center firefighters said in a training last night.
Fire Chief John Ihnen describes the device as “a new firefighting tool … that’s actually a grenade.” The grenade disperses potassium nitrite (a fire retardant), which holds the fire in check. The fire retardant doesn’t actually extinguish the fire, but it keeps it from spreading until firefighters arrive. The potassium nitrate in the grenade doesn’t deplete oxygen and is safe to breath.
The idea is to distribute these grenades among police, Sheriff’s Department and other first responders who arrive at the fire minutes before firefighters can, Ihnen said. The grenades are designed to be deployed by just about anyone.
While firefighters respond fairly quickly here, it still takes them a minute or two to suit up, a few minutes to get the firetruck out the door and to the fire, and a couple more minutes to stretch out the hose and get to the fire once they get there. For example, it took firefighters seven minutes to get to the trailer fire in Country Gardens on 12th Street a couple weeks ago, but police were there in just a couple of minutes.
Firefighter John Ratliffe threw the grenade in the test and reported it quickly filled the trailer and the retardant obscured his vision.
However, Ihnen said in an actual hose fire, those deploying the grenade wouldn’t be able to see much because of the smoke.
“It made a hell of a bang,” said firefighter Phil Kasper, who was also in the burn trailer when the grenade was deployed.
Inhnen expected the grenades to hold the fire in check for a few minutes. The test they simulated in the burn trailer last night with straw and wood (similar to the type of materials in a house or structure fire) held that fire in check for ten minutes, and relit only because firefighter opened a door that let out a cloud of white smoke containing the fire retardant.
“Eventually it will come back, but by that time we’ll be ready,” Ihnen said. “That’s the idea, to buy us a little time.”
But 10 minutes “is a lot of road miles,” Ihnen said, and buys firefighters a lot of time to get to the fire.
“It’s exactly what I wanted,” Ihnen said.
The grenades cost $150 each, but the minutes they give firefighters could mean the difference between saving a house or a complete loss, Ihnen said.
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