Foam carpet
As a foam carpet is from the fire brigade a several decimetres to meters high, closed layer of quenching foam referred to, which is applied to a surface. A foam carpet can be used for both defensive and preventive fire protection .
Preventive use in case of leaked liquids
Leaked and not yet burning liquids usually begin to evaporate . This can result in an air-vapor mixture that is flammable or even highly explosive . In this case, extinguishing foam is used preventively and the liquid is covered with a foam carpet as a "vapor barrier". The use of hazardous substances in the event of unclear or missing hazardous substance labeling will also prompt fire departments to take this measure so that non-existing fires through chemical reactions ( spontaneous combustion ) can be prevented.
Defensive use in liquid and solid fires
The foam carpet is used here because of its two main extinguishing effects. The water in the foam removes energy from the fire, the foam blanket itself separates fuel and oxygen from one another and thus suffocates the fire.
Preventive use in emergency landings
Airport fire brigades create a foam carpet made of heavy foam in order to secure an emergency landing if the landing gear of an aircraft is not extended or is unstable .
A foam carpet is designed to prevent dangerous fires from occurring during a landing. If a foam carpet has to be laid, foam is applied to the runway of an airport by special vehicles from the airport fire department . Part of the runway is covered with heavy foam. However, the procedure of the foam carpet on the runway is no longer used at all German airports, as the use of a foam carpet is controversial. This stirs u. a. therefore, that the foam carpet reduces the static friction, which leads to considerably poorer braking performance of the landing aircraft and can also cause a departure from the runway .
Other reasons are the relatively long time it takes to apply a foam carpet, the cost of foam compound and the subsequent effort involved in cleaning the web, the provision of special foaming vehicles and, last but not least, environmental protection. For this reason, the application of a foam carpet is generally not done at airports in Germany, even if the landing gear cannot be extended. Instead, several airfield fire engines are brought into tactically sensible positions on the runway in order to be able to cover the emergency-landed aircraft with foam after it has come to a standstill.
The foam carpet deployed after the emergency landing is not only used to extinguish fires that have already started, but rather to prevent a subsequent outbreak of fire if the kerosene tank is possibly damaged .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Fire fighting with foam. Fire department magazine special issue 2006, p. 16.
- ↑ Fire fighting with foam. Fire department magazine special issue 2006, p. 22f.
- ↑ A burning truck on the western motorway
- ↑ Tenerife - German vacation jet lands in the foam carpet. Spiegel Online, May 29, 2004.
- ↑ Emergency landing on foam carpet went well. Welt online, March 1, 2009.