PRINCETON, Ky. — The farmer-leaders of the Kentucky Soybean Promotion Board (KSPB) met in Owensboro recently, and one of the meeting’s highlights was certainly the SoyFoam demonstration executed by the Owensboro Fire Department. KSPB Director and volunteer firefighter Jeff King set the demonstration up so that his fellow farmer-leaders (and the Owensboro FD) could see for themselves the way this innovative, biobased product knocks down a fire.
Following the initial extinguishing of the blaze, firefighters could not get the fire to reignite to perform another demonstration. King, who traveled to Dalton, Georgia for the initial launch of SoyFoam earlier this spring, said, “that’s kind of the point.”
Not only were the farmers impressed with this PFAS-free fire suppressant, so were the firefighters involved. Battalion Chief Cox said that while he cannot technically endorse a product, “I like it a lot.” He noted that he had a helicopter trial planned, and that he sees value in the product for a number of applications, including field fires and combine fires.
Cross Plains Solutions CEO Alan Snipes was on hand to give a brief overview of the product and its advantages over conventional chemical fire foams, and both firefighters and farmers were equally impressed with the benefits that SoyFoam offers to the firefighters, those who clean up following a fire, and the environment.
Firefighting SoyFoam is 100% free of intentionally added per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), commonly called “forever chemicals.” There are also no detectable fluorines (less than 1 parts per billion) in the composition of the foam concentrate. EPA reports PFAS are found in water, air, fish, and soil at locations across the nation and the globe. Since the 1950s, PFAS were used to put out fires, repel oil and water, reduce friction and more in a wide range of products. They can leak into the environment where they are made, used, disposed of, or spilled. Exposure is linked to several adverse health effects including certain cancers, thyroid dysfunction, changes in cholesterol, and small reductions in birth weight. As a result, governments are prohibiting firefighting foams that contain intentionally added PFAS.
Snipes said, “it is a safer product than anything else on the market right now. We’ve been awarded the GreenScreen Gold certification.” And, unlike some biobased alternatives, SoyFoam is comparable in price to its conventional alternative.
SoyFoam is a wetting / smothering agent capable of extinguishing Class A (ordinary combustibles) and Class B (flammable liquids) fires. It is certified ready biodegradable by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development and is certified as 84% biobased through the U.S. Department of Agriculture BioPreferred® program. The formulation uses about 50 percent soy meal flour and is more than 90 percent natural. The Department of Defense and U.S. Forest Service are also doing further evaluations.
It is compatible with existing foam inductors and aerating nozzles so does not require staffing changes to a fire department’s existing standard operation procedure for Class A and Class B fires. Cross Plains Solutions’ SoyFoam meets the firefighting foam requirements as specified in NFPA 18, the National Fire Protection Association’s standard for wetting agents. It is available in common firefighting supply options, such as 5-gallon pails, 55-gallon drums and 250-gallon and larger totes.
“The demonstrations we saw today,” King said, “and the ones I witnessed in Georgia showed the product’s ability to knock down a fire quickly, and to keep it out. That’s extremely important, especially with limited manpower. As a rural volunteer fire department, we are not only limited in manpower, but we are also limited in water resources. We don’t have the luxury of tying on to a hydrant like they do in the city. We rely on the water that we carry and our neighboring departments, so water management is extremely important.”
To learn more about this checkoff-supported innovation and to watch the official video, visit CrossPlainsSolutions.com. For more information on soybean farming in Kentucky, visit KySoy.org.
–Rae Wagoner, Kentucky Soybean Board and Association
The post Kentucky Soybean Board hosts SoyFoam Demo appeared first on Morning Ag Clips.