Wouldn’t it be good if fires could be extinguished in 10 minutes with a smaller amount of damage to properties? In one of the two August 2011 PM magazine cover stories, “What Every Manager Needs to Know about Compressed Air Foam Systems,” authors Leonard Matarese and Thomas Wieczorek, both with the Center for Public Safety Management, note that the use of foam systems, known as CAFS, in fire suppression has been well documented to reduce fire knockdown time by up to 78 percent compared with the use of just water. This means that when using foam, firefighters are exposed to dangerous operating conditions for less time and at a safer distance.

A second cover story, “The Debate about Residential Fire Sprinklers,” is written by Wieczorek and Alan Perdue, who at the time the article was written was the director of emergency services, Guilford County, North Carolina. They provide information dispelling the myths about potential water damage caused by sprinkler systems. Included is the fact that fire sprinklers in both residential and commercial buildings discharge water only when individually triggered by the heat from a fire. This is a good thing because water can be applied to a fire while fire trucks are in route to the scene.

For more information on either of these fire suppression methods, investigate the articles in the August 2011 PM.