When fighting aircraft fires, it is important to keep the aircraft's hull intact for as long as possible in order to keep the window of time for escaping and rescuing of passengers open for as long as possible too. Therefore, the foam generated with vaPUREx® LV ICAO C 3% F-5 #7371 must not only cover the kerosene pools on the ground quickly and safely, but also be able to be used for cooling the aircraft's fuselage. The foam-water solution produces excellent foam using foam branch pipes or monitor nozzles and the easily flowing foam quickly covers large fuel pools. If the foam jet is directed at the fuselage, a cooling foam blanket is laid on the outer hull. This flows downwards from the top until it drips off and covers any fire pool below or in the immediate vicinity of the aircraft's fuselage. Thanks to the excellent foaming properties, foam heights are achieved that make it possible to safely cover kerosene spills even on rough terrain, away from the runway and quickly reduce the heat impact on the aircraft fuselage. We offer suitable user training courses for airports.

In the past, airfield firefighting vehicles were designed for the use of low viscosity AFFF. If a change is now made to a foam agent that is produced without the addition of PFAS, this change requires an inspection of the existing system. After specialist cleaning of the vehicle, it is refilled with foam agent. A practical test verifies the proportioning rate and the foam quality produced. Samples of the foam solution should be collected at the most critical operating conditions, i.e. the minimum and maximum flow ranges. Since vaPUREx® ICAO C 3% F-5 #7371 is a water-like, Newtonian foam agent, all commercially available proportioning systems can be used to induce the foam agent to the water stream. The foam generation respectively foam quality produced then depends on the nozzle used. If it is not possible to test the foam quality, we recommend using monitors with foam branch pipes. We have obtained excellent results for numerous turrets with hollow jet nozzles. An effective fire extinguishing foam must have a certain foaming capacity and be easy flowing. vaPUREx® LV ICAO C 3% F-5 #7371 allows universal use with a wide range of turret and nozzle types, combined with maximum extinguishing performance. We offer vehicle inspections as a service. We also accompany conversion projects and conclude them with a “foam training for users”.

The ICAO directive applies to civil aviation worldwide. In Europe, parallel and complementary EASA guidelines for the safe operation of landing sites and airports are currently being introduced. For fire extinguishing foam agents, the certification standard according to ICAO Annex 14 applies, with an extinguishing performance test according to Levels A, B or C. Level C represents the highest performance requirements. A kerosene fire must be extinguished under test conditions with the lowest application rate within a specified time frame. Level B and Level A allow the application rate to be increased. However, the maximum extinguishing time remains the same. Additional standards are often considered necessary. However, Mil-Spec or other NATO regulations are not a basic requirement for the use of foam agents at civil airports. It is important that the foam agent is extensively tested and confirmed according to ICAO. Our vaPUREx LV ICAO C 3% F-5 #7371 meets the toughest requirements by achieving fire performance level C and enables airport fire services to extinguish fire incidents involving aircraft very quickly.

The first ban was imposed by EC 2006/122 and prohibited the placing on the market of products with a PFOS content of >50ppm from December 12, 2006 for “placing on the market”. Use was then permitted until June 27, 20011 for those extinguishing agents that had already been placed on the market before the date of entry into force (i.e. in the inventory of fire departments).

The WHG (Water Resources Act) requires every person within its scope of application to “avoid any detrimental change in the characteristics of water bodies” (WHG §5, Para. (1), 1.). The discharge of substances into bodies of water is generally subject to authorization and is bound by certain regulations. These are set out in various legal ordinances (including the AwSV (Ordinance on Installations for the Handling of Substances Hazardous to Water)). Since the introduction of the WHG, there has been a fundamental duty of care (which also includes the duty to provide active information) for the handling of substances hazardous to water, which includes all foam extinguishing agents and, in particular, extinguishing water.