Eco-Friendly Fire-Fighting Agent for Wild land Fire
Shinji Iwamoto*1, Yoshihiko Ohba*1, Eiji Miki*2
Hidenobu Mochigase*2, Yutaka Suzuki*2, Hidenori Okuzaki*3

The company has been developing and commercializing Class A foam firefighting agent used mainly for the buildings and also for the wood products, thetextiles, the plastics and the tires. However, the international focus now is on the issue of the wild
land fires. Consequently, the company has decided to develop the fire-fighting agent for the wild
land fires. While various fire-fighting agents are used today, one challenge remains. Upon theaerial application of the fire-fighting water from airplanes to the fire site, it tends to diffuse anddissipate due to the airstream of the plane as well as the pneumatic resistance. This led to insufficient prevention of fire spread, since the fire-fighting agent would not adequately reach the site.
In our development process, we were able to overcome this problem. At the same time, we succeeded in discovering the composition for the gel form fire-fighting agent which would not beretained by the surrounding environment when it is applied to the site.

ABSTRACT1.

INTRODUCTION

The numbers of the wild land fire and the surface damage
from the wild land fire over the world are much larger thanJapan. In Japan, the wild land of an average 1413
hectare(ha) per year was burned down from 2010 through20111), on the other hand, in the US, an average 1680
thousand ha per year was burned down from 2004 to20132) and it is 1200 times of burned down area in Japan.
Figure 1 shows the fire map of the world in April, 20093)
and the red area is the fire burned area. The fire burned
area is located not only in the near equatorial region
where it is subjected to a high temperature but in the tropical rain forest area or the green space area. This showsthat a lot of wild land fire is occurring in the red area.

The fire in the US is only a small part from a worldwide
perspective. The fire risk is rapidly increasing because of
the global warming. Recently not only the forest fire but
the peat fire along Southeast Asia is focused on the big
issue in the world. The peat is the soil of the accumulated
dead leaves, branches and dead trees for several tens of
thousands years and once ignited by the presence of theheat source, the carbon dioxide absorbed in the peat soil
is released all at once. The amount of the emission
comes up to 10 to 30 % of the amount of emitted carbon
dioxide over the world per year.
The objects of the project are the development of the
new fire-fighting agent which is effective against the wild
land fire and to make an international contribution to prevent the global warming.

2.

Figure 1 Global Fire Map in April, 2009 provided by NASA.

*1 Furukawa Techno Material Co., Ltd. Fire Prevention ProductsDiv.
*2 Furukawa Electric Co., LTD R&D Div. Polymer Materials R&DLaboratories*3 University of Yamanashi

CONCEPT

Since the wild land fire covers a widespread area, the firefighting method is the aerial application of the fire-fighting
water from the helicopter or the aircraft. (Figure 2)
Since there are some problems to get the water supply
in the mountain area, the road narrowness for the fire
truck to access, the limitation of the applied water flowfrom the helicopter, it is effective for the fire-fighting to use
the fire-fighting agent at the place where the wateramount is limited4), for example the mixed product of themixed fire-fighting agent and water. Upon the aerial application of fire-fighting water from airplanes to the fire site, ittends to diffuse and dissipate due to the airstream of theplane as well as the pneumatic resistance. This led toinsufficient prevention of fire spread, since the agent
would not adequately reach the site. In order to solve theFurukawa Review, No. 44

2013

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Eco-Friendly Fire-Fighting Agent for Wild land Fireproblem, the airplane has to fly low or make a slow flightwhich is dangerous.
Based on the back ground mentioned above, weplanned to develop the fire-fighting agent composed of
the viscosity improved water to prevent the fire-fighting
agent from diffusing or dissipating, and which would not
be retained in the surrounding environment when it isapplied to the site.

Table 1Comparison of the fire-fighting agent.

Item

Developed
product

Marketed
product A

Marketed
product B

Mixtureconcentration○
0.8 〜 3.0％

◎0.4 〜 1.2％

×
1.0 〜 3.0％

Solubility○◎×

Stability inhard water◎××

Aerialapplication◎1.28 times

×0.56 times− *1Flame
propagation
prevention◎
2.3 times◎
1.6 times◎
1.6 times

Biodegradability◎
Readybiodegradable*2×
Nonbiodegradable*2×
Nonbiodegradable*3

Toxicity tofish (LC50)○32 mg/L*4◎
280 mg/L*5◎
1,400 mg/L*5

Metallic
corrosion◎

×○Effect onplastic◎◎◎(Explanation of the symbol ◎ : Great ○ : Good × : Poor)*1 the experiment was stopped, because the viscosity of the fire-fighting
agent was too high to discharge from the test apparatus.
*2 OECD 301B, CO2 Evaluation Test

Figure 2 Image of the dropping water by the aircraft.
(Photo credit : ShinMaywa Industries, Ltd.)3.

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT TEAM

The development of the fire-fighting agent was started on
the basis of the collaboration between the Polymer
Material R&D Laboratories of R&D Division of Furukawa
Electric and the University of Yamanashi.

4.

CHARACTERISTICS OF
THE FIRE-FIGHTING AGENT

In our development by the team, we achieved the new
fire-fighting agent based on the concept of a good flame
propagation prevention performance. The composition ofthe agent consisted of the biodegradable polysaccharides as the thickener to solve the diffusion or dissipationof the fire-fighting water and a dispersion agent consisting of a surface-active agent and a polysaccharide to
improve flame propagation prevention performance andwater solubility. The evaluation of the developed productand the marketed product is shown in Table 1.

*3 OECD 301D, Closed Bottle*4 OECD, 203, Oncorhynchus mykiss*5 OPPTS 850.1075, Oncorhynchus mykiss

Among the important properties of the fire-fighting
agent, the stability in hard water, the aerial application,
the biodegradability and the metallic corrosion were better than the marketed products. The flame propagation
prevention performance is equal to them. As for the property of the toxicity to fish, it is lower than the marketed
products, but the result was over the criteria of the standard. The developed product is satisfactory for the important properties and the lower concentration is favorablefrom the cost perspective.
The developed product is relevant to the fire-fighting
agent for the wild land fire. The flame propagation prevention performance and the aerial application are mentioned in detail.
4.1 Fire Flame Propagation Prevention Performance
The flame propagation prevention performance of thedeveloped product and the marketed product were evaluated by the flame propagation testing equipment shownin Figure 3 in accordance with ASTM E1321. Table 2
shows the adhesion state of the water mixed with the firefighting agent to the ignition panel. Figure 4 shows therelationship between the firing time and the concentrationof the fire-fighting agent in the water. The firing time wasrelative to the water, where the water was 1.

Furukawa Review, No. 44

201340Eco-Friendly Fire-Fighting Agent for Wild land FireFigure 3 Flame propagation testing equipment, the heating part(Left) and the ignition panel (Right).

Table 2

Adhesion state of each fire-fighting agent to theignition panel.

Agent

Adhesion state

Developed
product

The improved viscosityof the liquid or the gellike material

Marketed
product AWater swelled polymer

Marketed
product B

High viscosity liquidmaterial

2.5

Developed producttive. The concentration of 0.5 to 1.0 % is the most preferable and the experiment and the evaluation were achievedin this range of the concentration. The result shows thatthe flame propagation prevention performance of thedeveloped product equals or exceeds that of the marketed product and the performance keeps in the wide rangeof the concentration.
The flame propagation prevention performance of themarketed product A depended largely on the concentration of the fire-fighting agent in water. The product A consisted of the superabsorbent polymer (SAP) and the higher concentration of the SAP leads to the excessive watersolubility and forms a lump which does not adhere to thephysical object and loses the prevention performance.
The product B shows a good performance in the condition of more than 2% of the concentration; however theexpected effect was not achieved at a concentration of
0.5% to 1.0%.
The condition of the product A or the product B with thefire-fighting water depends largely on the water quality.
The concentration of the fire-fighting agent has to be
adjusted to the water quality for the product A or B, however it is hardly met at the fire site. Comparing with themarketed product, since the developed product keeps agood flame propagation prevention performance in thewide range of the concentration of the fire-fighting agent,
it is convenient for the fire man to use the developedproduct.
4.2 Aerial Application
The dispersion density of 1.6〜2.4ℓ/m2 is relevant for aerial application from the airplane shown in Figure 5. It
shows that the good flame propagation prevention performance depends on the dispersion quantity being morethan 1.6ℓ/m2 and the larger dispersion surface area.

Marketed product A
Water basis ﬁring time

≧2.4ℓ/m2

Marketed product B

2.0≧1.6ℓ/m2≧0.8ℓ/m2＜0.8ℓ/m2

1.5

The eﬀective
dispersion density ismore than 1.6ℓ/m2
1.0

0.5

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0Mixing ratio

Figure 4 Flame propagation prevention performance of eachfire-fighting agent.

Bad
The eﬀective dispersion
density is small becauseof the ﬁre water dispersedwidely.

Good

Bad
The eﬀective dispersion
density is small because ofthe dispersion concentration.

Figure 5 Example of the dispersion density.

It is preferable to use the low concentration of the firefighting agent in water from a cost and control perspecFurukawa Review, No. 44

201341

Eco-Friendly Fire-Fighting Agent for Wild land FireThe dispersion density of the developed product andthe marketed product was evaluated on the experiment of
the aerial application in the laboratory. Table 3 shows theeffective fire extinguishing area for each of the fire-fighting
agent. The effective area ratio for the extinguisher of thefire-fighting water with the extinguishing agent was relative to the water with the dispersion density area of morethan 1.6ℓ/m2, where the water is 1. The effective area
ratio of more than one (1) is relevant for the fire-fighting
agent.
Table 3

Effective fire extinguishing area of each fire-fighting
agent.

The fire-fighting
agentConcentration(W/W%)

Effectiveextinguishing area

Product A

0.500

0.56

Developed product0.495

1.28

1.00

none

The effective extinguishing area of the marketed product A is smaller than the water without the fire-fighting
agent because of forming of the lump. The developed
product tends to diffuse and dissipate due to the airstream of the plane as well as the pneumatic resistance.
However, in more than 0.5 % of the mixture concentration,
the component in the fire-fighting agent makes a molecular network and the effective extinguishing area ratio
becomes larger because the network prevents the diffusion.
The relevant concentration of more than 0.8 % shown in
Table 1 is needed to satisfy with the request for the viscosity.

5.

CONCLUSION

We succeeded in discovering the composition of the gelform fire-fighting agent which is suitable for the aerial
application for the wild land fire and the composition patent was submitted to the domestic and overseas Patent
Offices5).
With respect to supply to the US market, we need tohave the certification from the third party organization andbe registered in the Qualified Product List (QPL) of USDA
Forest service. The certified system for the wild land fire in
Canada or Australia or Europe is needed to investigate, toprepare for the product to the area and to expand theextinguisher business.

REFERENCES
1) Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Fire and Disaster
Management Agency: Heisei 24 years Edition fire white paper(English Translated Version) http://www.fdma.go.jp/html/hakusho/
h24/h24/index.html
2) NIFC (National Interagency Fire Center) HP > Fire Information >National Fire News-Current Wildfires3) NASA , The Earth Observing System Data and Information System(EOSDIS) HP > Data > Near Real-Time Data > FIRMS > GlobalFire Maps
4) Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Fire and DisasterManagement Agency and Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry andFisheries: Investigation report on the solution for the wild land
fires (March, 2003) (in Japanese)5) Furukawa Techno Material, Furukawa Electric, University ofYamanashi PCT/JP2013/058316

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