Patent ID: 8286719

Claim:
Apparatus for protecting a structure from fire comprising: a source of compressed air under pressure; a pump for pumping water to be foamed having a pump inlet for connection to a water supply and a pump outlet; a source of a foaming agent; a mixing system for mixing the water, the compressed air and the foaming agent to generate a fire retardant foam; a plurality of separate nozzles each arranged for spraying the foam; each nozzle having a motor arrangement to move the nozzle to different directions for spraying a pattern; and a control device which is programable to provide a program of operation to control the motors of the nozzles; the control device being programmed with at least one pre-determined program arranged to control each of the nozzles independently to provide for each nozzle a pre-determined pattern where the pattern of at least one nozzle is different from the pattern of one or more of the other nozzles; the control device being arranged so that the different patterns of the nozzles combine to form a pre-determined pattern of a layer of the fire retardant foam on the structure to cover the structure with the layer to protect the structure from fire.