Welcome to Fire Eater Conference on Fire Safety & Health :20 Active Gas Extinguishing Systems. Torbjørn Laursen

Torbjørn Laursen, CEO of Fire Eater Employed in Fire Eater 34 years. Controlling shareholder Fire Chief, Copenhagen Fire Academy, 1989 DK representative in ISO & CEN committees. Inventor of Inergen (IG541) in 1984.

What a “Safe System” may do

… So what happened? Officially: In reality (speculation, not yet confirmed) –“Non toxic” carbonates are hygroscopic and strong irritants to the lung. Causing edema. –Or, larger units causing high CO concentration.

Going back in history Fire Eater started as an environmental catastrophe: Pioneering the use of Halon 1301 for fire extinguishing systems. A very bad experience with Halon 1301 in 1983 led to the invention of Inergen. Halon 1301 was believed (and sold) as “a perfect solution”. In reality it produces HBr and HF in contact with fire. And is far less harmless than explained by the sales teams.

The new “Clean Agents” (NFPA 2001) Inert gas agents. Generally safe in use. New synthetic chemicals (like Halon). Toxic decomposition “taken to the next level” –No HBr, but generous amounts of HF –TFA, MFA, PFIB and many more. –COF 2 (Chemical cousin of Phosgene) –Look out for F-propionic acid. Carcinogen

How to choose the solution? Can your solution be demonstrated by full scale testing? Can the testing be done with people present? Can the testing be done with real fire (>3-5 kW) – and people present? Can the testing be performed on the live equipment?

System example – Skid system for FPSO 11 Zones

Cold stores, Imperial Logistics Approx. 300,000 m3 total. Local zone valve system 11 storage cells -18 to -32 °C

System example – Hermitage St. Petersburg, Russia. Art archives.

System example – Banked w. Selector valve (Tine Cheese factory Norway. 243,000 m3)

Castle of good hope, Cape Town

Application example, heritage Fossesholm Herregård

Testing extinguishing capability: Car Tires First car tire warehouse to be protected end of 2016, based on the successful test results.

Thank you Questions? More detail on Fire Eater, Inergen, Smokesense, special application protection, and full scale testing is available. Please contact Torbjørn Laursen, Full scale film clip: on-danmark

Benefits of the Fire Eater system Safe for people – really safe not just theoretical. You can try it for real (full scale testing) even with a fire being extinguished. Safe for equipment. No toxic or corrosive effects Safe for environment. An intelligent blend of “air”.

Further benefits of the Fire eater system Engineering and design secure a safe package also during handling, installation and system servicing. Strong engineering support and education system (Fire Eater College). Unique calculation software package (also available to consultants). Unique testing and verification features integrated in system design

Introduction Headquarter in Hillerød, Denmark m2 80 Employees Locations in: Norway Russia Poland Czech Rep. UK & Ireland Spain UAE China South Africa