a highly sensitive fire alarm would set off a siren for 60 seconds, so that it wakes sleeping people in the house and gives you time to shut it down if it is a false alarm eg. cooking steam etc. after that, powerful extractor fans would suck out the toxic fumes leaving the air generally safe. After that CO2 foam would be pumped into the room extinguishing the flames, to avoid unnecesary damage this would only happen in rooms where fire was detected, and just to be sure, fire brigade and an ambulance would automatically be dialled to put out flames that may have spread outside or to other houses and to tend any injured people-- panthaz paradise, Apr 03 2001 The other problem is that the extracter fans would deliver nice, fresh oxygen to the fire making it burn better.-- Brendan, Apr 03 2001 have some sand sprinkled on it-- technobadger, Apr 03 2001 Actually the idea is sound. Though the system would introduce fresh air into the fire area, the toxic gases created by the fire will be exhausted. It will remove the super heated air and smoke allowing for good visibility and air. Also, the removing of the super heated gases, will virtually elliminate the chances of a flash over occuring. Firefighters arriving on scene would have better visibility during a house search. That is why the you see firefighters on the roof, opening it up to get the hot gases and smoke out.
Now we need to talk about your CO2 foam...-- AZ_Frank, Jul 07 2002 How is this really better than sprinkler systems? I know sprinklers often don't completely extinguish a fire (some areas won't get enough water to put them out) but they can in most cases reduce what would otherwise be a roaring inferno to a small fire that can be easily be managed by a crew with hand equipment.-- supercat, Nov 26 2002 Going to have to call baked on this one. We've got one in our server room here at the office. Halon anyone?
*Spelling corrected. Thanks [8th of 7]-- MrSheep, Nov 26 2002 <Pedant> Halon </Pedant>
Bromochlorodiflluoromethane, if you want its chemical formula.
[MrSheep], don't be in there when it dumps .....-- 8th of 7, Nov 27 2002 <pedant>Bromochlorodiflluoromethane is the name, CFl2BrCl is the formula (how do you do subscripts?).</pedant>-- angel, Nov 27 2002 Actually, we had a powersupply catch on fire about a month ago. One of our IT guys was running in to check it when the air tight door slammed in his face. Good thing he wasn't 10 seconds faster.-- MrSheep, Nov 28 2002 random, halfbakery