1. Erosion Control
    2. Vegetation Management

    A Hot New Application for Your Hydroseeding Equipment

    March 1, 2003
    Last March, firefighters battling an out-of-control fire in Virginia got some help from the erosion control arena: hydroseeding equipment used to deliver a fire-suppressing gel. “It was an arson-set wildfire, which included burning tires,” reports Richard Rawls, president of FireOut, a Forest, VA, company that provides wildfire suppression services to the United States Forest Service. The fire had overrun a ridge and was headed straight for three expensive neighborhoods. “To create a fire block, we pretreated the woods around the neighborhood using Virginia Department of Transportation’s hydraulic seeder; the fire could not ignite the area we had treated, saving some 250 to 300 homes – $75 million worth of property.” FireOut had started using a Finn T-330 HydroSeeder to apply its FireOut Ice fire-retardant polymer gel and soon contacted Finn to talk about modifications to the machine. “They had used our equipment as it was designed, but after our discussions, we added a second boom to the truck so they could spray more area,” says Finn Operations Manager Jeff Reichert. “Our standard 1.25-inch, 300-psi hose works well with their product, which is a powder that mixes with water. Our hydraulic agitation keeps their product in suspension.” “Out of each of the twin guns, we can spray product up to 315 feet in each direction,” describes Rawls. “The truck also contains side nozzles that can spray up to 70 to 75 feet.”

    The gel itself is similar in consistency to the slurry of seed, water, soil amendments, and fertilizer that typically make up a hydroseeding mix. “It’s a super-absorbent product, similar to the ingredient in disposable diapers, that can absorb 800 to 1,000 times its own weight. When we mix it with water, it becomes an extremely efficient fire extinguisher/fire retardant,” explains Rawls. “Because it holds moisture, it extinguishes the fire better than plain water. When you spray just water on a structure, 90% to 95% of the water turns into runoff; FireOut adheres to the surface. Also, because it becomes a gel, it displaces oxygen, smothering the fire.”FireOut had just received approval for the fire-fighting method at the time of the Virginia blaze. “Talk about being in the right place at the right time,” comments Rawls. “Gaining state approval for our services took many months to put together. We had received final approval on a Friday, and the fire started the next day!”Specially modified machines – Fire Finn-ishers – are becoming available across the country to battle wildfires. “In August 2002, we saved over 70 homes in California’s San Diego County,” Rawls says. “We pretreated areas in front of the fire, saving homes and vegetation. For an example, there were four structures in one compound we treated. As we were running out of product, we chose to pretreat only the main house and office structure. The fire came over the area next day – 15 hours after we pretreated – and while the two untreated structures were burned to the ground and vehicles were charred or blown up, the two structures we treated were still standing.”

    The first Fire Finn-isher, located in Sacramento, CA, for on-call for use wherever needed by the Forest Service, will serve as a demonstration vehicle for both Finn and FireOut. Additional Fire Finn-isher machines will continue to roll out of Finn’s Fairfield, OH, plant.The delivery system is less labor-intensive than other, more traditional methods, requiring a three-person crew. “Two men operate the boom sprayers, and the driver can operate the side sprayers,” Rawls explains.“In the future, we’d like to “private label” the Finn machine in conjunction with FireOut,” Reichert adds. “so we keep the Finn name in there, co-market it with FireOut.“It didn’t take long to make FireOut’s modifications, only about four to six weeks to fit the machine to this application. Users can leave the extra booms on when they seed, and use them or not,” says Reichert. “This should be a great selling tool”it’s a dual-application machine. As you”d have to revegetate when the fire is over anyway, you can use the same machine to do the job.”“Actually, because our product is so environment-friendly ours is the only fire retardant that meets California’s new Proposition 65 toxic water waste regulations – you can seed and suppress fire at the same time,” states Rawls. “Just mix the seed in with the FireOut and the water.”