Description of Prevento^®

Prevento^{®10- 50%} is an additive to an extinguishing agent for water or plain water, specifically developed for the fire classes A, B, C, F and additionally for highly flammable materials like rubber, plastics, oils, etc. With the appropriate concentration, the extinguishing capabilities, resistance and the impregnation effectiveness can be improved significantly.
The most important component of the Prevento^® extinguishing agent is the combination of super absorbing (SAP, Super-Absorb-Polymer) gelling agents, organic salts from the food industry and of a hydrocolloid stabilizer to prevent separation.

What is the key difference compared with other gel extinguishing agents?

Other gel based extinguishing liquids, just stores the water and achieves a cooling effect on solid materials of up to 20 times better than plain water. However, once the water has evaporated after a short period of time or due to the temperature, the protection effect ceases. Seared gels become combustible. Other gelling agents cannot be mixed with water in advance, as they segregate and sediment and eventually clog fittings, and disable the fire fighting equipment.

Gelling agents in powder form have a high tendency to clump together and to clog and therefore usable for the fire class A (solid fuel) only.

Liquid gelling agents also tend to clog equipment once in contact with water. Hence, complete discharge will not be possible. The cleaning of the equipment as well as the objects/surface will only be possible with an aggressive salt-water solution. This of course is time consuming and not cost effective. Often times the extinguishing equipment is rendered useless because of these blockages and the fire continues to cause damage.

The Prevento^® extinguishing agent consists of water, SAP and organic salts. Should the water, bound to the gel evaporate and/or dry up, it can be re-activated repeatedly by spraying water on the compound. Through this process the original gel structure with the protection capability is restored. Should the Prevento^® extinguishing gel dry up completely, all effected areas are still protected against an auto ignition with the impregnated coating.

Extinguishing Power of Prevento^® for various combustibles

Applications of Prevento^®

The unique capabilities of Prevento^® make it very suitable to extinguish fires of different combustibles. Unlike other extinguishers, Prevento^® has the power to extinguish various classes of fires. This makes it extremely efficient and helps control excessive costs. The unique properties of Prevento^® give it the power to extinguish difficult fires.

These capabilities can efficiently control and extinguish fires in:

Homes and Buildings Structure

Prevento^® can be used for classes A, B, C simultaneously. Traditional extinguishers may be able to control one or two types of fires, but Prevento^® can be used to put out the different fires at the same time.

Forest Fires

Forest fires cause tremendous loss of property and natural resources. We see this year after year and unfortunately the solutions thus far have not been very effective.

A lightning strike, a burning cigarette butt, a piece of broken glass acting as a magnifying lens, a camp fire or a malicious act may lead to a forest fire, which will spread rapidly due to the dryness. Aided by strong winds, the fire gathers momentum and spreads in all directions. The blaze rages - up and down the hills - and endangers human lives, animal, homes and businesses.

Usually, there is not enough water available to fight a forest fire. Water with or without wetting foam agents loses it’s cooling and extinguishing properties within a few seconds or minutes due to the extreme heat and the strong winds.

Prevento^{® FOREST} was developed specifically to combat these extreme forest fires. More often than not, the authorities simply wait for the winds to die down, pray for rain or wait for fires to burn out. This lack of action causes immense loss of property, natural resources and unfortunately in some cases loss of life.

Prevento^{® FOREST} helps extinguish and control these fires.

Advantages:

• Prevento^{® FOREST} can be sprayed from the air and reaches the targeted fire area accurately due to its heavy density. Unlike other water based agents that miss the target because of high winds, Prevento^® attacks the target areas with high efficiency in controlling the fire. This accuracy also helps in utilizing lesser quantities of the extinguishing agent compaired to other materials.
• Prevento^{® FOREST} can also be applied by normal terrestrial fire extinguishers; it directly sticks to the burning objects
• Prevento^{® FOREST} can be applied outside of the hazardous zone, long before the fire arrives; therefore, you do not endanger yourself and the fire fighting personnel to flames, smoke and heat.
• When the fire reaches the "sprayed on" areas, the fire loses its power, due to the impregnation efficiency of Prevento^®. The result is the fire collapses and does not spread any further.
• Follow-up extinguishing efforts may then be executed either with Prevento^{® FOREST} or normal water

Thanks to the superior impregnation property of Prevento^{® FOREST}, combustible materials becomes flame retardant (according to DIN 4102 B1), any expansion of the fire to the buildings, installations and equipment or adjacent forests can therefore be prevented. Prevento^{® FOREST} does not lose its impregnation efficiency, even in dried conditions. Compared to many traditional fire fighting agents used for forest fire fighting, Prevento^{® FOREST}is nontoxic and biodegradable. Flora and fauna are therefore protected!

Prevento^® Applications in the battlefield.

The US military has identified the need to have an effective method of addressing tactical vehicle tire fires. The fires on armored personnel carriers or transportation vehicle tires cause unmanageable fires with intense heat. This dangerous combination is hazardous to the warfighter in a very difficult environment. The fires can burn for hours, causing materials damage and slowing the movement of the convoys.

Prevento^® can be used very effectively to extinguish these tire fires very rapidly and stops re-ignition of the tire fires. Re-ignition is a problem that traditional extinguishers cannot control. Prevento^® rapidly extinguishes these intense fires and simultaneously has cooling effect. Persistent fires inside the tire it self are very problematic as they are hard to reach due to the intense heat.

The Dekamax^® extinguisher with the special Pyro Nozzle accessory makes it easy to reach and extinguish the fire inside the tire. The Pyro Nozzle is a long stainless steel attached to the hose. The Prevento^® solution is forced thru this nozzle to put out these difficult fires.