When I started in the fire service back in the early 1970s — probably considered the dark ages by today’s young firefighters — the Lindenhurst Fire Department on Long Island, New York, was proactive in its thinking. The department did something radical at the time when it designed a futuristic fire apparatus.
Richard Moss, a member of the department at the time and one of the original committee members, stated that after receiving a federal public safety grant, a committee was formed to determine a use for the grant. The committee started working on specs for a four-wheel-drive chassis that would hold Halon tanks, a 1,500-watt AC generator, and an interior command area.
The truck was purchased with an International chassis. The body came from a local body shop owned by a member of the department. Halon 1301 was chosen as an extinguishing agent because of its speed extinguishing a fire, it left no residue, and was a nonconductor of electricity. Halon 1301 was used primarily for interior fires in computer rooms and electrical vaults. It was believed at the time that this vehicle would be the first to use it for a mobile application.
All the plumbing on the interior was built by committee members on site. The command area of the vehicle was set up with two-way radios or “handi-talkies” on charge. A map from a slide projector could be brought up showing the location of an incident, exposures, hydrants, and any other pertinent information about the building, or occupants of the residence (invalids on premises, for example). This was the precomputer era, so this was a fairly ingenious way of having a command center on an apparatus used on the fireground.
Communications on the scene were a mixture of the Suffolk County frequencies, which were low band; two UHF bands monitored for on-scene fireground operations; and firefighter-to-firefighter hands-free communications.
The vehicle also carried basic forcible entry tools, bone conducting microphones for hands-off operation, orange Nomex jumpsuits and small air packs for entry into tight spaces, calf-high boots, and various colored helmets to show which firefighters were assigned to different tasks on the fireground.
The vehicle was designed to be staffed seven nights a week from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Before Rapid Attack Unit 1-6-9, as it would be known, was put in service, it was tested at the Suffolk County Fire Academy in Yaphank, New York.
The test was filmed by a crew from Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, as well as representatives and engineers from Dupont, which manufactured Halon 1301.
The chemical was tested on propane-fed fires, open oil pits, and in a Class A building to simulate a residential fire. The test involved burning wood pallets stacked 4 feet high and soaked with a kerosene and gasoline mixture. The building was sealed to let the temperature rise to 1,000° F. With a 6-second burst of Halon, the fire was extinguished. A test was also performed on a basement fire with basically the same results. The Halon was dispensed through a window rather than having firefighters don self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) and entering the basement to extinguish pockets of fires.
The unit was put in service and used at several fires. The cost to fill each one of the tanks was roughly $750, which was considerable at that time. The unit was removed from service after a few years.
While Halon is no longer produced in the United States, the agent is readily available in recycled format. It is still permissible to recharge fire suppression systems with Halon today, as well as into the foreseeable future. In fact, there is no requirement to remove a Halon system from service. However, Halon system parts are very limited; or, in some cases, not available at all.
Halon 1301 succeeded so well because it could be used in data centers, IT rooms, museums, libraries, surgical suites, and other locations where use of water-based suppressants could irreparably damage electronics or vital archival collections.
In the mid 1990s, manufacturing Halon was banned because of the environmental effects of the gas. However, using Halon was not banned. In fact, there are hundreds of systems still in service. The agent can still be acquired through groups that reclaim and recycle the material for use on the market. The problem lies in the discontinued manufacturing and limited availability of replacement mechanical parts for Halon systems. The potential for experiencing a gap in fire protection because of mechanical problems exceeds acceptable risk for most organizations. It is this lack of Halon system parts that is the issue, not the use of Halon.
With all this being said, the Lindenhurst Fire Department was really proactive in its thinking back in the 1970s to come up with this unique idea of fire extinguishment, especially at a time when status quo in firefighting was the norm.
Sources: The Lindenhurst Fire Department History Book (Firehouse, September 1977)
BOB VACCARO has more than 50 years of fire service experience. He is a former chief of the Deer Park (NY) Fire Department. Vaccaro has also worked for the Insurance Services Office, the New York Fire Patrol, and several major commercial insurance companies as a senior loss control consultant. He is a life member of the IAFC.
