Leader from the Editor
Published: 01 October, 2008
In August news came of the horrific aeroplane accident in Madrid airport that killed 154 people. Around the same time ICAO was preparing for the testing of a new standard for airport firefighting foam, ICAO level C.
The aim of Level C when it first started being discussed four years ago was to drive down costs for airport fire services that are often seen as a non-value added element of operations – even more crucial as airlines increasingly go out of business.
It is admirable that ICAO is looking to improve on its foam standards, after all it’s been over 20 years since the last round of changes.
ICAO aims to achieve efficiency savings with level C, by creating a foam concentrate that works at lower application rates. Less water and less foam directly impacts on the size of vehicles that have to be used in ARFF.
However, as we see in this issue of IFJ, some people in the industry feel that ICAO may have missed a trick by concentrating purely on foam chemistry and not on foam delivery.
It is felt that delivery systems such as CAFS (compressed air foam systems) have not been fully investigated, given the potentially tangible benefits for CAT 4 – CAT 7 airports, which could use lighter ARFF vehicles carrying less water and foam.
As the first round of level C tests have just been completed, perhaps it is not too late for ICAO to take a more pragmatic approach and, as one of our contributors says, “embrace not just the developments in chemistry but the technical advances in foam delivery equipment”.
