Development of a Novel Fire Extinguishing Chemical for Fire Protection for Ammunition Storage Areas

Portable fire extinguishing systems such as CO(2), dry powder, and the halons all suffer from the problem that the fire protection system needs to be within a few feet of the fire in order to be effective. Because the limited range of fire extinguish systems, fire fighting always contains an element of danger and is extremely dangerous when the fire occurs in an ammunition storage area. If the risks of fighting fires in ammunition storage areas are to be reduced to acceptably low levels, a radically new type of fire extinguishing system is needed. This novel fire extinguishing system could take the form of a launcher and projectiles filled with a fire extinguishing chemical. Alternatively it could be a system that was the portable equivalent of a sprinkler system: containers filled with a fire extinguishing chemical and equipped with a heat sensing element and placed throughout the ammunition storage area. For either of these approaches to be practical, however, a new, far more effective, fire extinguishing chemical is needed. In this proposal a plan is given for developing such a fire extinguishing chemical. This new chemical has the potential for being far more effective than presently available fire extinguishing chemicals. It will be quite inexpensive,, as clean as in the use as the halons, completely nontoxic and not damaging to the ozone layer or other aspects of the environment.