It’s a scene that plays out multiple times every day in the U.S.: A call is received by the communication center reporting a house fire. The call puts into motion a comprehensive response from multiple agencies including firefighters on fire apparatus, chief fire officer(s), the police department, and perhaps EMS. With all of these units responding, chances are good that one or more will arrive ahead of the fire apparatus.
In most instances, the non-firefighter personnel can do little until the fire apparatus arrives with charged hoselines to extinguish the fire. This is the way it has always been. Hand portable fire extinguishers are ineffectual on fires that have advanced beyond the incipient stage. Thus, there seemed to be no viable alternative that could remedy the helplessness of those arriving first on a fire scene before the fire apparatus.
That is, until now. For quite some time, the Stat-X First Responder® has been on the market and available for exactly these circumstances. The Stat-X First Responder is an emergency fire suppression tool (FST) that can be hand tossed into a fire environment. When the Stat-X First Responder activates, it releases an enveloping cloud of condensed aerosol fire suppression agent. The agent acts quickly to fill the space and disrupt the chemical chain reaction, suppressing or extinguishing the fire until fire apparatus arrives.
Being prepared with a Stat-X First Responder kit—which contains two Stat-X units—means that responders arriving first on a fire scene or discovering a fire during the course of their duties no longer must stand by while a structure fire doubles in size every few minutes. Now, these first responders can take decisive action that can contain the fire to the area of origin or, in many cases, actually extinguish the fire.
This FST is for professional responders and requires training to use safely and effectively. However, the training curve is not steep, and most responders find using the device to be intuitive. Basically, the pin is pulled, and the Stat-X First Responder unit is tossed into the fire area. If there is a door that can be closed after tossing the unit in, this improves the performance of the device by containing the condensed aerosol in the area immediate to the fire.
Outside of its fire extinguishing capabilities, this FST is also a big public relations hit for the agencies that use it. Deploying a Stat-X First Responder costs far less than engaging a full assignment of firefighters at the scene. By extinguishing the fire early, damage from the fire is minimized along with the damage associated with the extinguishment. Most have heard that water damage from firefighting can amount to as much or more than the damage caused by the fire. This is true in many instances. So, the Stat-X First Responder can reduce overall fire-related damage as well as improve the effectiveness of the first responder community at a reasonable cost—and everyone wants that.
In addition to the Stat-X FST being simple to use, you don’t have any of the environmental and health concerns that are adversely impacting large swathes of the fire suppression agent market. Stat-X has no global warming or ozone depletion properties. More importantly, it has none of the health concerns that are plaguing other agents (such as is being currently experienced with firefighting foam). Stat-X is simple to use and requires little cleanup after use.
With a minimal investment, your first responders can be armed with the latest in fire suppression technology. Now, your first responder personnel can arrive and take immediate, definitive action that saves lives and reduces the damage from a fire. Additionally, the Stat-X First Responder can also be used by firefighters themselves to help save trapped victims and/or fellow coworkers. And lastly, firefighters can deploy the unit to disrupt a potential flashover, making the fire scene infinitely safer for all involved.
The Stat-X First Responder is proven firefighting technology and has been used on many occasions to interrupt a fire’s destructive course. To read firsthand accounts of the Stat-X First Responder’s effectiveness, please click here.