- Author
- Dickerson, L. | Blake, D.
- Title
- Effectiveness of Hand-Held Fire Extinguishers on Cargo Container Fire. Technical Note.
- Coporate
- Federal Aviation Administration, Atlantic City International Airport, NJ
- Sponsor
- Federal Aviation Administration, Atlantic City International Airport, NJ
- Report
- DOT/FAA/CT-TN92/42, February 1993, 114 p.
- Distribution
- Available from National Technical Information Service
- Contract
- ACD-240
- Keywords
- fire extinguishers | effectiveness | halon 1211 | halon 1301 | boeing 747 aircraft | occupants
- Identifiers
- aircraft cargo fire; cargo containers; "loaded stream" water
- Abstract
- The purpose of this project was to determine the effectiveness of fire fighter intervention using hand-held fire extinguishers on fires in 150- and 800-cubic-foot cargo containers. This test plan was undertaken following a fire in the main deck cargo compartment of a South African Airlines Boeing 747-244B (COMBI) on November 27, 1987. The airplane crashedinto the Indian Ocean killing all occupants. A total of 27 tests were performed; 23 in the 150-cubic-foot cargo container series, and 4 in the 800-cubic-foot cargo container series. Three agents were tested: Halon 1211, Halon 1301, and "loaded stream" water. Only the halon 1211 agent was partially successful in extinguishing this type of Class A fire. Seven of the 23 fires were extinguished. The right cargo containers contained and controlled the test fires through oxygen starvation in 18 of 20 fire tests that were not extinguished.