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Firefighting device ignites local business in Billings
When the training officer for the Billings Fire Department decided he needed a new tool for fighting fires safely and efficiently, he didn’t have to look far for a manufacturer.
By ED KEMMICK
Of The Gazette Staff
Frank Michaud turned to Wes Nelson, owner of ProFab Motorsports in the Heights. The result — one year and four prototypes later — is the Fyrestick, which quickly extinguishes fires in walls or attics using a fraction of the water required by traditional methods.
The department is hoping it will save lives and property; Nelson hopes it will allow him to expand his business.
The Fyrestick is generically known as a piercing nozzle. Firefighters use it to punch through a wall, ceiling or car hood and then introduce a mist of water into an enclosed space. When the spray hits the superheated space, it is instantly converted into steam, depriving the fire of oxygen, dramatically lowering the temperature and forcing water into every inch of space.
The nozzle can pump 80 to 100 gallons of water a minute, Michaud said, but the steam is so efficient that you might spray water for only 10 or 15 seconds, resulting in far less water damage to the building.
Michaud said the department became convinced it needed a piercing nozzle last year, during training provided by a retired district fire chief from Seattle. The chief told Billings firefighters it was no longer considered safe to fight attic fires from the roof.
Michaud said firefighters, carrying a chain saw or an ax, normally climb up a ladder, cut through the roof and then stand or squat there with a hose, spraying the attic until the fire is out. That worked well enough when firefighters had at least 20 minutes, or even a couple of hours, to fight an attic fire before the roof collapsed, Michaud said. But with builders increasingly moving toward lightweight construction, firefighters nowadays might not have more than a few minutes.
Piercing nozzles have been around for a while, but when Michaud went looking for one, none of them quite fit the department’s needs and all of them were expensive. Most were simply too long, making them difficult to wield on a steep roof and prone to tip over once the water started to flow.
So he sketched out an idea of what he wanted and gave it to Nelson, whose ProFab Motorsports shop on Kuhlman Drive in the Heights usually does automotive fabrication and some race-car work. As Nelson designed and manufactured each prototype, Michaud would take it back to the department, letting firefighters handle and examine it, making suggestions for improvements.
The fourth and final prototype was just what the department wanted, Michaud said. It is short enough to swing like an ax, puncturing the roof or a wall, and a metal plate about 10 inches above the blade stabilizes it so a firefighter can quickly get back to the ground and control the flow of water from there.
Michaud said it is also designed to be used on fires within walls, which used to be fought by tearing all the Sheetrock out and spraying the fire with a hose, or to puncture a car hood to fight an engine fire.
While some of the models Michaud looked at would have cost between $1,500 and $2,000, Nelson is going to sell them to the Fire Department at cost, about $500. That price includes a specially designed harness made locally by Red Oxx Manufacturing.
Other Billings businesses are also involved in making the piercing nozzles, Nelson said. CPM and Shepherd Stainless are doing some machine-shop work, and Bosco Motorsports will be powder-coating the devices, he said.
The Fire Department already has bought two nozzles, Michaud said, and will try to put money in next year’s budget for 10 more. He’s also been talking them up to other departments, generating a lot of interest in the Billings-made product.
After talking to members of the Lockwood Fire Department, Michaud said, "it took them about 15 seconds before they decided they wanted one."
That’s what Nelson wants to hear. He hopes to begin selling the Fyresticks nationwide and has a marketer working on a video and CD-ROM about the product. Nelson has three employees and envisions having as many as 20 if sales of the nozzle really take off.
Ed Kemmick can be reached at 657-1293 or [email protected].
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