By Firefighter Dave Pullen

Jarrettsville Assists with Operation Residential Mist

On May 20th, 2006, The Jarrettsville Volunteer Fire Company participated in Operation Residential Mist. An ongoing series of demonstrations showing the effectiveness of high-pressure water-mist fire sprinkler systems.

The demonstrations were sponsored by Marriott International's Fire Protection Group. Participants included The University of Maryland Department of Fire Protection Engineering, The National Association of State Fire Marshals, the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute, the International Fire Chiefs Association, Montgomery County Fire and Rescue, the Maryland State Fire Marshal's Office, and the Marioff Corporation representing Hi-Fog.

Other attendees included Fire Team U.S.A., the Delaware State Fire Marshal's Office and the Aberdeen Volunteer Fire Department. Aberdeen has a special interest in fire sprinklers as their city council recently made residential fire sprinklers a city requirement. John Bender, past Chief Fire Protection Engineer for the Maryland State Fire Marshal's Office, was instrumental in passing this important ordinance.

The first set of demonstrations were conducted at MFRI in College Park, MD, then in a 1-story house in Bethesda, MD. The Bethesda tests were attended by fire officials from throughout the U.S. and Finland.

The Jarrettsville tests were conducted in a mobile home that was planned for destruction. Two demonstrations were conducted. The first was a trash can fire in a bedroom and the second was a kitchen fire. Each fire was extinguished by the activation of 1 fire sprinkler and a total of 16 GALLONS OF WATER!

The resulting fire damage was negligible, as was the water damage to the rooms. The demonstrations were professionally filmed by Ken Stewart of Empowered Learning with both video camera and Jarrettsville's thermal imaging cameras. This made it possible to see what happened once the smoke had obscured the room.

The demonstrations were completely successful and shown at the National Fire Protection Association's fall conference in Orlando.

Thank you to all the volunteers at Jarrettsville and neighboring companies that assisted with this important demonstration.

What the fire sees. Hi-pressure water mist at over 1000 psi.	Hi-Fog Cylinders being set up.
Awaiting the activation.	One head extinguishing the kitchen fire with 16 gallons of water.
Damage after the fire is out.	No fire sprinklers.