Interview with Casselton fire chief John Hejl
(FARGO, ND) – One of the most unexpected topics you would expect to hear at the Northern Corn and Soy Expo in Fargo has to do with fires.
“Soybeans sure can help fight fires,” Casselton Fire Department Chief John Hejl said.
The byproduct of the soybean process is ground up into a soy flower, creating the product that is contained in the buckets of soy foam used to fight fires.
The foam is contained on the firetrucks in either 20- or 30-gallon tanks. These tanks are in addition to the large water tanks that trucks carry on the apparatus.
Firefighters can manually control the amount of foam used – between one and six percent – and add it into the water.
“That foam will act as a blanket to smother fire out,” Hejl said. “It also breaks the surface tension of water.”
These are the newest in a long line of foams.
“Years ago, in the fire service, the first firefighting foams that were used were protein foams made from animal fats,” Hejl said.
The foams weren’t shelf-stable – causing firefighters to not like to use them.
Dupont then introduced PFAS chemistry – a shelf-stable option for firefighters.
“It worked really well,” Hejl said. But they the chemicals are carcinogens, which are bad for human beings and animals.
“They work really well to put out fires,” he said. “But we’re hurting ourselves by using them.”
Hejl said foam products allow firefighters to use ‘exponentially less’ water, lessening the amount of damage potentially caused by firefighting techniques.
The soybean foam has been available for less than a year.
“It’s taken a little while to gain some steam and just get the awareness out,” Hejl said.
The North Dakota Soybean Council is providing a complimentary five-gallon sample of SoyFoam to departments. Interested departments are asked to contact the North Dakota Soybean Council for more information.
