Compressed Air Foam History

While fire fighting foams have been around for over 100 years, the first mention of Compressed Air Foam (CAF) as a fire suppression agent for hose streams appeared in 1941 as a mean to combat fires on floating bridges during the war in Europe.

In fixed pipe fire suppression systems,  Compressed Air Foam (CAF) systems became a reality in the late 1990s with the development at the National Research Council of Canada (NRCC) of means to reliably generate and transport  Compressed Air Foam (CAF) through a fixed piping network and to distribute it effectively using specially designed nozzles.

First applications of  Compressed Air Foam (CAF) fixed-pipe technology were for the suppression of flammable liquids spill fires and shelf storage fires.  Greater advances in evaluating and advancing the  Compressed Air Foam (CAF) technology have been made since 1999.

Recent advances have been made in understanding the scientific basis for  Compressed Air Foam (CAF) fire suppression performance, in improving the  Compressed Air Foam (CAF) delivery technology itself and in demonstrating fire suppression applications.  

Under licence from NRCC since 2001, FireFlex Systems inc. has developped the ICAF Integrated Compressed Air Foam fixed pipe systems and nozzles along with a proprietary 'Hydropneumatic' calculation software used for a number of fire suppression applications.

Late in 2004, FireFlex Systems received the coveted FM Approval of its ICAF  Compressed Air Foam Systems for flammable liquid hazards applications.

In spring of 2006, Compressed Air Foam technology is officially recognized by the NFPA-11 Standard Committee and included in the standard through Tentative Interim Amendment (TIA) #05-1.  Designers, engineers and architects can now refer to an official standard to design and specify ICAF  Compressed Air Foam Systems.

Summer 2006, FireFlex Systems and the Canadian National Research Council's Institute for Research in Construction are jointly awarded the prestigious Federal Partners in Technology Transfer 2006 (FPTT) Award from the Canadian Government, for the transfer and commercialization of Compressed Air Foam Systems.

Fall 2006, ICAF Systems FM Approval is expanded to heighten the maximum nozzles height to 46 ft. (14 m.).   Compressed Air Foam (CAF) can now also be used with Polar Solvents (Alcohol & Ketones) !