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| BARRICADE® Fire Blocking Gel |
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provider writes, "A soggy, stinking baby diaper is helping save everything from homes to utility poles from fires. A fire-resistant gel -- developed by a firefighter who noticed a disposable diaper was the only thing that survived uncharred in a fire -- is being touted by experts and businesses as the greatest invention in firefighting since the hose and pump. Bartlett says he got the idea when he put out a house fire and noticed that one "wet, stinky" item did not burn. He was rummaging through charred trash from a house fire when he happened on something slimy and white. It was the diaper, the only thing that hadn't burned in a huge pile of garbage."
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Inside disposable diapers is a polymer gel that soaks up a baby's business -- and holds it. With a few modifications, Bartlett developed a backpack full of the fire-retardant gel, a mixture he calls "BARRICADE." BARRICADE® Fire Blocking Gel is made from the same super-absorbent polymers found in baby diapers. They act as tiny, mega-absorbent sponges that can hold off flames for up to 30 hours and even put out a fire, says John Bartlett, founder of Barricade International and a Palm Beach County firefighter. And he's not just blowing smoke. The gel is being used by the Los Angeles fire department, the U.S. military and Florida Power & Light Co., one of the nation's largest utilities...just to name a few.
`It's impressive stuff,'' says Bill Kramer, a professor of fire science at the University of Cincinnati and fire chief of Deerfield Township, Ohio. ``I've seen a lot of new products,'' he adds, launching into a litany of foams and other items. ``This is the only one that gives the fire chief a quantum leap to put lasting protection on a burning structure.''
Southern California, where a fire season rarely passes without blazes racing through dry brush land, torching homes as they go, and Colorado had sent for hundreds of these kits to help fight the fires of this past summer.
The gel, which looks like shaving cream and can be applied with a hose, can be easily hosed off when the hazard is over. The company has developed a $199 home protection kit that includes an attachment for garden hoses. There is also a ``Ghostbusters'' style backpack that allows firefighters to carry the gel with them.
Several years ago, Barricade was credited with saving homes in Port St. Lucie. FPL publicly praised the invention, saying it saved about 100 utility poles. Then the phones began to ring. Strangers pulled into the Bartlett’s' driveway looking for gel. They sold 500 one-gallon jugs at $35 each. FPL says the utility has bought hundreds of gallons. You can put it on metal, you can put it on wood, and you can put it on grass around a transformer. "Barricade" is more expensive than the established fire-retardant foam. But, its developers say, it's more effective, safer and it biodegrades. Said one firefighter: "If it's safe enough for a baby's bottom, it's safe enough for us."
BARRICADE® Fire Blocking Gel proved itself as an effective fire-stopper during fires in Alberta and Florida. Canadian firefighters squirted Barricade onto log decks, which saved not only the decks but a pulp mill. Florida firefighters found the gel effective as a way to pre-treat homes sitting in the path of an advancing wildfire. All in all, Barricade has proved itself a worthy addition to the interface firefighters’ toolkit. And it all began with a diaper.
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Posted on May 05, 2005 19:10pm.
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