This article is sponsored by Fogmaker

A vehicle fire is any driver’s nightmare and a direct threat to lives and equipment. To keep passengers, operators, and cargo safe, a fire must be detected quickly and dealt with before it can spread and cause a disaster.

In vehicles with traditional combustion engines, most fires start in the engine compartment – an area typically containing large quantities of diesel fuel and hydraulic oil, often under high pressure – and fire can lead to a rapid and disastrous series of events almost impossible to manage with a handheld fire extinguisher.

Vehicles with other energy sources, such as battery electric, still contain other fire initiators like heaters, A/C compressors, and hydraulics. Many worry about batteries in electric vehicles. However, research presented at the 2023 FIVE conference shows that 50-60% of fires never involve the battery itself – a good thing since lithium-ion batteries are difficult to extinguish. The chemical process happens rapidly and creates its own oxygen, feeding the fire. That means a blaze must be prevented from reaching the battery, and if the worst should happen, the battery must be sufficiently cooled down to give time to evacuate the vehicle. Machines with fuel cells have similar risks, and a fire can lead to a devastating gas explosion. Here, too, proactive fire suppression is needed.

Fogmaker has decades of experience in detecting and suppressing fires in engine rooms and other enclosed spaces. There are close to 300,000 Fogmaker systems installed in over 60 countries. The system will provide the best possible fire protection performance in an emergency. The system is tailored to each type, make, model, and energy source since they all have different risk areas.

The Fogmaker system deploys when the compartment reaches a certain temperature. At this point, a fine water-based mist fills the compartment, displaces oxygen, and chokes the fire. Fogmaker’s pressurised cylinders ensure the system will work regardless of position – even if the vehicle has toppled upside down – and our patented nozzles divide each drop of water into micro-droplets that have a better ability to choke the fire and cool the area than all other methods on the market. Cooling the area is important to prevent a blaze from flaring up again, and depending on the application, Fogmaker systems are designed to keep cooling somewhere between 40 and 90 seconds.

New for 2023 is a 100% PFAS-free fluid, Eco 1, GreenScreen CertifiedTM at the silver level. This means a third party has verified all substances in the fluid from an environmental perspective. There is a proposal for banning 10,000 different PFAS chemicals, and Fogmaker is ready for the future.

For more information, go to: www.fogmaker.com