Case History:
Reprinted from BIC magazine, July 1999
By: Melissa Roberson / BIC Staff Member
Mexican forestry officials were getting very frustrated. They had tried numerous Class A and Class B fire foams to try to quench the huge fires blazing throughout the dry canyons of the Monterrey, Mexico area this spring. The past several seasons of low rainfall had left the region like a tinderbox - one that had exploded again into seven fire zones of up to 10,000 square acres in size.
Nothing was working very well - their best working foam was being used at a 6 percent solution at a high cost per gallon.
One supplier (to the fire service personnel there) remembered being in the Houston area last fall and reading about a product in the BIC publication that could possibly alleviate the situation.
"I recalled reading about a fire-fighting product that claimed superior penetrating properties and great knock-down power", Roberto Resendez, president of Prosea of Mexico, said. "I telephoned my friend in Houston to see if he could locate the article and find the manufacturer, and he gave me Verde Environmental, Inc.'s internet address. From their website, I was able to read more on Micro-Blaze Out and I hoped this would be the answer to our devastating fires."
Resendez flew to Houston and visited with Verde personnel and toured their manufacturing facilities. He was very pleased with what he saw.
"Their fire and spill control demonstrations were impressive. I felt this was something I could present to the Mexican officials that would work," he said.
Resendez returned to Monterrey and Verde sent its western United States representative, Don Board - a veteran firefighter - to the mountainous region with a sample shipment of Micro-Blaze Out.
Two demonstrations were set up. A helicopter drop of the Micro-Blaze Out solution diluted down to 1% with water was successfully used on actual fire locations. A second demonstration seemed more daunting. A wood crib was stuffed with a resin-rich scrub brush called turpentine wood that is indigenous to the area and was the main plant burning in the region. As this wood burns, it also drips the scalding resin onto surrounding plants, thus feeding the fire into catastrophic proportions as it roars through the canyons and arroyos.
Board used a 1,000 mL sprayer with Micro-Blaze Out diluted to 1 percent with water and knocked down the fire in 1 minute, 18 seconds. The officials went in with a flame (to the wood crib) and could not relight the wood.
After watching the initial wood crib test at 1 percent, Board repeated the test using one-half percent Micro-Blaze Out. The results were better than the 1 percent test!
Orders were prepared for 1500 gallons to be sent to Mexico immediately. Board returned to Mexico with the initial shipment to train the front-line crews on Micro-Blaze Out usage.
"It took a bit for the crews to realize they did not have to use as much of Micro-Blaze Out as they had with other products. The Monterrey area fires are a textbook example of how well Micro-Blaze Out works," Board said. "The fires are Class A because off all the wood and brush as well as Class B because of the burning resins in the woods around here. In fact, we have discovered that using Micro-Blaze Out at one-half-percent solution with water works best."
"We have been extremely pleased with the results of Micro-Blaze Out on our fires. Our water supply here is limited and the quick knock-down by Micro-Blaze Out has helped us keep from using up that valuable resource. We have been able to save many lives and much property and money with Micro-Blaze Out" Resendez said.
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