Fire Control Agent Effectiveness for Hazardous Chemical Fires: Carbon Disulfide.

Carbon disulfide fires from 25 to 400 sq ft were controlled andor extinguished using four foam agents and water. The most effective agent was high expansion foam, followed by aqueous film forming foam, fluoroprotein foam, and protein foam. Water was less effective in fire control than any foam agent, although it extinguished fires faster than low expansion foams at very high application rates. Dry chemical agents were largely ineffective in extinguishing carbon disulfide fires. These tests showed that the agents usually recommended for carbon disulfide fires, water and dry chemical, are less effective than foam, which is not recommended, confirming a previously reported conclusion that current agent effectiveness data may be unreliable and reinforcing the recommendation for a systematic examination of fire fighting agent effectiveness on fires from Cargoes of Particular Hazard. Carbon disulfide fires were more difficult to control and extinguish than hexane fires that had been studied earlier. These tests continue the series using methodology developed for the baseline hexane fire tests.