Halon Fire Protection in the Persian Gulf

by

Joe Ziemba

An F-16 with battle damage and fire was coming in at one of the northern bases. The pilot ejected but the plane came in, touched down and rolled to a stop intact. The halon system inside must have worked!"

The world watched in awe as television brought back video-like images from the hostilities in the Persian Gulf earlier this year. We learned new phrases and words like "warthogs," "slams," "scuds," "cluster bombs," and "inverse synthetic aperture radar" ...and we were stunned by the pinpoint accuracy of the U.S. military weaponry, which dropped ordnance onto enemy roofs, into windows or even through open doors.

But as much as viewers were amazed by the seemingly futuristic technology exhibited by the Allied offensive, the individuals actually involved indicated that they were not surprised by its effectiveness. J.R. Nerat, technical manager for Ansul, Marinette, Wisconsin., who logged 92 hours of support operations during the conflict, said that compared to past air wars, this one was something of a cakewalk. "The aircrews had time to prepare and there really was not much opposition," he said. "The first few days of the operation very effectively took out the hostile missile tracking sites and communications centers. With this done, the U.S. and Allied Forces had virtually an unopposed airspace to concentrate on high-interest military targets and objectives. People shouldn't get the impression that warfare will always be this easy, but we were well prepared even before Desert Shield."

At the same time, while NAFED fire equipment distributors and manufacturers are confident about their products - and how effective they can be in fire situations - observers who had never seen such extinguishing agents as halon and AFFF in action during the conflict may now consider these familiar items as futuristic and high-tech as well.

"Once a 135 aircraft came in with an in-flight fire and fire was visible coming out of the pylons. The original fire was controlled with an on-board halon system, but as soon as the plane touched down the wing caught fire again. We met the air-craft when it stopped and quickly put it out with Halon 1211."

The previous quote, and the one that appeared at the beginning of this article, can be attributed to Hans Finkbeiner, Chief of Fire Protection for U.S. Central Command (9th Air Force) FWD during the Persian Gulf situation.

Finkbeiner, who initially was sent over for two weeks, spent seven months in the Middle East. Based in Rlyadh, Saudi Arabia, Finkbeiner was responsible for all fire-fighting forces assigned to the "area of responsibility," in other words, all the air fields. This included fire fighters, vehicles, equipment and systems for 26 bases stretching from Egypt to Saudi Arabia. He saw the action from a close, personal point of view, and quickly encountered a variety of fire hazards that had to be dealt with quickly and effectively.

When the Navy and Marine Corps began their comprehensive aerial assault on enemy positions last January 17th, it resulted in literally thousands of combat flights ("sorties") being sent against enemy facilities. As such, the expectations to maintain the pressure against the opposition was so intense that ground crews, including fire service personnel, were expected to help expedite the return of aircraft to the skies for further forays.

A strong statement on the effectiveness of halon and its unique fire-fighting capabilities was related by Finkbeiner as he described another aircraft fire incident that could have had tragic consequences: "A C-BO aircraft at Dhahran blew its tires on touchdown. With the wheels on fire and both wings full of munitions, things were pretty hectic but we were able to put the fires out with Halon 1211 and AFFF. In these situations, halon, being a clean agent, was preferred because down time for the plane was minimal and it was able to return to action quickly."

Halon also was utilized in another manner that may come as a complete surprise to NAFED members who handle the agent on an everyday basis.

According to Finkbeiner, "All F-16 aircraft had inerting Halon 1301 systems for their fuel tanks and they worked very well. We did have a couple of F-16s that used it." In other words, the halon served as a protective barrier around the fuel tanks and could thus minimize the fire damage should the plane be hit by enemy fire."

J.R. Nerat of Ansul described another example of halon protection in military aircraft that experienced action in Desert Storm. "Generally speaking, most military aircraft have internal halon engine protection as well," he said. "These can be very simple or complex multi-zone systems that allow the transfer of halon from one wing to another as needed."

"At one point, we were really hurting for Halon 1301 for the airplanes," noted Finkbeiner. "With the amount of halon used on fires as well as that used automatically on fuel cells on every mission with that many flights...we couldn't get enough of it."

The most spectacular success story of halon use during the Persian Gulf war may be the halon systems in air-craft shelters provided by "host" nations, such as Saudi Arabia. These installation protected "valuable aircraft," according to Finkbeiner, "such as F-15s, 117s (stealth bombers), Tornados and F-5s. Although we're not sure what happened, we do know that two of these systems activated during the war." Imagine the value of a halon system if it saved even one of the enormously expensive stealth aircrafts!

Aside from aircraft and affiliated fire protection, halon was found in tanks, ships, communications centers and other military vehicles and hospital facilities. "We had 150-pound Halon 1211 wheeled units on all flight lines," said Finkbeiner. "These were used extensively to put out engine fires. Our fire trucks, used at all bases and forward operations locations, also had these halon units."

Nerat, a naval aviator and warfare operator, explained that many tanks have small internal Halon 1301 Systems for personnel protection along with hand portables.

He also noted that the multitude of support-type vehicles, fuel trucks, power carts and cooling units (which are usually diesel-driven) have independent fire protection systems and portables. Again, these primarily utilize halon or dry-chemical extinguishing agents.

Hospitals and surgical areas also needed fire protection around portable power and cooling systems, along with various storage areas containing flammable liquids, oxygen, etc. In short, fire protection equipment was evident just about everywhere during Desert Shield and Desert Storm operations.

But while the effectiveness of such equipment was apparent in the Middle East, the production and delivery of the needed equipment continued at an accelerated pace in this country.

"We certainly had an all-out effort to supply fire equipment to support the Desert Storm operation," said Paul Huston, vice president of military sales for Amerex Corp., Trussville, Ala. "It was a privilege to work within the system to replace or send equipment over there," he added. "Everybody we worked with made a special effort to get the material out in nothing flat."

Amerex provided a good deal of #150 halon units to the Department of Defense and even participated in a research project to develop a foam system for tanks that would extinguish a 100-foot oil trench fire, the kind that were anticipated - but never encountered -during the ground portion of the war.

The final phase of the operation to liberate Kuwait encompassed only 100 hours once the ground offensive began. Nerat, who handles intelligence-gathering and warfare operations on board Navy P-3 Patrol Aircraft, praised the joint Allied preparation for the successful result. For many months prior, the monitoring and logging of potentially hostile military weapons had been in place. "From what was happening ...you could see and anticipate the thing as it was unfolding," he said.

On the ground, Chief Finkbeiner prepared for the worst: "We gathered substantial amounts of halon in anticipation of terrorist activities and scud missile attacks. Fortunately, none of this activity hit the air bases, but we were prepared."

So what happened to the halon and other fire protection after the war ended? "We sold a lot of our technology to the host countries," he noted and added that one of the countries to benefit from U.S. fire protection equipment was Kuwait.

"Kuwait didn't have any fire protection at its airports," he states. "The day after the cease-fire we had four trucks and 24 fire fighters ready to go in ...but the oil-well smoke was so bad we were only able to land one crew and one truck. They ended up being there 37 days until they were relieved by a group of marines.

In the wake of the Persian Gulf situation, the Congressional Fire Services Institute (CFSI) has planned a trade mission of fire organizations to Kuwait City to evaluate damage to fire protection services, and to assist in the rebuilding of that aspect of the Kuwait infrastructure.

Congressman Curt Weldon, chairman of the Congressional Fire Causes (and an honorary member of NAFED) has been named co-chairman of the Congressional Task Force on Occupied Kuwait. He accompanied Kuwait Ambassador Shaihk Saud Nasir Al-Sabah on the ambassador's first flight back to his home in March and will lead the CFSI group's trip to Kuwait as well.

"Several members of Congress who traveled to Kuwait City ...found themselves nearly speechless when presented with the searing images that represent everyday life in once-peaceful Kuwait," wrote Weldon in his report to the Congressional Human Rights Caucus.

NAFED has been invited to participate in the upcoming trip, and if a NAFED representative does attend, a full report will appear in the next issue of Firewatch!

Obviously, much work needs to be done to bring the fire service capabilities of the war-affected countries in the Middle East back up to acceptable levels. While the solution to that effort cannot be easily defined, it can be documented that the fire protection technology used in the war effort, much of it manufactured or supplied by NAFED members in some form, was not only adequate - it was extremely efficient.

Life and equipment-saving incidents involving the military use of halon are now more clearly identified and the essential need for this unique fire-fighting agent has been recognized. All these incidents played a small but effective role in making the fire protection effort part of the overall success of the Persian Gulf situation.

Reprinted from Firewatch!