Fire Blankets and Forest Fires

Now for those of you who read my bloggage last month about fire blankets, you should already know a bit about them. For those of you that didn’t read it, the basic function of a fire blanket is to starve a fire of oxygen. Without oxygen, the fire cannot burn, and therefore it goes out – hurrah! Job done.

So, carrying on from this, I was having a little roam around the world wide web, and came across a website which outlines the plans of a man with a patent. The patent is for a fire blanket for your home. Not one that you use in your home, one that actually protects your whole house. Quite nifty…

The reason for him coming up with his idea was forest fires. Now, fortunately in our lovely little country, forest fires are not a huge problem. However, in places like America and Australia, forest fires are a problem. A big problem. These fires are huge, all-consuming, and very, very difficult to extinguish, or even control. They cause extensive damage to the surrounding forest and properties, and take their toll on human lives too.

When homes are built close to forests, they are very vulnerable to forest fires. These fires do not discriminate between forest and home, and will engulf anything in their paths. So, the idea is that when a fire begins, the neighbourhood at risk will be alerted. The occupants of the vulnerable homes will have already had a specialised Fire Blanket device installed on the roof of their property, and by pressing a few buttons, the blanket will be deployed, enveloping the house in a protective layer of fire-proof material. The flames and heat cannot penetrate this layer, and so the fire won’t damage the house.

The proposed Fire Blanket would be installed on the roof of the house, at the peak of the roof. When deployed it would descend in two directions towards the gutters, and descend over the roof all the way to the ground. On the other two sides of the house, Fire Blanket cylinders could be installed under the roof overhang, and when deployed, they would descend to the ground.

Fires cannot burn without fuel, and the fire-proof material of the Fire Blanket would not be fuel, and therefore would not feed the fire. Essentially, the blanket is a barrier between the fuel (the house) and the fire.

Now, I think this idea has real merit. The logistics of it may require some sorting out, but basically it sounds like a really good idea, and possibly one that could save millions of pounds of damage, and, more importantly, lots of lives. So, good on this man – I wish him luck!