{"id":25273,"date":"2024-07-21T21:43:43","date_gmt":"2024-07-21T21:43:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coldfireafrica.com\/?p=25273"},"modified":"2024-07-21T22:16:02","modified_gmt":"2024-07-21T22:16:02","slug":"what-is-a-wetting-agent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coldfireafrica.com\/?p=25273","title":{"rendered":"WHAT IS A WETTING AGENT?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\"><p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h4>WHAT IS A WETTING AGENT?<\/h4>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<div class=\"styled-subtitle\">\n<p>Water is the most obvious and abundant substance used to fight fires. It is universally available and has great absorption<br \/>\ncapacity. However, there are some instances when water alone won\u02bct cut it. Enter the wetting agent.<br \/>\nIn the simplest terms, a wetting agent is a solution added to water to reduce its surface tension, thereby increasing its<br \/>\npenetration and absorption capabilities. By weakening the cohesive properties of water and increasing its adhesive<br \/>\nproperties, wetting agents, in essence, make water wetter. Used for Class A fires (those involving ordinary combustibles)<br \/>\nand non-water-soluble Class B fires (those involving flammable or combustible liquids), water that\u02bcs treated with wetting<br \/>\nagents enhances its permeability and allows for better surface area coverage. Wetting agents allow water to better<br \/>\npenetrate and saturate combustible materials, cooling the surface more rapidly, expediting extinguishment and reducing<br \/>\nthe risk for reignition. Class B foams, on the other hand, work to repel the carbons by forming a film over the liquid to<br \/>\nsuppress the burning vapors. This can pose a risk as if this film is disrupted re-ignition can occur.<\/p>\n<p>According to a 1999 National Institute of Science and Technology\u02bcs Building and Fire Research Laboratory report, wetting<br \/>\nagents were found to improve water\u02bcs ability to provide exposure protection on vertical wood surfaces and more quickly<br \/>\nextinguish Class A and piled tire fires. In one study that examined wetting agents\u02bc ability to penetrate surface fuels, the<br \/>\nabsorption of water droplets was shown to be 40 times slower than wetting agent solutions. What\u02bcs more, according to<br \/>\nthe National Institute of Standards and Technology, Class A foams made with wetting agents are three to five times more<br \/>\nefficient at fighting fire than plain water alone.<\/p>\n<p>At Firefreeze, we offer Cold Fire\u00ae, an environmentally friendly fire extinguishing agent that puts out fires faster, safer, with<br \/>\nless water, less damage to property, and less risk to firefighters. A UL-classified wetting agent, Cold Fire has been shown to<br \/>\ncool 21 times faster than water and works to remove heat and the fuel sources from the fire tetrahedron, preventing re-ignition.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<h5 class=\"styled-subtitle\"><strong>To learn more about wetting agents or our Cold Fire line of products, contact us here.<\/strong><\/h5>\n<ol>\n<li class=\"styled-subtitle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.firefighternation.com\/firerescue\/the-as-some-bs-of-foam-firefighting\/#gref\">https:\/\/www.firefighternation.com\/firerescue\/the-as-some-bs-of-foam-firefighting\/#gref<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"styled-subtitle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/s10694-016-0640-0\">https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/s10694-016-0640-0<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"styled-subtitle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/s10694-016-0640-0\">https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/s10694-016-0640-0<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][vc_column_text] WHAT IS A WETTING AGENT? [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text] Water is the most obvious and abundant substance used to fight fires. It&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_joinchat":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[231],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-25273","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-coldfire"},"menu_order":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coldfireafrica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coldfireafrica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coldfireafrica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coldfireafrica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coldfireafrica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25273"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/coldfireafrica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25274,"href":"https:\/\/coldfireafrica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25273\/revisions\/25274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coldfireafrica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coldfireafrica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coldfireafrica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}