“I would like to see large-scale testing that includes typical residential fires, such as furniture and mattress fires, kitchen fires, electrical fires, and ember exposures in the attic or outside,” he added. “It should also cover different conditions such as open and closed doors, different ceiling heights, crosswinds, clogged fuel packs and whether the fire returns after the system shuts down.”
Similarly, Michael Gollnerprofessor of mechanical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, and an expert in fire dynamics, told Ars that there is not yet enough data to prove that this technology works better than sprinklers.
He pointed out a academic work 2018which found that “acoustics alone are insufficient to control flames beyond the incipient stage.”
By contrast, “fire sprinklers are extensively tested and certified to standards developed by the fire safety community over many years,” he emailed Ars. “I believe this product must demonstrate the same or better performance with the same reliability before it can be considered to replace any existing safety measures. While I absolutely support innovative thinking, lives are truly at stake, and new technologies must carefully demonstrate their effectiveness and reliability before society will trust them.”
bulldozer time
As for the Contra Costa County firefighters who organized the rally, they’re curious to see more. Deputy Fire Chief Tracie Dutter told Ars that the agency does not recommend specific products, but does try to understand the uses the new technology can have.
“Sonic representatives indicated they are exploring opportunities to partner with fire departments to test this technology on a dozer,” Dutter said.
“The District would be open to testing this system on one of our dozers,” Dutter added, to “better understand its limitations and potential points of failure.”
With new technology like this, firefighters also want to understand what “long-term maintenance requirements” it has, whether “routine testing or calibration is required to ensure reliability,” and “how system faults, such as a malfunctioning detector or acoustic generator, are identified and communicated to the owner.”
