“I would like to see a full-scale trial covering typical residential fires such as furniture and mattress fires, cooking fires, electrical fires, attic or external ember effects,” he said. “It should also cover various conditions such as open and closed doors, changing ceiling heights, crosswinds, obstructed fuel packs and whether the fire will reoccur after the system shuts down.”
Likewise, Michael GollnerThe University of California, Berkeley, professor of mechanical engineering and an expert in fire dynamics told Arsa that there is not yet enough data to show that this technology works better than sprinklers.
pointed to a 2018 academic paperwhich found that “acoustics alone are not sufficient to control flames after the initial stage”.
In contrast, “Fire sprinklers are extensively tested and certified to standards developed by the fire safety community over many years,” he emailed to Ars. “I think this product needs to perform the same or better and demonstrate the same reliability before it replaces any existing security measure. While I fully support the current thinking, lives are truly at stake and new technologies must carefully demonstrate efficacy and reliability before they can be trusted by society.”
Dozer time
As for the Contra Costa County firefighters who are hosting the demonstration, they want to see more. Deputy Fire Chief Tracie Dutter told Ars that the agency isn’t recommending specific products, but it’s trying to figure out what new technology might be able to use.
“Sonic representatives indicated that they are exploring the possibility of collaborating with fire departments to test this technology on a bulldozer,” Dutter said.
“The district would be open to testing this system on one of our dozers,” Dutter said, adding “to better understand its limitations and potential points of failure.”
With new technology like this, firefighters want to understand what “long-term maintenance requirements” are, “whether regular testing or calibration is required to ensure reliability,” and “how system malfunctions such as a faulty detector or acoustic generator are identified and communicated to the owner.”
