Extreme use of mining vehicles can make them catch fire — Here’s how to protect them

Mine sites have a number of heavy vehicles, plant and equipment in operation everyday with the vehicles incorporating significant ignition/ heat sources that could potentially cause fires.

Such vehicles should therefore be fitted with suitable fire suppression solutions while their operators must be trained to manually activate these systems while also ensuring their personal safety in the event of a fire.

Fire protection specialist Wormald offers a range of vehicle fire suppression (VFS) systems designed to provide vital risk management for heavy vehicles by suppressing fires in key risk areas such as the engine and transmission compartments as well as brakes and hydraulic areas.

Wormald’s fire suppression systems are designed to provide early detection and warning allowing extra time for the driver to safely evacuate, while also quickly suppressing the fire to help minimise damage to the vehicle.

Wormald offers a fire risk assessment program in accordance with Australian Standard, AS 5062-2006: Fire Protection for Mobile & Transportable Equipment to assist in identifying and determining the level of fire risk in order to offer the most appropriate system for a particular vehicle in its operating environment.

Wormald offers the Foam Water Spray Vehicle Fire Suppression (VFS) System and the Ansul A-101 Vehicle Powder System, both ActivFire listed to be compliant with AS 5062 as part of their vehicle fire suppression systems.

Key features of Foam Water Spray VFS System:

• High pressure and small droplet nozzles target risk areas such as the turbocharger and starter motor in the engine compartment
• Utilises the fire suppressing and containment features of Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF)
• Discharges continuous stream of foam water spray to rapidly suppress flames and cool hot surfaces
• Generated foam acts to smother fuel and oil-spill fires, helping to prevent re-ignition
• Installed with automatic detection and actuation systems
• Incorporates cabin and ground level actuators enabling the operator to manually activate the system if required

Key features of Ansul A-101 Vehicle Powder System:

• Discharges a dry powder known as Foray into the risk area to suppress the fire
• Well suited to three dimensional liquid fuel fires
• Installed with automatic detection and actuation systems
• Incorporates cabin and ground level actuators enabling the operator to manually activate the system if required

Vehicle operators should also be fully trained to manually activate the vehicle fire suppression systems when necessary as well as use the fire protection equipment located in their vehicles such as portable fire extinguishers.

Wormald is a Registered Training Organisation (RTO), offering a range of fire safety training programs through theory and hands-on learning experience. Wormald’s fire safety training programs for the mining industry include Fire Extinguisher Training, Confined Space Entry Training, Breathing Apparatus (BA) Training, Lay Flat Hose Training and First Aid Training.