Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 3, 1990 TAG: 9003032556
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER SOUTHWEST BUREAU
DATELINE: ABINGDON LENGTH: Medium
The Land Harpoon launches its hose into the midst of a fire and then blankets the blaze with water or fire-retardant chemicals. Representatives of the Southwest Virginian Research & Development Corp., which donated the harpoon to the department, will be training Abingdon firefighters on the mobile machine.
Although the device has been tested in demonstrations, it has yet to be tested in an actual fire. That may happen if a situation develops where the Abingdon department can use it.
In recent months, it has been the subject of articles in Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, Fire Chief Magazine, Firefighter's News, Firefighters Gazette and Fire International Magazine and other publications.
It is the brainchild of Glade Spring native Walter "Skip" Herman, a former merchant seaman who devised a compressed air cannon that shoots a heat-resistant hose into the heart of a fire. The hose's nozzle then sprays water or chemical extinguishers in all directions over the fire and puts it out by depriving it of the oxygen that feeds it.
The hose can be launched from 500 to 1,000 feet away, without having firefighters carry it to the blaze, and can cover a bigger area with water or chemicals than conventional hoses.
At least, that is what the folks at The Southwest Virginian Research & Development Corp. hope it can do.
Thomas G. Thuemling, a marine engineer turned spokesman for the corporation, said it has been a year since delivery of the first prototype. The second prototype was delivered in January.
"Some folks have likened it to a blow gun. Others say it's a pop gun. What we really have is an air-filled mortar," Thuemling said. Its nozzle is designed to send water or chemicals in "a beehive effect, where everything overlaps . . . We don't think this is going to do away with any apparatus. It's another tool for the firemen to use."
Thuemling said the device could be attached to pumper trucks or hydrants. Its brochure boasts that it can put out a 15,000-square-foot fire in 5 to 7 seconds.
The design work on the Land Harpoon was carried out at the Abingdon corporation, which currently has seven full-time employees and two consultants. Thuemling said the corporation envisions having its own manufacturing facility eventually, perhaps in nearby Bristol.
"We think we're going to grow in this area, and we're pretty much set on the fact that we're not going to take anything out of state," he said. "It's just sort of slugging it out one step at a time. We've got a fair wind blowing now."
by CNB