New Innovative Technology to Tackle Bushfires – Bombs

Okay, I didn’t exactly mean the type of bomb used in warfare but rather a bomb that serves the purpose of reducing the impact of bush fires, by transforming water into mist upon impact.

The device is a football-sized, water-filled vessel that can be dropped from a helicopter or plane. It acts in a similar way as a bomb, fitted with a detonator that triggers on impact. The idea is to transform the water into mist that rapidly disperses in the vicinity of the “explosion”. Mist droplets have a larger surface area than water droplets, thus, making it more effective and easier to quickly remove vast amounts of energy from the fire front.

With the environment being taken into consideration, the materials used to create the “bomb” is biodegradable so it does not pollute the area within which it is used, which could have created another issue to deal with. By combining mist-generation and eco-friendly materials it makes this a unique tool for tackling bushfires.

The bomb is part of the Bushfire CRC research in Australia with the aim of creating bushfire protection solutions focusing on three main areas 1) fire behaviour 2) human behaviour and safety issues 3) building infrastructure and panning issues. It is hoped that the research will lead to easier, quicker and more effective bushfire containment, extinguishing and protection technology.