Salina Airport installs innovative hangar fire suppression system

Lina Portman3 weeks ago

0 2 minutes read

New and innovative firefighting technology is coming to a Salina Regional Airport hangar thanks in part to a grant from the Kansas Department of Transportation.

Hangar 626 has just had a clean agent fire suppression system installed by SEVO Industrial Fire Protection. The hangar will house a division of 1Vision Aviation contracted by Garmin to repair and upgrade electronic equipment, called avionics, on various aircraft.

Pieter Miller, deputy executive director of the Salina Airport Authority, said the fire suppression system is a big win for the airport as it seeks to move forward with new technology.

“(There) are only two other hangars in the United States with clean-agent fire control systems,” Miller said. “Salina Regional Airport Hangar 626 is the first system to be placed into service. »

What is a clean agent suppression system? Why is it important?

Miller said this new technology replaces what the aviation industry has used for decades in terms of fire suppression.

“Traditional fire suppression systems will either be water-based, high-expansion foam, or low-expansion foam,” Miller said. “The clean agent is a chemical, FK-5-1-12, which floods the hangar.”

This chemical is non-conductive and non-corrosive and is also used in places such as server installations. It is therefore suitable for spaces where high-value products such as aircraft and their avionics may be located.

“When a foam system goes off in a hangar, the airplane is destroyed, so you have to scrap it,” Miller said. “Whether it was a large or small fire, the aircraft is now out of service.”

He added that due to the nature of this chemical, this same aircraft would not be completely lost in the same scenario. This also applies to any other equipment present in the hangar.

“People have their tools, their electronics and all the different parts and pieces that are part of a (maintenance, repair and overhaul) shed,” Miller said. “It protects all that.”

Having a system like this at the airport makes it more attractive for companies like Garmin to use Salina as a location to operate.

“When Garmin came to visit the hangar, I told them about the clean agent suppression system and told them it was the best thing they had heard,” Miller said. “That’s one of the deals that got Garmin here.”

Going forward, he said the airport would now also specify this removal of clean agents for future hangar projects.

How much does this system cost? How does Salina Regional Airport pay?

As it is a relatively new technology for the aviation industry, its price is high compared to the traditional foam system that the airport authority initially considered installing.

“The original foam system that was specified cost about $540,000,” Miller said. “A clean agent system, the size of a hangar, costs about $1.4 million.”

Because the airport authority had already budgeted for the initial system, it sought other funding to make up the difference.

After applying for an Innovative Technology Program grant from the Kansas Department of Transportation, the airport received the $900,000 it needed to move forward with this system.

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Miller said the key word for him for this grant was “innovative,” and Salina Regional Airport is taking these innovative steps to move the facility forward.

“To stay relevant, you have to be where the progress is,” he said. “It’s about trying to look three, five, 10 and 20 years out in the aviation sector and making sure you have projects, ideas and people in place to support that.”

What is a clean agent suppression system? Why is it important?

Lina Portman

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