New product could help fight fires faster

It is the new reality: forest fires in California are getting bigger, hotter and more frequent than ever before.

Yet firefighters are still battling them the traditional way, dropping fire retardant around their perimeter and digging firelines.

What if there was a new solution that could literally extinguish the flames?

Cortijn Van Valkenburg and his partner Fred Bok represent the product called PTX, invented by scientists in the Netherlands.

“You get a chemical reaction more or less. It takes out the oxygen, and in this process it takes out the heat as well, so the fire is gone immediately,” said Van Valkenburg.

PTX claims it not only puts out fires faster than any other additive on the market, it also cools burning wood almost instantly so that it cannot re-ignite. It is also 100 percent biodegradable.

Van Valkenburg says he has spent months trying to pitch the green alternative to firefighting agencies, but with no luck.

“If you look at the firefighting business, not really a lot has been changed the last 30 years,” he said. “Of course, there are some people who want to keep it the same way for the next 30 years as well.”

Firefighters have exclusively been using the product Foschek to fight fires for decades. Introducing something completely different means going through potentially years of testing.

Nick Welsh, the aerial supervisor at Cal Fire’s Sonoma Air Attack Base, says he has to abide by U.S. Forest Service rules, and since PTX is not approved by the feds, Cal Fire cannot consider it either.

Foschek is also the only additve allowed for fighting house fires.

The forest service said in a statement, “PTX does not meet the requirements of either our water enhancer or foam specifications.”