CFX: tiny compressed-air foam firefighting system

This simple but revolutionary firefighting system features what its inventor claims is the smallest, lightest and most inexpensive Compressed Air Foam System on the market. Mounted on a small utility vehicle, the CFX system can get firefighting foam into restricted and difficult areas a firetruck can’t reach.

Compressed air foam systems (CAFS) can be very effective in fighting fires. The foam can be more effective fire retardant than water, as it blankets a fire and starves it of oxygen, adheres to walls, reducing heat more quickly, and its opaque surface can shield unburned fuel surfaces from heat. Foam is also especially appropriate where water is scarce, the sloppy shaving-cream-type foam using only a fraction of the water a normal fire trick uses.

EP industries, better known for their custom car creations that have had starring roles in everything from the Dukes of Hazzard to 2 Fast, 2 Furious, have created a unique CAFS pump system that is the smallest, lightest, and most inexpensive unit in the world according to owner Eddie Paul.

The award-winning CFX design can mix up to four separate fluids or gases through its patented CEM Positive Displacement Piston Pump, which produced 24 pump cycles per revolution of the drive shaft, or operates almost silently with an electric motor. The finished foam is pumped out at 60-70psi and 80GPM.

The rotary pump design eliminates the need for a centrifugal water pump and air compressor, contributing to the small size of the unit which lets it get into small spaces a firetruck or brush truck can’t reach, a significant advantage in restricted-access situations.