Fire at Michigan State Champs

[Sperkowsky]

Originally Posted by Jaci

I hate to be 'that person', but it has to be said.

Why did it take so long to grab a fire extinguisher that should have been ready at the field?
Why is there a group of volunteers all standing around a robot with a roaring fire and a live battery inside it?
Why are there volunteers sticking their hands inside and/or near the robot, let alone fanning the fire?

It seems to me like this reflects a lack of training for what to do in this situation. I would expect volunteers to be properly inducted about what to do in the event of an emergency such as this one. We've got 6 highly dangerous machines on the field and dozens more behind the curtain, all with massive batteries and electrical currents running through them, but it seems that no one knows what to do in the (quite likely) event that something goes wrong.

We're always saying that "Safety comes first", but it's events like this that make me question "are we really living up to that?"

It seems to me that they were searching for a dry chemical fire extinguisher apposed to a more common co2 fire extinguisher in order to keep parts of the robot salvageable.

The likelihood hood of the fire spreading was very low but, it did slightly concern me when they started to poke around inside of the robot. I was also expecting with that size flame that the bumper fabric would eventually catch on fire. Overall it just seemed foolish to poke around.

The reaction time could have definitely been better and this is a situation that volunteers should be better prepared for but the likelihood is pretty low.

A more accessible fire extinguisher is really all they need.

[Jon Stratis]

The overall reaction there seemed a bit less prepared than this one for Lake Superior a few years ago https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YOd3mF1tvwk

Fast forward to the last 25 seconds, you can see immediate action behind the robot, and a fire extinguisher was out and ready on the field rather quickly!

[ctt956]

Originally Posted by Jon Stratis

The overall reaction there seemed a bit less prepared than this one for Lake Superior a few years ago https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YOd3mF1tvwk

Fast forward to the last 25 seconds, you can see immediate action behind the robot, and a fire extinguisher was out and ready on the field rather quickly!

There was also an "Injury Risk" sign next to the field. That exercise ball seemed to be an effective fire blanket!

[Doug Frisk]

Originally Posted by Sperkowsky

It seems to me that they were searching for a dry chemical fire extinguisher apposed to a more common co2 fire extinguisher in order to keep parts of the robot salvageable.

The likelihood hood of the fire spreading was very low but, it did slightly concern me when they started to poke around inside of the robot. I was also expecting with that size flame that the bumper fabric would eventually catch on fire. Overall it just seemed foolish to poke around.

The reaction time could have definitely been better and this is a situation that volunteers should be better prepared for but the likelihood is pretty low.

A more accessible fire extinguisher is really all they need.

You have that backwards. A dry chemical extinguisher will coat the robot in dust and crap, CO2 leaves no residue making it easier to salvage bits.

I'd also call dry chemical much more common. C02 extinguishers are not typically found at your big box home store.

I've never actually seen a CO2 unit in a pit at an FRC event. I'm sure some teams have them, but dry chemical is pretty much what everyone has.