Fire department deploys firefighting grenade for the first time

Firefighters have a new tool in Saskatoon.

A fire suppression grenade was deployed for the first time to help control fires at two boarded-up homes near St. Paul’s Hospital on Sunday.

“We throw it like a grenade, but at the end of the day it works more like a fire extinguisher,” said Saskatoon Fire Chief Morgan Hackl.

Fire suppression grenade.
(Saskatoon Fire Department/Submitted)

“What occurs is this aerosol product releases into the air and what it does is, it removes the heat. It actually changes that black smoke to white smoke which actually shows the heat dissipating from the fire.”

Crews were called to the 300 block of Avenue R South around 4:40 p.m.  The battalion chief on the scene assessed the situation and decided to deploy the device into one of the involved structures.

“He had to make a quick decision in order to stabilize one of the incidents. We had two fires going. We were concerned about the water supply. What that did is by giving us that immediate stabilization on the one incident, it allowed us to have better control,” said Hackl.

Roughly the size of a cantaloupe the device had been in select fire apparatus for about one year but had not been used until now.

Hackl sees the fire suppression grenades becoming an important tool in the future to improve safety and shorten the on-scene time. Hackl said the cost per unit is roughly $900.