EXCELLENT FIRE PROTECTION

Excellent Fire Protection, based in Taft, California, is a fire extinguisher servicing company that also provides fire extinguisher training classes utilizing the BullEx™ HotShot™ digital fire extinguisher training system. Their client base includes hospitals and large corporations that need fire extinguisher training to comply with regulations set forth by OSHA. Before purchasing the BullEx HotShot in May of 2007, Excellent Fire Protection struggled with the cost, time, and safety of teaching hands-on fire extinguisher training. Using the HotShot, the company has reduced costs by 42% per class of 15-20 people, allowing a substantial cost savings for both themselves and their customers.

Prior to discovering the HotShot, Excellent Fire Protection conducted fire extinguisher training using cartridge dry chemical extinguishers and a burn pan filled with diesel. The dry chemical extinguishers were expensive to recharge and the clean up of all the chemicals was extremely time consuming as well as detrimental to the environment. The diesel for the burn pan was expensive, Dale White and Sahib Mujahid (both partners in the company) worried about the hazards of traveling to a job site with the chemicals and diesel in their vehicle. In addition, lighting the fuel was a dangerous job for the instructors. Dale was concerned that a trainee or teacher would get too close and be burned by the lit fuel. “No one realizes how dangerous this fire extinguisher training really is,” commented Dale.

Upon researching extinguisher training systems, Dale found BullEx’s HotShot to be the safest and most economical way to teach hands-on extinguisher training. The HotShot is a training system that uses self-generating digital flames which respond directly to trainee’s actions. In addition, the compressed air and water SmartExtinguishers™ interact with sensors on the front of the unit to allow for an accurate training experience with virtually no clean up. The HotShot can simulate class A, B, and C fires at four different difficulty levels, providing a much more realistic training experience than learning with diesel, which can only behave as a class B flammable liquid fire. “The HotShot is as real as it can get,” commented Dale, “and totally safe.” In addition, the HotShot has no live flame so can be used with clients that can not have fire on the premises, such as hospitals, oil and gas facilities, and companies with minimal space.

Excellent Fire Protection is now taking full advantage of the many benefits of the HotShot system. They have their system mounted in an enclosed trailer with drainage, so that they can immediately pull up to a job site and begin training. The SmartExtinguishers are easily recharged in the field, allowing for a substantial reduction in training time. With the HotShot and trailer set-up, training 25 people with hands-on training takes as little as 25 minutes, as opposed to the hours it used to take using dry chemical extinguishers and diesel. Dale says that reactions from clients have been extremely positive. Last year they conducted 32 training classes, and after having the HotShot only four months, they have already taught 25 classes - a 207% increase from last year. The investment in the BullEx HotShot has allowed Excellent Fire Protection to provide a safer, more accurate, and more cost effective training experience for their clients. Within the next year they hope to begin doing more training in metropolitan areas with companies that do not have the space outside to do traditional fire extinguisher training. “We enjoy what we’re doing” says Dale “and the HotShot is a big part of that.”

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