Fire suppression systems are gradually finding their way into the engine compartments of on-road and off-road equipment alike in the Middle East. Despite regulations being limited to public transport and school buses and equipment used in hazardous environments, end-users in other industries are investing in fire suppression systems as a pre-emptive measure to ensure life and jobsite safety and minimise equipment downtime.
Vehicle fire suppression system providers such as Dafo Middle East which previously catered mainly to the road transport industry is seeing demand increasing from other sectors such as ground improvement, port handling and waste management.
Johan Larsson, general manager, Dafo Middle East, says: “There’s been progress in the development of standards and regulations in the UAE for fire detection and suppression systems in vehicles, which are being extended to every compartment in the vehicle. We expect to see a localized version of the UNECE R107 standard for buses and coaches and the AS 5062 standard for heavy equipment, along with guidelines on how to get fire suppression systems certified for the local market. Simultaneously, we see an increase in awareness among fleet operators, which is driving enquiries for our solutions.”
In the off-highway industry, contractors and rental providers of ground improvement equipment are among the early adopters of fire suppression systems in this region. This is because duty cycle cranes used for dynamic compaction handle heavy loads constantly throughout their operating hours, which increases the risk of engine fires significantly.
“The price of downtime due to fires is severely high in such applications, where the jobsites are often in remote areas. There have been several instances of ground improvement equipment catching fires during their operation. So, it’s relatively easy to make the case for fire suppression systems. We are working with market leaders such as O.rentals, Menard and Keller to retrofit fire suppression systems on their Liebherr and Bauer cranes,” says Johan.
If fires were to occur during dynamic compaction, a crane equipped with a fire suppression system could be put back into operation within an hour, according to Johan.
“In the best case scenario, assuming there’s minimial damage to the crane, the cartridge or cylinder can refilled and the crane can be up and running without much delay. We recommend that contractors and rental companies involved in these type of jobs maintain refill kits on the sites in order to minimise equipment downtime. If that’s not possible, our technical support team ensures that the customer gets a refill kit within the next day,” says Johan.
Port handling is another fast growing application as operators in the region update their HSE policies to include fire suppression systems, particularly because it’s common for port handling equipment to operate 24/7. Dafo has entered into distribution partnership with Kalmar to supply Kalmar equipment equipped with Dafo fire suppression systems exclusively in the Middle East.
“Port operators and logistics companies in this region can order Kalmar machines with factory installed Dafo fire suppression systems or retrofit their older machines through Kalmar Middle East. This is another growth sector for us and we are working with port operators in the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan and Yemen,” says Johan.
Dafo Middle East plans to expand into more off-highway applications in oil and gas, mining, construction and waste management.
“We are pursuing the ATEX certification and FM approvals required to operate in the oil and gas and mining sectors. We’ve made inroads into waste management by working with Suez Group in Oman to equip compactors with fire suppression systems because of the hazardous conditions of the jobsite,” says Johan.