Menomonie Masonic Lodge presents Fire Suppression Tools to Boyceville, Colfax, DC, Elk Mound departments
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FIRE SUPPRESSION TOOLS — Members of the Menomonie Masonic Lodge presented Fire Suppression Tools to emergency services located in Dunn County September 27 at the Dunn County Judicial Center. From left: Jon Scott (Mason), Don Fennie (Mason), Donald Knutson (director of the Colfax Rescue Squad), Brad Mounce (Boyceville fire department), James Gates (Dunn County deputy), Cory Green (Boyceville fire chief), Kevin Bygd (Dunn County sheriff), Lee Kegan (Mason), Luke McNamara (Dunn County deputy), Jake Bloom (Dunn County deputy), Jon Oakland (Mason), Bruce Fransway (Mason), Craig Conklin (Mason), Les Shafter (Elk Mound fire chief), Donnie Heit (Mason), Earl Gunderson (Grand Lodge officer Mason), Bryce Fransway (Mason) and Bill Tice (Mason). — Photo by LeAnn R. Ralph
By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — When minutes matter, the GreenPort Portable Fire Suppression Tool can save lives.
Masons from the Menomonie Masonic Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Wisconsin gathered at the Dunn County Judicial Center the evening of September 27 to present Fire Suppression Tools to the Dunn County Sheriff’s Department, the Boyceville Community Fire Department, the Colfax Rescue Squad, and the Elk Mound Community Fire Department.
The portable one-time use device can reduce the temperature in a burning building from 1,000 degrees to 200 degrees in 30 seconds.
The devices weigh about 11 pounds and are easy to deploy — “pull the pin and throw it in.”
The Dunn County Sheriff’s Department received five of the devices, which are about the size of a woman’s handbag, while the other departments each received one Fire Suppression Tool.
According to news reports, the devices were developed by the United States and Israeli militaries and can allow faster access to a burning building, which could be a critical time that would help people and pets trapped in the fire to be rescued.
The Fire Suppression Tool can be thrown into a room that is on fire and emits an aerosol that is safe for the environment, does not deplete oxygen and is safe for humans and pets, said Bryce Fransway, one of the Masons from the Menomonie Masonic Lodge and who is originally from Colfax.
Presenting the Fire Suppression Tools to emergency services departments is part of a state-wide effort by the Masons and is a way to support the communities where the Masons of the Menomonie Masonic Lodge live and work, he said.
Dunn County Sheriff Kevin Bygd said he has received information about the Fire Suppression Tool at law enforcement conferences and that his goal would be to have one in each of the sheriff’s department’s squad vehicles.
The devices cost about $1,100 each, and the sheriff’s department has about 30 squad vehicles.
Don Knutson, director of the Colfax Rescue Squad, said he has been an Emergency Medical Technician for 32 years and that the ambulance quite often arrives at fires before the fire department is able to reach the scene.
The Fire Suppression Tool will make it possible for EMTs to use the device and to possibly save a life, he said.
Over the past 32 years, something like the Fire Suppression Tool could have made a difference in someone’s life three or four times, Knutson said.
The Fire Suppression Tool is a device the members of the Menomonie Masonic Lodge hope that emergency services and first responders never have to use, Fransway said.
But if emergency services do need the device, the Masons of the Menomonie Masonic Lodge would pray for the safety of all, he said.
Knutson said the Colfax Rescue Squad would be holding a training session the next evening, and the Fire Suppression Tool would be part of their training.
According to information provided by the Menomonie Masonic Lodge, “Approximately eight seconds after activation, an aerosol mist is generated, which expands volumetrically, flooding the space (up to 5300 cubic feet) for approximately 35 seconds, interrupting the bond between the heat and oxygen molecules, thus suppressing the flames.”
Bill Tice, also a Mason from Colfax, noted that the devices have a shelf life of 15 years.
Earlier models of the Fire Suppression Tool had a shelf life of six or seven years, he noted.
The three tenets of Freemasonry, according to the Wisconsin Freemasonry website, are brotherly love (devotion to and caring for each other and our community); relief (concern for and selfless giving to those in distress); and truth (using knowledge, honesty and understanding to build ourselves into better men).
The Freemasons are known as the world’s oldest fraternal organization.
