On Mon, 26 Jan 2009 08:53:30 -0600, Mike Raiford <"m[raiford]!at"@gmail.com>
wrote:

>Stephen wrote:
>
>> But have you ever tried to put burning magnesium out?
>> 
>> I remember from a fire fighting course I was on when I worked offshore that
>> there is a technique for doing it. You have to pour copious amounts of water on
>> it very slowly. Not use the normal jet from a fire hose or you have a very
>> spread out fire. :)
>
>Ummm. Water on a metal fire ... isn't that just going to exacerbate the 
>reaction and create hydrogen gas?
>
>Some will even burn in nitrogen.. I think they have foams for helping 
>extinguish metal fires.

Yes, but the obvious circumstances of a magnesium fire offshore is a helicopter
crash. The build up of Hydrogen would not be a problem as it would be outside or
on the helideck. We would have used AFFF (Aqueous film forming foam). The water
being mainly a carrier for the AFFF and for cooling.
-- 

Regards
     Stephen

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