Test and evaluation of six fire resistant booms at Ohmsett

Six oil spill booms produced by five manufacturers for use as fire resistan t booms, were tested at the Minerals Management Service's Ohmsett Facility, NWS-Earle, Leonardo, New Jersey. The tests were conducted between July 16, 1996 and October 4, 1996. Prior to being exposed to any fire, the booms we re tested for: first loss tow speed, loss rate, critical tow speed, and wav e conformance. No fires were used during these tests. Four of the booms per formed within speed and rate loss ranges that have been measured for commer cial non-fire resistant booms. One boom was found to be superior in wave co nformance and critical tow speed. However, this boom was at the lower edge of the range for first loss tow speed. A prototype boom, with a unique padd le wheel operating principal was the sixth boom included in the study. This boom was found to need further development. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.