October 24, 2024
Business Update & Brand Position
Independence Drives Clarity
Three acquisitions over the last 14 years drove Williams Fire & Hazard Control to work with multiple partners in our pursuit of excellence. As of January 2024, Williams Fire & Hazard Control is again independent, and our path forward has greater clarity than ever.
We have maintained our manufacturing capabilities in Port Arthur, Texas and continue to offer a full line of extinguishing agents, nozzles, monitors, hose, portable and apparatus proportioning systems, tank protection - including Ambush, large-volume centrifugal and submersible pumps, and other “loose”, “fixed” and “mobile” response hardware as we have for over four decades. Furthermore, a dedicated R&D Team is midstream in the development of revolutionary new products.
One of the most rewarding reflections of our legacy has been the loyalty of our Distribution Partners worldwide, as we continue to work in unison to service the globe with Williams’ products and services. Use this link to find commercial partners in your region.
“Second Best” is a Losing Proposition.
As an active response company since 1980, when five, six or more major incidents a year were common, Williams Fire & Hazard Control has looked to even the odds when facing industry’s most volatile emergency events. In fact, as a Team of family and friends working side by side on nearly 300 land and marine-borne incidents worldwide, we challenge the status quo regarding tactics and equipment to “tip the odds in our favor” – assuring our greatest margin of safety and success.
As a leading manufacturer of industrial fire suppression equipment, Williams Fire & Hazard Control remains committed to selecting and developing the very best products imaginable to protect our people, our clients, and the community in every response environment.
To emphasize … as an active emergency response Team, Williams Fire & Hazard Control will accept NOTHING LESS than the very best products to protect our people … and yours.
In this context, second best is unacceptable.
Consequential Market Forces
Upon exit from the market by 3M and their “Light Water” foam brand in 2002, Williams Fire & Hazard Control introduced the industry to the benefits of 1x3 AR-AFFF foam logistics. 1% foam concentrates offered undeniable efficiencies to asset management, as well as economic and logistical advantages, while maintaining the superior performance of the previous “Light Water” products. This was a pivotal moment in the world of firefighting concentrates. Today is a different era. Today, a new and unique set of considerations facing the industry at large.
The shift to non-fluorinated foams has led to concerns over foam concentrate formulations and their impact on current infrastructure and performance in the field. With the loss of the oleophobic properties of fluorinated foam concentrates, i.e., their ability to shed fuel, and the ability their aqueous films had in suppressing flammable vapors, today we are left to foam concentrates that are largely reliant on bubble structures. Once again, our understanding of chemical volatility and respective response measures are critically important to firefighter safety and effective incident management – including incipient response, event extension and fire extinction.
Williams Fire & Hazard Control’s recent response experience and observations show that new challenges with myriad foam formulations must be closely scrutinized. Operational environments involving production, processing, and movement of flammable liquids are no less volatile than they were 3 years ago. However, new generation foam performance is inherently different – and often less effective – than their predecessor formulations.
Williams Fire & Hazard Control and our clients have seen dramatic differences – we daresay weaknesses – in both extinguishment and suppression resilience of many of commercially available non-fluorinated foam concentrates. However, with better understanding of incident dynamics and response tactics, firefighter safety and response performance may be maintained.
“Performance” Is Our Brand
Not all our legacy product brands followed us into our reclaimed independence in January of this year – including our legacy foam brand. Nevertheless, Williams Fire & Hazard Control remains steadfast in our commitment to “PERFORMANCE” as a non-negotiable priority in development of all our response products and methods.
Given today’s environment, the Williams Fire & Hazard Control performance firefighting foam of choice is “WILLIAMS WNF33A 3x3” for response on large-scale incidents – including fuels in depth.
Our philosophy at Williams is to ALWAYS provide what we believe to be the best performing products to industry, and to constantly evaluate current and emerging technologies that influence equipment performance – including foam formulations.
Rest assured when Williams Fire & Hazard Control puts its name on any product, it has been extensively scrutinized, tested and validated to assure it is ready to respond.
For more information on WNF33A 3x3 and Williams Fire & Hazard Control’s observations and best practices, please contact us by calling 1-800-231-4613 or by email at [email protected].