Fire beaters

[scbk]

Has anyone ever made fire beaters?

Any preference over mesh or rubber? Anyone got any designs/drawings I could copy:001_tt2:

 

Could you cut up an old tyre to make a rubber head?

 

thanks

[Matthew Arnold]

I have made them in the past. Rubber would be best (doormat would be suitable). A tyre would be far to rigid and heavy even after cutting them so they are flexible. I got of these guys measurements.

 

Fire Beater

[Xaltu]

Made a few as well as used them in the past. The disadvantage of the 'rubber mat' ones is if you have to carry them any distance. Also used short lengths of fire hose on a shorter pole that were easy to carry and work well fighting the fire.

[Sam Thompson]

Smaller than a door mat, but still rubber. And a good strong handle

[Highland Forestry]

In my experience, the best kind of fire beezums are long aluminium poles with an aluminium shovel head tig welded to the end with two chains bolted on the underside.

They work well for 'rubbing' out the fire in heather as well as beating the flames and are light and easy to use.

Being slightly longer you can stay further from the flames and due to them being very robust there is less fatigue caused to the user.

 

Failing this, the commission have some very good beaters which are quite literally a small aluminium pole with a matt of rubber bolted to the end - if fighting a good fire though they do eventually melt!

 

The mesh head beezums seem pretty useless, we used them once (and only once) and found them a waste of time. Possibly better for grassland fires but no good in heather.

[scbk]

Thanks , had a close call with a bonfire that started wandering the other week (had to beat it back with green branches) so thought it may be handy to keep one at hand in the furure

 

Had been looking at the ones stored outside local forests, mainly wire ones 8ft-10ft long, but the heads didn't look possible to make by hand using basic tools

 

 

I will have to see what flat rubber I can get

[Mayhem inc.]

try and get hold of some old industrial conveyer belts, these are flexible and not too heavy but ridged enough to do the job, we used them on the prairies in canada when i was out there setting fire to them with tracer rounds. contact demolition firms if you cant get hold of them.