Pioneering Technology Inc of Canada has announced that the United States Air Force (USAF) has reviewed the suitability of the Safe-T-element (STE) technology for commercial Air Force Base (AFB) applications and has determined that the product is now acceptable as an alternative means of compliance with their UFC 3-600-01 military code requirement for a range fire safety system. A range that includes the Safe-T-element technology is now considered a “fire safe” range.
The company also announced it had set up a partnership with the Virginia Fire Chiefs Association (VFCA) to promote the sale of the Safe-T-element cooking system in the Commonwealth of Virginia and to work together to adopt codes/standards for the mandatory use of this technology in Virginia.
The VFCA will promote and market the product to their membership throughout Virginia and will also recommend the STE to affiliates and peer associations at the regional and national levels. In partnership the VFCA and Pioneering will work together to have codes/standards adopted for the mandatory use of this technology in Virginia.
The Safe-T-element Cooking System is a patented product upgrade for electric coiled stovetops, engineered to help prevent cooking fires before they start while reducing the amount of electricity required to cook. An element on high, red hot and unattended for even a short period of time is one that has reached a dangerously high temperature and is out of control. That amount of heat is never necessary. No one needs 700°C/1291°F when oil ignites at as low as 370°C/698°F. Each Safe-T-element is an electronically controlled solid cover plate that is installed on top of one’s existing stovetop burner. A patented control unit inside the stove controls the temperature of the plate cover allowing it to only reach a maximum of 350°C/662°F.
When the plate reaches a temperature of 350°C/662°F, it automatically shuts the stove off and conversely as it cools to just below 350°C/662°F the stovetop is turned on again. In this way the burner plate maintains a temperature of 350°C/662°F, more than enough for efficient and effective cooking, while not allowing household materials to ignite.
The Safe-T-element cooking system is available as both a retrofit and pre-installed on new stoves.
An article written by Raymond N Hansen, fire protection engineer for the Air Force Civil Engineer Support Agency, headquartered at the Tyndall AFB, Florida, was published recently in the Air Force Civil Engineer Magazine, confirming that a range equipped with Pioneering’s Safe-T-element technology was now accepted as an approved appliance or product to protect residential ranges in commercial applications from the dangers of stovetop cooking fires.
The impetus for Hansen’s article was a very costly cooking fire that occurred at an Air Force base with a range hood mounted, fire suppression system installed. To date the range hood suppression system has been the only accepted fire safety system for use in commercial settings on USAF bases. Since this particular fire occurred the USAF has identified some fire safety concerns with the installation of the aforementioned special suppression system.
In his article, Hansen outlines the benefits of using the Safe-T-element technology as an alternative and indicates that “the retrofit system compensates for the causes of most cooking fires experienced by the Air Force; unattended cooking and combustibles exposed to the burners.”  Hansen indicates that the Safe-T-element technology meets the Air Force’s safety system code requirement for dormitory common rooms, office building break rooms, chapel kitchens, cooking classrooms and other “non-residential type applications.”
Until now code restrictions meant that these bases didn’t have any alternative to the mandatory range hood suppression systems. Today, as pointed out in Hansen’s article, these bases can now purchase Safe-T-element as an alternative solution that not only prevents these cooking fires from occurring in the first place but can be purchased and installed at less than a quarter of the price of a range hood mounted system. Moreover the article goes on to say that the product is easier to install, saves energy and the installation does not require regular system maintenance. Pioneering Technology is now positioned to supply the Safe-T-element technology to approximately 100 Air Force bases worldwide. The company recently received purchase orders from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, and the Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
Pioneering CEO Kevin Callahan noted: “This is a very meaningful development for this product given that the Air Force has some of the most stringent fire safety code requirements in the world. Until now the Air Force only had one option. Now these same bases have access to a product that not only prevents these fires from occurring in the first place but can be installed at a fraction of the price. We look forward to supporting the USAF’s fire safety code requirements going forward and in supplying the Safe-T-element technology in other applications that are classified under The Life Safety Code, National Fire Protection Association (NFPA 101).”
Pioneering is an “energy smart” product innovation company based in Mississauga, Ontario, that engineers and brings to market energy smart solutions for consumer products making them safer, smarter and/or more efficient. The patented Safe-T-element cooking system was engineered to help prevent stove top cooking fires, the number one cause of fire in North America, and to reduce the amount of electricity required to cook.
VFCA president Chris Eudailey said, “Cooking type fires contribute to a large number of fire incidents in Virginia and throughout this country. The Virginia fire chiefs believe the Safe-T-element product will assist in the reduction of these very tragic and sometimes deadly types of fire incidents in the Commonwealth.”
Callahan said, “We are very pleased to be partnering with such a prestigious organisation. The Virginia Fire Chiefs Association has a very progressive leadership and lobby that are highly regarded not only in Virginia but throughout the United States. We believe that our partnership with the VFCA will have a significant impact on the success of the continued and growing adoption of this technology and we are honored to be able to participate in their efforts to better protect their communities and help reduce cooking-related fires.”