Since 1964, KlineFire has had a rich history as a trusted fire protection manufacturer and supplier to the Australian Plumbing industry. As a market leader, KlineFire has stayed in its fire protection lane whilst harnessing its internal knowledge to evolve the business and support the ever-growing market of transportation fire suppression.
With a national footprint spanning over 1,000 clients, it could be hard to believe that the fire protection supplier began by selling extinguishers out of a home garage.
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Following a successful run as a test cricketer, Lindsay Kline decided, in 1964, to swap out the ball for an extinguisher, starting Lindsay Kline Sales from his home in the south-east suburbs of Melbourne.
Before long, momentum had picked up and the home base was upgraded from garage to factory, with the product range expanding into various hydrant and booster assemblies and to its own LKS Fire Hose Reel that supported all major works throughout Australia. Last count, KlineFire has manufactured over 400,000 Hose Reels.
Now, KlineFire – as it was rebranded – specialises in the manufacturing, supply and assembly of fire protection equipment to the fire industry and beyond on an Australia-wide scale.
“Approximately 10 years ago, we were successful in obtaining the distributorship rights with Kidde Technologies to support Asia Pacific,” KlineFire business development manager Allan McPhie told ABC.
“Since then, we’ve focused heavily on supporting the growth of the fire suppression market supplying private bus operators and the public transport network all over Australia with the world’s best fire suppression systems,” McPhie says.
A key ingredient in KlineFire’s pathway to success was its innovative approach to fire suppression in vehicles, bringing forward a new option to operators.
“Our fire suppression varies greatly from others in both the extinguisher and detection components. It’s a dry chemical system that is environmentally friendly, non-corrosive and non-toxic,” McPhie says.
The suppressant system which is regularly used within the Australian military, is a Purple-K dry chemical agent and is highly regarded as a high-performance extinguishing agent that is desired within transport and mining industries due its extinguishing qualities and immediate effectiveness.
Capable of being vacuumed up or blown out, the agent leaves no residue behind, ensuring that componentry remains unharmed, which in turn supports the operators in allowing their buses back on the road with minimal downtime.
Since its relationship with Kidde Technologies, KlineFire has maintained a strong stance on supporting the government regulations, whilst ensuring that AS5062 is not only met but also sets a new level of standard within the Australian market and care for the environment.
“The great thing about our system is its flexibility to suit the ever-changing fuel types within the Australia Market. From diesel, hybrid, electric and hydrogen, the system can be used to suit the different types of hazards that each bus now has,” McPhie says.
“Whilst the extinguishing component is an integral part of the KlineFire system, equally as important is the ability of the supporting detectors to immediately detect a thermal event. KlineFire offer a range of sensors and detection to suit all of the vehicles.”
One of the standout technologies is a Dual Band Optical Sensor that detects a fire within point four of a second, and again supports the military and mining industries that have a zero-fire policy tolerance.
“It can detect a thermal event instantly and will activate within 13 seconds.”
The optical sensor uses dual band false alarm immunity, requiring both ‘eyes’ to recognise a fire threat before it will discharge.
“Our local products, which are supported by a world leading Research and Development team with Kidde Technologies, have enabled KlineFire to deliver a cutting-edge solution to Australia’s need in fire suppression,” KlineFire operations manager Joelene Sash tells ABC.
“The partnership between KlineFire and Kidde Technologies, supported by Collins Aerospace has ensured continued access to world class fire engineers who thrive in this space.
“The engineers that we work with at Collins Aerospace and Kidde Technologies are fantastic. They support us to ensure we are designing and installing the correct system.”
This advice and training has ensured the current KlineFire engineering team are educated in line with the same high expectations led in the US and UK.
“We’re excited to be sponsoring Kidde’s Technologies engineer Rob Dunster as a key speaker at BusVic’s ZEB summit this month,” Sash says.
Dunster will share his hands-on experience deploying ZEB fire safety solutions in the United Kingdom. A captivating speaker, Dunster will reveal invaluable lessons learnt from historical fires and best practice in fleet systems.
Moving forward, KlineFire aims to continue to work with the industry with a major focus on the operators.
A major focus in the coming months is developing an online portal that will provide extensive training for bus operators.
“At the moment, we do a very much hands-on type training, where we arrange time with the end user to walk them through everything they need to know,” Sash says.
“Our online portal will help train bus operators on how to service the system themselves, providing more flexibility to the operators.”
The new portal will be launched at the upcoming Bus Expo in September in Brisbane.
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