ifp issue 13

The Global Voice for Passive & Active Fire Protection Systems

An MDM PUBLICATIONIssue 13 – February 2003

IFP

ON-LIN

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www.ifpm

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also ins ideAlarms & Detect ion

Shipboard & P iers ide F ire Protect ionTunnel Quest ions

F ire Pump Contro l lers

a lso ins ideAlarms & Detect ion



Fire SafetyManagement

Training


Training

OFC,IFC IBC,OBC 1st 16/10/06 11:07 am Page ofc1

Enquiries: www.dupont.com/fire

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INTERNATIONAL FIRE PROTECTIONwww.ifpmag.com

1

Front cover picture courtesy of HughesAssociates, Inc.

PublishersDavid Staddon & Mark Seton

Editorial ContributorsMike Wood, Graham Ellicott, Rob Yates,Kate Houghton, David Lane MIFireE,Magnus Arvidson, Tommy Hertzberg,Dennis Terrett, Anthony DiSanto, AndrewGrenier, Raymond Bruno, Dr Kirtland Clark,David Carter, David Hooton, Kathy Slack,Ajay Galuti, Martin Workman, Sandi Wake

IFP is published quarterly by:MDM Publishing Ltd 18a, St James Street, South Petherton, Somerset TA13 5BWUnited KingdomTel: +44 (0) 1460 249199Fax: +44 (0) 1460 249292 e-mail: [email protected]: www.ifpmag.com

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DISCLAIMER:The views and opinions expressed in INTERNATIONALFIRE PROTECTION are not necessarily those of MDMPublishing Ltd. The magazine and publishers are in no wayresponsible or legally liable for any errors or anomaliesmade within the editorial by our authors. All articles areprotected by copyright and written permission must besought from the publishers for reprinting or any form ofduplication of any of the magazines content. Any queriesshould be addressed in writing to the publishers.

Reprints of articles are available on request. Prices onapplication to the Publishers.

Page design by Dorchester Typesetting Group LtdPrinted by The Friary Press Ltd


An MDM PUBLICATION

Issue 13 – February 2003

IFP

ON-LI

NE

www.ifpm

ag.co

m

also ins ide

Alarms & Detect ion

Shipboard & P iers ide F ire Protect ion

Tunnel Quest ions


a lso ins ide

Alarms & Detect ion

Shipboard & P iers ide F ire Protect ion

Tunnel Quest ions



TrainingFire Safety

ManagementTraining

February 2003 Issue 133-6 Alarms & Detection – The

other end of the telescope

9-11 Is the industry ready for CEMarking?

13-16 Fire Pump Controllers

18-22 Pierside shipboardemergencies

25-27 Tunnel Questions

29-32 Getting the best value foryour firestop dollar

35-38 Voice Alarm

41-46 Fire Extinguisher Round Up

49-50 Halon alternative firesystems

52-56 New evaluation methods forwater mist fire testing

58 Product Profile – PattersonPumps

61-62 Multiple choices for high pilestorage

64-66 Can you live with the resultsof your employee training?

68-69 What do the Beatles have todo with passive fireprotection?

70-71 Product Update

72 Advertisers Index

P. 1-34 16/10/06 12:31 pm Page 1


22

Enquiries: www.morley-ias.co.uk

It’s what’s in the box that counts

For more information contact:Morley-IAS Fire Systems,Charles Avenue, Burgess Hill, West Sussex RH15 9UF,United KingdomT: +44 (0)1444 235556 F: +44 (0)1444 254410E: [email protected] www.morley-ias.co.uk

Morley-IAS, leading innovators

in fire systems technology, will

be exhibiting at Fire Expo 2003.

Preparations are now under

way so be sure to make a point

of visiting us to see ‘what’s in

the box’.

Enquiries: www.noclimb.com

P. 1-34 16/10/06 12:31 pm Page 2

It is a useful exercise for profession-als within the fire alarm industry toconsider fire alarm systems from an

end user’s perspective. In general anend user is concerned with opening hisnew property or continuing his day-to-day business. He is aware that oftenthere is legislation requiring a fire alarmsystem to protect occupants and thatfailure to comply could result in theproperty closing while the problem isaddressed, but knowledge beyond thesebasic assumptions is often sadly lack-ing. This is currently an area of concernfor those involved in fire protection.Levels of awareness of the Fire Precau-tions Workplace Regulations are poor,with many building owners/occupiersunsure of their actual responsibilities interms of fire safety. The new Fire SafetyOrder, scheduled to be introduced in

Spring 2004, offers a real opportunityto address this issue to ensure that theend user’s knowledge of fire safety legis-lation and his responsibilities under firerisk assessment are greatly improved.

In the meantime, a consequence ofthis lack of understanding and the lowpriority often given to fire protectionmeans that many fire alarm systems aretherefore designed to provide the mini-mum protection sufficient to meet lifesafety legislation. To the customer thismakes the system an essential burdenrather than a useful facility. Every sub-sequent problem, be it a fault, an addi-tion or a false alarm is seen asincreasing that burden. The fire panelsits by the reception unloved andunwanted – a problem waiting to hap-pen which will then further drain thecustomer’s limited funds.

The problem with the customer is hedoes not usually understand the manyways in which fires can start, nor howrapidly they can develop. In fact manycustomers will have memories of howdifficult fires are to start when lightinga fire at home or while camping. Allcustomers will express their under-standing of how dangerous fires can bebut few deep down really understandwhy. Just how dangerous is not only anissue of life safety. The following factshelp to put into context the potentialfinancial consequences for a company:

● Fire is estimated to cost the UKeconomy some £7billion annually.

● An estimated 3 out of every 4 busi-nesses that experience a serious firego out of business either directly asa result of the fire or within 3 yearsof reopening.


3

ROB YATES, Product Marketing Manager (Fire) – Fire & SecurityProducts at Siemens Building Technologies Ltd, suggests that the fireprotection industry can learn much by taking on the end user’sperspective when considering fire alarm and detection equipment.

The Other End of the Telescope

The Other End of the Telescope

The more people are evacuated forspurious reasons, the less responsive theybecome, it is in everybody’s interest toreduce these incidences of false alarms

P. 1-34 16/10/06 12:32 pm Page 3

Where the property is new, an archi-tect or consultant often specifies thefire alarm system. The main or electricalsubcontractor will then choose the sys-tem installer. The end user very oftenhas no or at least limited involvementand, it therefore follows, very littleinterest. However it is the end user thatwill have to live with the system,experience every fault and false alarmand cover the ensuing costs.

Best practice therefore is to includethe end user in the design and decisionmaking process from the start. This is,though, usually impractical due to timeconstraints, other priorities and, ofcourse, lack of customer interest. Thisdoes not excuse the system designerfrom at least attempting to considerthe needs of his ultimate client; neitherdoes it excuse them from attempting toshow their client the benefits of a systemthat does a little more than the mini-mum required for legislative purposes.

DETECTIONOne problem that the end user isalways conscious of is false alarms. Heis capable of determining the rate,inconvenience and cost of false alarmscaused by his system far more readilythan the system’s relative sensitivity orusefulness. The system’s negativeaspects are therefore much more preva-lent in the customer’s mind than thepositive aspects.

In the early days of automatic detec-tion many problems were experienceddue to the products themselves. In

particular problems relating to electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), mechan-ical design and crude optics led to afalse alarm rate over and above thoseexperienced purely through deceptivephenomena. Refinements made overthe years have reduced false alarms sig-nificantly, a fact highlighted by theBFPSA (British Fire Protection SystemsAssociation) and CACFOA (Chief &Assistant Chief Fire OfficersAssociation) initiative onfalse alarms. In additionnew technologies, higherprocessing power andsophisticated algorithmsenable detection systemsto filter out some of theproblems created by decep-tive phenomena while atthe same time increasingsensitivity to a broaderrange of fire types.

Despite these advances,steam dust and aerosolscan still trigger a basicpoint type detector. Evenwithout these problems,burning toast, fuels, cook-ing by-products and othercauses of smoke remain.Too often this causes thesystem designer to reducethe level of protectionoffered by the system.Smoke detectors arereplaced by rate of riseheat detectors where pro-duction processes may

affect them, rate of rise detectors arethemselves often replaced by fixed tem-perature versions for similar reasons.Even worse, areas of detection can beremoved completely, if not at thedesign stage then later by maintenancepersonnel or end users as an ultimate“fix” to the inconvenience of falsealarms.

FALSE ALARM FILTERINGThe problem with any reduction indetection is that the system becomesincapable of detecting fires when it ismost needed or is at least considerablyslower. With a little more thought dur-ing the design/specification stage thisreduction in detection may be unnec-essary. The simple fact remains that theoverwhelming majority of false alarmsare created while the premises areoccupied while 67% of all fires occurafter 6.00 pm when the building isunoccupied.

During occupied periods people whoare very effective fire detectors can off-set a reduced level of detection. How-ever, when this reduction in detection iscontinued during unoccupied periodsthe performance of the system isseverely compromised.

False alarm filtering is a usefulmethod of maintaining sensitive detec-tion during unoccupied periods while


44

Fire is estimated to cost the UK economy some£7 billion per year

The ‘manned’ option on a ‘manned/unmanned’ system allows signals to the brigadeto be delayed

P. 1-34 16/10/06 12:32 pm Page 4

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P. 1-34 16/10/06 12:32 pm Page 5

reducing false alarms during trouble-some occupied periods. Basically thesystem works in two distinct modes:‘manned’ and ‘unmanned’.

In manned mode devices can be pro-grammed either not to activate thesounder or to activate the sounder butnot send an immediate signal to thefire brigade. Alternatively with modernanalogue addressable systems it may bepossible to reduce the sensitivity ofsome detectors by day and return tofull sensitivity at night. Manual callpoints can be treated quite differentlyand conventional panels such asSiemens FC500C are now available withthe facility to differentiate betweendetectors and call points on the samecircuit. The important thing is that thesystem is returned to full sensitivity atnight when the premises are unmanned.This should be done automatically.

COMMUNICATIONSOf course false alarm filtering as dis-cussed above assumes that the systemhas been connected in some way to thefire brigade. However many systemshave no such connection. This meansthat the return on the end user’sinvestment in a fire alarm system dur-ing unoccupied periods is nil. The posi-tive arguments for the fire alarmsystem are reduced further.

Communication via an ARC (AlarmReceiving Centre) brings further bene-fits. Faults are monitored and engineerscan be summoned automatically. Peri-ods of isolation can be monitored andrecorded, as can the user’s weekly tests.The weekly test by the user is probablythe most important aspect of the ser-vicing of a fire alarm. Huge confidence

can be gained in the system integrity ifthe weekly tests are done properly. Inaddition they are excellent at getting theend user to take some responsibility forthe system. Instilling in the end user thehabit of doing these tests can be anothermatter. However if these tests arerecorded by the ARC then not only canproof be provided that these tests wereundertaken but the ARC can remind endusers of any lapses in their routine.

ALARMSPeople involved in the fire industrytend to respond to alarms rather moreseriously than the wider public. When ahotel fire alarm system is activated at3am most people in the trade will duti-fully evacuate immediately. Those notfrom the industry will tend to see if thealarm is silenced in the early stagesbefore dressing and staggering into thecold night air. The more people areevacuated for spurious reasons the lessresponsive they become. It is thereforeeveryone’s responsibility in the trade totake the utmost care in providingalarms and detection systems that suitthe situation.

Let’s take the hotel example a littlefurther. At 3am in the morning whatare the likely causes of fires or falsealarms. Fires can start from electricalfaults, smokers, cooking, arson etc.

Occupants smoking in their rooms orthe bar are a common cause of falsealarms as are residents taking showersand activating the smoke detectorwithin their rooms. Note here that thesystem designer has to consider theconflicting needs of the smoker: that ishis tendency to cause false alarmsweighed against his high fire risk.

Too often system designers respondto this challenge by reducing the levelof detection. They may replace smokedetection with rate of rise heat detec-tors within the rooms. This form ofdetection is usually adequate to protectthe other occupants in the hotel. How-ever, they are not suitable for protectingthe occupant of the room where the fireoriginates as smoke may overcome himbefore the detector is activated.

Providing the hotel is well staffed,bedrooms have adequate fire separationand that all other considerationsrequired by risk analysis allow, then atwo-stage alarm system can provide a high level of detection with a lowlevel of false alarms and unnecessaryevacuations.

It is possible for instance that asmoke detector within a bedroom canactivate a sounder within that roomonly. At the same time staff can bealerted, but a full-scale evacuation ofoccupants delayed for a short periodwhile the cause is investigated. If cor-rective action is not forthcoming orother detectors or manual call pointsare triggered then a full evacuation iscommenced immediately. No such fil-tering need be instigated for detectorsprotecting kitchens, corridors, ceilingvoids etc, – these will be programmedto immediately generate a generalevacuation.

A great deal of time and energygoes into writing specifications formedium/large applications. Compara-tively, very little thought goes intospecifications for small/medium appli-cations yet most of the facilities men-tioned above are available in productsaimed at this market. Too oftensmaller systems have no connection tothe Fire Brigade, only operate on aone out all out evacuation and arenever tested by the user. The onlytime the user notices that they have afire alarm installed is when they areevacuated into the car park for nogood reason. With a little more atten-tion from specifiers and installers anend user can be left with a far morepositive view and a greater feeling ofinvolvement in their system.


66

The FC 500C alarm panel from Siemens FSP is able to differentiate between detectorsand call points on the same circuit

Rob YatesProduct Marketing Manager

Fire & Security Products

Siemens Building Technologies Ltd,Fire & Security Products Division

P. 1-34 16/10/06 12:32 pm Page 6

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It isn’t possible toattend an industrymeeting these

days touching onfire-resistant glazingwithout the topic ofCE Marking comingup, either on theagenda or in thecourse of discussion.It’s usually met bythe same responseeach time – suppressed groans, mostlybecause of the confusion and uncertaintysurrounding the somewhat technical CEmarking process against the realisationthat it isn’t that far away and thereforethat something will have to be done,probably quite soon. But, what? And,when? Both questions are not thatstraightforward to answer, as relevantproduct standards are variously some-where between availability and work stillin progress. The process of achieving theCE mark is also unclear in some respects,and probably won’t get any clearer untilpractical experience starts to build up.

What can cause some concern is theapparent low level of awareness in theindustry at large. It is becoming increas-ingly apparent, as we get closer to themarket – that is, the final assembly lead-ing to installation – that the awarenessof what is required on completion of thejob falls off quite markedly. It seems thatthe motivation to find out isn’t there,

and that CE Marking is not particularlyviewed as being relevant to day-to-daybusiness. In general, it’s an unwilling anduninterested audience out there. CEMarking doesn’t seem to be a burningissue in the fragmented and dispersedlocal levels of glazing and associatedtrades.

CE Marking is about the removal oftechnical barriers to trade across theEuropean Community and the freedom toplace products on the market. This isincreasingly becoming a paradox whenthe level of interest at the local marketlevel (where the products are finally andliterally placed) seems to be so apparentlylow. There is certainly a communicationchallenge here to industry, standards andregulatory authorities alike. There is alsoa crucial flaw in the scope of CE Marking,in that it specifically does not include theinstallation process and excludes con-struction elements assembled fromcomponents on site (in “the construction

works”). So, giventhat the glazingindustry worksacross many Euro-pean countries on asub-cont rac t ingbasis, with onecompany installingthe frame andanother comingalong later to sepa-rately install the


9

Is industry ready for CE Marking?

Mike Wood of Pilkington takes his regular personal view on the main issuesconcerning fire-resistant glazing in anticipation of the implementation of CEMarking. The implications for industry are deeper than just a product classi-fication report and a product certificate. The need to demonstrate fitness forpurpose and safety in case of fire, underlying principles of CE Marking, andthe CE Marking process itself, can be seen to be of fundamental importancein the development of best practice in fire-resistant glazing. There is also anissue raised by the exclusion of installation from CE Marking that needs tobe noted by industry, the market, and authorities alike.

Pilkington Pyrostop – Edinburgh, One Morrison Street

Is industry ready for CE Marking?

Pilkington Pyrostop – MidsummerBoulevard, Milton Keynes

P. 1-34 16/10/06 12:33 pm Page 9

glass, glazing seals and fixings then it’squite understandable that a proportion ofthe industry may well think that CEMarking really does not affect them. The

European authorities need to look at thispotentially fatal loophole, especially ifthey want the CE Marking process to beboth live and successful.

On the other hand, this omission raisesissues around independent third partycertification schemes to cover installation.The UK’s Passive Fire Protection Federa-tion will shortly be publishing a report onbest practice for passive fire protection,including a recommendation that all pas-sive fire protection measures should beinstalled by accredited third partyinstallers. The need for such schemes hasbeen recognised for some time in the UK.A model exists. The Glass and GlazingFederation has developed such aninstaller certification scheme for fire-resistant glazing, which has now beenrunning for some years. Subsequent

events may prove this scheme to beahead of its time. There will be anenhanced need for such installer schemes,I would suggest, especially in the wake ofthe introduction of a CE Marking systemthat specifically excludes installation. Formanufacturers and users alike, it makesno sense to compromise the product’s fit-ness for purpose through CE Marking if itis not to be installed correctly at the endof the supply chain. Installation of fire-resistant glass is a specialist job. It isn’tthe same as the glazing of standard win-dow glass or non-fire rated vision panelsand partitions. Fire-resistant glass is ahigh performance product that can beinstalled in a range of diverse framingarrangements. The range of such glazingsis wide, and there can be important dif-ferences between the different types,which can significantly affect perfor-mance. The glass and sealant combina-tion can also be important, especiallywith products such as special toughenedfire-resistant glass. It isn’t necessarilyacceptable to exchange one sealant foranother. The affect on fire resistance per-formance could be catastrophic. Theglazier therefore needs to know his glassand the glazing conditions under whichfire performance is achieved. Some fire-resistant glass products are more sensitiveto glazing conditions than others and willnot perform their fire resistant function ifglazed incorrectly.

The omission of installation from CEMarking raises another potential difficul-ty. Finished glazed assemblies delivered tosite carrying the CE Mark may be com-pared with exactly the same assemblyconstructed piece by piece on site, whichdoes not require a CE Mark certificationbecause such on-site assembled elementsfall outside the defined scope of the Con-struction Products Directive. This is aninconsistency, which is somewhat difficultto come to terms with. And in practice aconcern that can detract from the credi-bility of the CE Mark. Don’t forget thatfor industry the cost barrier of certifica-tion and demonstrating conformity to thenew European standards will be very highin terms of time, effort and testing. If theimposition isn’t the same for all, and thevalue of the investment in CE Marking isseen to be limited, then the motivationtowards making the system work may,not surprisingly, be reduced.

Underlying the CE Marking process is acentral safety issue: the ConstructionProducts Directive draws specific refer-ence to safety in case of fire; and theEuropean technical standards are writtenin terms of properties, tests, and perfor-mance parameters designed to demon-strate fitness for purpose for health andsafety. Although the original CPD objec-tive does not cite the development ofsafer buildings, this surely is a logical


1010

Pilkington Pyrostop – IMAX cinema

Enquiries: www.skum.com

P. 1-34 16/10/06 12:33 pm Page 10

interpretation of the end point of theprocess that has been set in train. Cer-tainly I think that this will be the waythat the specifier, client and user part ofthe wider market will most probably seeit. The needs to safeguard people andproperty against the affects of fire arewidely recognised. New EN test standardsand classifications will automaticallycome to be seen as the latest best prac-tice, and failure to measure up to themwill be seen as a negative against theproduct in question. Compliance with theHealth and Safety Directive means thatfire safety is a very important issue forowners of buildings. Fire-resistant glassstructures are now an important part ofmodern buildings to create bright andopen designs. It is therefore vitally impor-tant that fire-resistant glazed assembliesperform to the level of fire performancethat is required, with consistency and reli-ability. It isn’t advisable to play fast andloose with fire safety.

It is therefore even more important tounderstand and live by the Golden Ruleof fire-resistant glazing. This is that fire-resistant glass can only function as partof a reliable fire-resistant system – that isthe glass, the glazing seals, the beads,bead fixings, frame, framing junctions,frame fixings and installation. It is thesystem that has to function as an inte-grated whole. Changing one part of thesystem in isolation without reference tothe impact on the performance of thewhole system could be catastrophic interms of performance under real fire con-ditions. If we look at fire-resistant glass,there are important differences betweenthe different types, even though theymay have at face value the same genericperformance classification. The limits ofperformance, levels of reliability and con-

sistency may not necessarily be the same.What is achieved with one fire-resistantglass may not be achievable with anoth-er: tested approvals apply only to theparticular configuration as tested, theparticular glazing sizes, aspect ratios andframing details. How one type of fire-resistant glass reacts in a fire may well beentirely different from another. The tech-nical specifications and performancecapabilities can be significantly differentin important respects under certainconditions. The performance of a fire-resistant glass cannot be calculated.Against such a background, makingextrapolated assessments of performancebecomes more and more questionable asthe assessment moves further away froma base in tested data or commonlyaccepted rules.


11

Pilkington Pyrodur™ – The CornExchange, London

There is an important message to themembers of the fire-resistant glazingindustry. Suppliers and fabricators offire-resistant glazed screens are in dan-ger of being frozen out of the processwhile technical committees argue overthe close details on the way towardsEuropean harmonisation and CE Mark-ing. Yet the implications for thosecompanies in the industry could betremendously important. There will befundamental change in the way that themarket has to be approached. Is thewider fire-resistant glazing industry suffi-ciently tuned in to the change? I suspectnot. Should this be of concern to theindustry leaders, authorities and associa-tions who have to give a lead and repre-sent industry members? In my view, yes. Ithink it’s certainly time for the glazingindustry to take note of CE Marking.

Enquiries: [email protected]

Burning Questions,Brilliant Solutions

Pilkington Pyrostop™

Pilkington Pyrodur™

Buildings intended to handle crowds of people call for carefulplanning when it comes to fire protection. It often takes aninnovative approach to permit prompt detection of fire andsmoke, prevent fire from spreading and provide exitwaysthat are both accessible and safe.Over 20 years ago, we introduced high performance insula-tion and integrity fire-resistant glasses to achieve maximumlife safety and property protection, at the same time allowingbrilliant architectural solutions that feature spaciousness andtransparency. Ongoing enhancement of their fire protectionand optical properties are responsible for establishingPilkington Pyrostop™ and Pilkington Pyrodur™ as a perma-nent part of the contemporary architect’s repertoire. In closecollaboration with authorities and leading system supplierswe continue to work on it.

For further information please contact: Pilkington plc., Processing and MerchantingPrescot Road St. Helens, Merseyside WA10 3TT Phone: 01744-692000 Fax: 01744-613049Internet: www.pilkington.comPlease quote FD1CIR

P. 1-34 16/10/06 12:34 pm Page 11

Enquiries: www.pattersonpumps.com

P. 1-34 16/10/06 12:35 pm Page 12

● A fire pump that is designed tohandle the type of water supplyavailable

● A pump driver, either an electricmotor or a diesel engine

● A fire pump controller for automaticoperation of the pump driver

● A gear drive for transmitting powerfrom the pump driver to the pumpitself

● A water relief valve to relieve or limitexcess pressure in the event of dieseloverspeed

● A water supply, either from a naturalor man-made pond or from a watertank.

There are many different fire pumpcontroller rules and regulations through

out the world. The nearest thing wehave to a world standard is the NFPA20 (National Fire Protection Associationpamphlet 20). NFPA 20 originates fromthe USA.

All buildings, factories and industrialsites are insured, a large number ofwhich are under written by an Ameri-can based company called FM Global.FM is a major force in the world of firepump controllers since they approvethem for use within their insured build-ings. FM uses the NFPA20 specificationas their guidelines when approvingcontrollers.

Diesel Engine Driven Fire PumpsThe standard NFPA20 specifies in detailthe correct operation of the fire pumpsystem and in particular the controller

functions. On a diesel set, there are twoengine starter batteries fitted, either a12v or 24v. It is the controller’s respon-sibility to ensure that these batteriesare fully charged and ready to crankthe engine in an emergency. NFPA20specifies that the battery charger mustbe able to completely re-charge thesebatteries from a fully discharged statewithin 24 hours. The controller musthave facilities to manually crank theengine and to have an automatic startfunction via a crank timer. Thestandard defines the crank timer opera-tion as:

■ 15 seconds crank from battery A■ 15 seconds dwell■ 15 seconds crank from Battery B■ 15 seconds dwell

This sequence is repeated three timesafter which a failed to start condition isrealised. At all times, the battery volt-age is monitored. Should the voltagefall below 1⁄2 the normal float level,then that battery becomes locked outfrom further cranking.

Once the engine is running, it ismonitored for:

■ Low oil pressure■ High water temperature■ Engine Overspeed

Only the engine overspeed alarm isallowed to shut the engine down. Therules specify that low oil pressure andhigh water temperature must not shutthe engine down in a fire condition. The


13

Pic courtesy of Metron Eledyne

Fire PumpControllersFire PumpControllers

By David CarterGeneral Manager of

Metron Eledyne

A LARGE BUILDING or factory requires some kind of fire protec-tion. In most cases, the public water supply cannot provide enoughvolume and/or pressure so a fire pump installation is required. Atypical fire pump installation includes several components:

P. 1-34 16/10/06 12:35 pm Page 13

engine is required to run to destruction.The controller is usually monitored

by a remote station, achieved byremote contacts within the controller.Such signals that are monitoredinclude: engine running, engine failedto start and fault on engine or con-troller. There is also an audible alarmlocated on the controller that may besilenced in certain conditions.

NFPA 20 additionally specifies thatthe engine shall be started once a weekautomatically via a weekly start timerin a test mode.

Electric Motor Driven Fire PumpsThe main components in a NFPA20electric motor controller are:

Isolator switch Sized >115% FLC (Fullload current) of motor

Contactors Either Direct on Line orStar Delta (horse powerrated)

Circuit breaker sized to >115% FLC ofmotor.

Logic circuit with various monitoringchannels

Emergency start mechanism for startingwhen the control circuit has failed

The circuit breaker is defined in greatdetail within the standard NFPA20. Theprincipal points covered are:

■ Non-thermal over current sensing type■ Instantaneous trip facility, which must be

set <20 times FLC■ To have a tripping time between 8 and

12 seconds at 6 times FLC■ Be able to hold 300% FLC indefinitely.

The standard defined lamps arenamed ‘power available’ and ‘phasereversal’; however, controller manufac-turers offer other functions as options.Any alarm must not prevent the motorfrom starting.


1414


Metron Eledyne Introduces itsnew FM approved controller…Like Metron, its Denver based sistercompany, Metron Eledyne occupiesa modern engineering andmanufacturing facility from which itserves the worldwide market,covering commercial, residentialand industrial premises and alsospecialising in the Oil, Gas andPetrochemical field.TWP Corporation, the parentorganisation, has grown into amulti-million dollar internationalgroup of companies since itsinception in the late 1950s,offering a broad range of productsand services. Metron Eledyneroutinely pools technology andmanufacturing resources with otherTWP operations, including TecknitEMI Shielding Products and TecknitShielding Systems.The highly experienced engineeringteam at Metron Eledyne’s 20,000square foot facility in Grantham,England, are experts in powerengineering, controller design, andcustom package design as well asmicroprocessor and electricalcontrol-logic product development.The FD3e, the company’s latest unit,is specifically designed to meet thelatest standards for NFPA20 dieselengine fire pump controllersimplementing the latest componentsand logic technology.Inside the controller, mounted onthe cabinet, is a fully automatic 10Amp battery charger which ensuresthat the engine batteries are fullycharged within 24 hours. Alsolocated within the charger is abattery and battery charger-monitoring unit.The FD3e can be wall mounted orfixed to the engine skid using anti-vibration mounts. An optionalfreestanding plinth is alsoavailable. A pressure switch, drainvalve and pressure recorder,mounted on the outside of thecontroller, ensure electricalequipment is not exposed to water. The controller comes complete witha RS232 monitoring port enablingclients to monitor all functionsremotely on a PC via free softwarethat can be downloaded athttp://www.firepumpcontrols.co.uk

P. 1-34 16/10/06 12:36 pm Page 14

Other Fire Pump StandardsWhen FM is not the insurer, then the building can be pro-tected by a fire pump that is manufactured to local rules.Most countries throughout Europe have their own set ofstandards:

Local Rules Electric ControllersMost of the standards have common elements between themand there are also similarities to NFPA20. The biggest differ-ence is in the electric motor controllers and the protectivedevice. NFPA20 calls for a circuit breaker but all of the abovelocal rules specify a fused isolator. The fuse in this instance,generally speaking, must be able to carry the stalled motorcurrent for a period of not less than 75% of the time neededfor the motor windings to fail and thereafter be able to carrythe normal current plus 100% for a minimum of 5 hours.

Local Rules Diesel ControllersThere are many differences in the rules for diesel engine con-trollers. The main differences are surrounding the automaticcranking sequence. For example, with LPC and VAS, all auto-matic cranking is done from one set of batteries and aftereach automatic start a manual start is required from theother non- automatic battery. With NVBB and APSAD, thecrank sequence is more like the NFP20 specification. Most ofthe local rules for diesel controllers do not have any kind ofweekly automatic test start functions.

GenerallyTo complicate matters further, some people prefer to useNFPA 20 as the basis of the fire pump, but do not have itapproved by FM. In this mode, the set is referred to asUNLISTED and is a lower cost option to the FM approach.There is also a CEA specification available that is for thewhole of Europe, but each of the individual countries appears


15

COUNTRY STANDARD CONTROLLERAPPROVAL NEEDED

U.K LPC NoneHolland VAS NoneGermany VDS Yes, diesel and

electricFrance APSAD Diesel Engine

controller must beapproved. Noapproval needed forelectric controllers.

Italy UNI9490 None, justcompliance.

Belgium NVBB Diesel Enginecontroller must beapproved. Noapproval needed forelectric controllers.

Spain CEBREVEN NoneEurope CEA None

Enquiries: www.firepumpcontrols.co.uk

SPECIALISTS IN FIRE PUMP CONTROL SY

Eledyne

Metron Eledyne Division Tecknit Europe Ltd.Swingbridge Road, Grantham, Lincs NG31 7XT, England Tel: ++44 (0)1476 590600 Fax: ++44 (0)1476 591600E-mail:[email protected] Web: www.firepumpcontrols.co.uk

CONTROLPANELMANUFACTURERS

Diesel Engine ControllersIn a wide range of applicationsincluding Fire Pump, Industrial Pumpand Gen-set.

Electric Motor ControllersFor all applications using direct online, star delta, auto transformer andvariable frequency drive startingmethods. Up to 11kV.All produced to various worldwidestandards including LPC, UL and FM.

After Sales ServiceWe offer a complete after salesservice including:

CommissioningMaintenance ContractsOn-site RepairsSpare Parts


ALREADY

AVAILABLE

www.tornatech.comCanada tel.: 1 514 334 0523 6969 Transcanadienne #132

Montreal, Quebec, Canada H4T 1V8

FIRE PUMP CONTROLLERSand INDUSTRIAL PUMP CONTROLLERS

Serie FPx : Built to NFPA 20 - 1999, non listedSerie FSx : Built to NFPA 20 - 1999, UL Canada listedSerie EFx : Built to NFPA 20 - 1999, UL listed, FM approved

3 lines of products to satisfydifferent market needs

P. 1-34 16/10/06 12:36 pm Page 15

to be reluctant to take it up at thistime.

Future TrendsDue to diesel engine developments, and also as a result of rapid develop-ments in information technology, thewhole field of fire pump control is

likely to change dramatically over thenext few years. Already we are seeingthe change to electronically controlleddiesel engines for industrial applica-tions. This has come about due to thevarious World standards limiting emis-sions from diesel engines, but bringswith it benefits in terms of higher levels

of information from the engine sys-tems. This when integrated with theadvances in the controller systems willenable far more capability for remotemonitoring and management of thefire pump system. International Com-panies with operating bases spreadthroughout the world, will be able tomonitor both the operating characteris-tics and service requirements of theirfire protection equipment from any-where via the internet, and receive faultnotification by means of e-mail or textmessage to their service personnel.Engine and Controller manufacturerswill be able to undertake remote faultanalysis from their factories, and guide on site maintenance staff to acorrect repair solution, without theneed to send specialised service engi-neers jetting off to far flung corners ofthe world.


1616


Technically these advances arecurrently possible, but at this timefully electronic diesel engineshave not been accepted for FirePump operation.


P. 1-34 16/10/06 12:36 pm Page 16

Fire ProtectionFire ProtectionYour Single Source ForYour Single Source For

For More Information, Contact:For More Information, Contact:

Ansul IncorporatedOne Stanton StreetMarinette, WI U.S.A.54143-2542

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P. 1-34 16/10/06 12:36 pm Page 17

Fighting a fire on a ship introduceschallenges, which may differ fromthose encountered while fighting

structure fires onshore. This articledescribes some of these challenges whena ship is tied-up alongside a commercialmarine pier. This includes large cargo ves-sels and passenger vessels, which operateunder international law. This distinctionis made because small vessels engaged incoastal trade or on inland waters gener-ally follow a different set of regulations,which may vary widely, depending on theregulations enforced by the country orlocal jurisdiction having responsibility forthose protected waterways.

To understand the layout of a com-mercial ship, the machinery design, andthe firefighting capabilities of the crewand its equipment, an understanding ofthe applicable maritime regulations isneeded. Municipal Fire Departmentswhich are near port facilities shouldfamiliarize themselves with the Interna-tional Convention for the Safety of Lifeat Sea (SOLAS), which is written and

maintained by the International MaritimeOrganization (IMO), a specialized agencyof the United Nations. The SOLAS regula-tions outline the classification of ships,construction and machinery require-ments, the requirements for life savingequipment, communications equipment,and the fire safety systems and fire safety

design goals. A basic familiarization ofSOLAS, coupled with a walkthrough of acommercial ship, will add significantly toone’s understanding of marine practices,and what is to be expected whenresponding to emergencies onboard.

SITE ACCESS & PLANNINGIAccess to marine facilities is oftenrestricted for security reasons. Some facil-ities have very tight security, often with asecondary security perimeter, which sepa-rates the actual pier side area from theremaining portion of the facility. Thelocal fire chief should have a pre-incidentplan established with each facility opera-tor in the department’s area of responsi-bility. This should include discussionsregarding entry points, pier access, pierload capacity, pier firefighting equipment,water supply, pier electrical distributionsystem, and the facility command struc-ture. Many larger facilities, especiallymarine oil terminals, will have their ownfire brigade, the capabilities of whichshould be well understood by the localfire department.

The fire department should be familiarwith the type of vessels normally dockedat facilities in their area. Cruise ships areslightly more capable of handling theirown fire emergencies because they have a


1818

Pic courtesy of RJA Group, Inc.


Special considerations fattending pierside shipbBy Anthony M. DiSanto, P.E.

& Andrew T. Grenier, P.E.Rolf Jensen & Associates, Inc.

P. 1-34 16/10/06 12:36 pm Page 18

significant number of crew onboard at alltimes. This crew is often marginally expe-rienced but extremely helpful for thoseshore side firefighters attending an emer-gency. Cruise ship operators understandthe magnitude of their life safety respon-sibilities and are typically very receptiveto outside assistance, either in port or atsea.

The case may be different on largecargo vessels at a city pier or a smallmarine facility. The crew is very small, theship is relatively large, and there is usuallyno coordinated assistance. Complicatingthe situation is the potential languagebarrier. The captain of the vessel and thesenior watch officers often speak Englishas a second language. The IMO requiresthat the crew have a “common language”to facilitate internal communications andthe crew will always be able to communi-cate with the local ship’s agent.

FIRE CONTROL PLAN & COMMUNICATIONSIImmediately upon arriving to the vessel,the responding fire fighters should obtainthe vessel’s “fire control plan”, andestablish an on-site command station.Establishing on-site command and com-munications is typically not a problem fora cruise ship because there is always asenior crewmember at the access point tothe vessel. For cargo vessels, this may varywith the ship and the person on duty,although they should typically bestationed near the access to the vessel.All ship’s crews rely almost exclusively onhandheld radio communications, usuallymarine handheld VHF radios. The seniorperson is usually a deck watch officerwith decision-making capability, but witha heavy reliance on the engineering crewto handle ship systems and fight fires.

The fire control plan is required bySOLAS to be located near the accesspoint to the vessel. It is usually mountedon the exterior of the ship superstructurein a weatherproof container, and must bemarked. The fire control plans providedetails on the ship layout and criticalshipboard systems. Arriving fire depart-ment personnel should review these firecontrol plans immediately upon arrival tothe scene. IMO guidelines stipulate whatinformation should be on these plans,where they should be located, and theformat of the symbols used. The plan is

intended to be user friendly and in a for-mat intended for use by responding shoreside firefighters.

ELECTRICAL & FIRE MAIN SYSTEMSIElectricity and fire main water pressureare two systems of immediate concern tothe arriving firefighters. Often, marinefacilities request that the arriving fire-fighters provide water pressure to the shipfire main system, and nothing more. Thisarrangement simplifies the separation ofduties but will only work for those vesselswith well-trained crews, and for smallemergencies. The local firefighters shouldplan on a more elaborate response. Localfire departments near marine facilities

should have on hand their own “interna-tional shore connection” and appropriatefittings. All commercial vessels, whichcomply with the international regulations,will have this type of fitting specificallyfor this purpose. The international shoreconnection is intended solely for the pur-pose of allowing the local fire depart-ment to connect to the vessel’s main firesystem. SOLAS contains the standarddimensions of this flanged connection.

Marine facilities usually have standardservices piped along the pier for connec-tion to the ship if so desired. This mayinclude fire main water, potable water,electricity, and sewage disposal. Commer-cial vessels, which seldom stay pierside


19

s for municipal firefighterspboard emergencies

The international shore connectionis intended solely for the purposeof allowing the local firedepartment to connect to thevessel’s main fire system


P. 1-34 16/10/06 12:37 pm Page 19

for more than a day or two, usually makeno connections except to fill fresh watertanks.

Attending firefighters should beextremely careful when relying on theship’s fire main system and fire hoses.System pressure cannot be guaranteed byquickly opening a hydrant. These systemsoften have residual pressure and a sub-stantial static head pressure from thecomplicated piping which leads up to thehighest level of the ship. The result is that

a hose line may discharge at whatappears to be system pressure for almosta minute or two and then suddenly startto fall off. This is obviously a bad situa-tion for the firefighter who is about toprogress toward the fire with a hose lineon a lower level of the ship. The fire mainsystem on a ship his heavily segregatedand the valves are seldom supervised.Although there are standards for firehoses, the quality and maintenance ofsuch hoses may vary greatly from what

the fire department is used to. The sys-tem on a cruise ship is generally morereliable than on a cargo ship. In all cases,the more the fire department can provideit’s own water and equipment, the lesssurprises there may be.

Electricity is perhaps one of the leastreliable systems onboard a ship. Commer-cial ships usually do not take electricityfrom the pier and will generate their own.This requires leaving their emergencygenerators in the appropriate standby

mode as a back up while the ship’s maingenerators remain in operation. The elec-trical distribution system is normally con-trolled from one of the machinery spaceswhere the main switchboards are located.In the past, shutting off electrical powerwas often considered necessary for thesafety of the firefighters; however, histor-ical information shows little support forthis concern. If at all possible, keepingthe lights on and power available to theelectric fire pumps can be extremely help-ful. With the exception of an atrium on acruise ship, there are typically no win-dows, which will provide adequate lightwithout the normal ship’s electrical light-ing. The emergency generator is normallylocated near the stern or on one of thehighest levels in the deckhouse. Transferof power should be automatic.

BASIC SHIP CONSTRUCTIONIAll ships are divided vertically by “decks”.Below the “main deck” all ships are sub-divided by watertight bulkheads. The sys-tem of doors through these bulkheadscan be quite formidable and dangerousto traverse with equipment. SOLAS stipu-lates the requirements for these doors.Many of them are horizontally sliding,constructed of heavy steel and operatedby hydraulics. This leads to a problemwhen laying hose lines. Ideally, the pri-mary and secondary hoses used by thefirefighters should come from the samesubdivided zone or compartment of theship to reduce the complications of cross-ing such openings with hose lines. How-ever, this is usually impractical becausethe movement of smoke and hot gasesusually requires firefighters to advancelines from a relatively remote location.Fighting a fire below the main deck isanalogous to fighting a fire in a buildingbelow grade. It can be a potentially dan-gerous task based on the enclosure of thestructure. The location of the main deckand the implementation of watertight


2020

If at all possible, keeping the lightson and power available to theelectric fire pumps can beextremely helpful

Special considerations formunicipal firefightersattending piersideshipboard emergencies

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P. 1-34 16/10/06 12:37 pm Page 20

doors below this level should be clearlyidentified on the fire control plans, whichshould be reviewed on arrival as discussedabove.

Above the main deck, subdivision isless structured. Cruise ships use “mainvertical zones” to completely divide theship into lengthwise segments. Thesezones also subdivide all ship emergencysystems and are designed to provide themaximum level of inherent fire separa-tion, similar to a firewall between build-ing occupancies. Cargo vessels generallyprovide subdivision between the cargoareas, the machinery spaces, and theaccommodation spaces. The doors abovethe main deck are usually fire doors andare sometimes fitted with “hose ports”where required by SOLAS (in cruise ships).Hose ports assist in laying fire hose acrossthese boundaries while trying to maintainintegrity of the fire boundary.

SPECIALIZED TACTICSIFire ground tactics used for a typicalstructure on shore may be catastrophic ifused on a vessel. For example, the “sur-round and drown” tactic of directing asmuch water as possible onto a largebuilding fire will be ineffective in a shipfire, and may lead to more problems suchas flooding and loss of vessel stability.The most practical method of firefightingon a vessel involves isolating the fire tothe compartment of origin, cutting offventilation, cutting off fuel sources (suchas fuel oil piping and/or electrical power),and cooling the compartment bound-aries. It is imperative to understand thespecial hazards that may exist on ships,and the systems installed to handle them.

Most ships have a few hazardous loca-tions near the bow and the stern, whichhold flammable liquids, paints, solvents,or oils. These spaces are usually protectedby installed suppression systems such ashalon, CO2, water sprinklers, or watermist systems. The suppression systems are

activated manually. Although the activa-tion of the systems is generally reliable,problems in sealing off the ventilationopenings can lead to ineffective suppres-sion and manual firefighting efforts areoften required. In either case, because thestructure is steel, fire boundaries shouldbe established on all sides and above thespace and cooling the boundaries isimportant to reducing the spread of fire.

On any ship, cooling of the boundariesof the fire compartment is one of the pri-mary objectives of fighting a fire. Theproblem is in identifying the fire com-partment. Without windows or openings,which show the extension of flames, itcan be nearly impossible to determinewhich compartment is burning. This iscompounded by the fact that many shipsare not outfitted with fire detection that


21


Enquiries: www.halotron-inc.com

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• U.S. FAAApproved for AirportFire Fighting (Cert Alert 95-03).

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• Complete Line of High Performance UL Listed A, B, C ratedportables from four U.S. Manufacturers.

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P. 1-34 16/10/06 12:37 pm Page 21

would indicate which compartment is onfire. As the heavily compartmented struc-ture fills with smoke and trapped heat,investigation and suppression becomesextremely difficult. This is where use ofthe main subdivision scheme becomesvery useful and this is why it is so impor-tant for the firefighters to review the firecontrol plans prior to organizing anapproach to dealing with the emergency.

Cruise ships, which rely on the inherentsafety of structural fire protection, use asignificant amount of thermal insulation ofthe steel boundaries. This insulation oftenprovides one hour of protection, similar tothe building code procedure of ratingbuilding structural elements. Without theinsulation, fire can pass from one compart-ment to another through a solid steel platesubdivision, via conduction heat transfer,as if the boundary were not present.

All ships have a main machinery space,which is divided from the rest of the shipby one hour rated fire divisions. Fighting afire in this space is extremely difficult anddangerous. Machinery spaces are basicallyarranged the same with similar machinerysystems on all ships, so firefighting pro-cedures in this space can be standardized.The local fire authority should becomefamiliar with the systems and hazards inmachinery spaces.

Machinery spaces have at least oneform of installed fire suppression system,typically a gaseous system such as CO2.These systems are always activated manu-ally and firefighters entering a machineryspace during or after a fire should neverdo so without a breathing apparatus,because the discharge of such a systemwould be lethal to those persons in thespace. If a firefighter becomes disorientedin a large machinery space, emergencyexiting is best accomplished by goingthrough the control room. A second,more general option is to move towardsone of the upper levels. Lower level exitsare usually fitted with heavy, complicated

watertight doors, which may be difficultto operate in an emergency. In addition,doors at lower levels often lead into shafttunnels or adjoining fuel oil pump rooms,which are not safe alternatives for anunfamiliar occupant.

Ships with diesel/electric or steam tur-bine propulsion systems usually have twomachinery spaces while diesel and gasturbine propulsion plants have a singlelarge main machinery space. Fuel oil,lubricating oil, and electrical fires are themost common hazard for these spacesand the amount of toxic smoke and heatis extremely dangerous. Oil fires becomevery intense almost immediately. How-ever, with appropriate actions, they canbe extinguished almost as quickly. In thiscase, reflash protection is essential andre-entry by firefighters is very dangerousuntil the space has cooled. This is espe-cially essential in the event that CO2 wasused. The vessel’s chief engineer would bethe most knowledgeable person regardingthe use of the CO2 system, either in themachinery space or cargo spaces.

With so much subdivision, the ventila-tion of compartments relies almost com-pletely on mechanical systems. This hasthe potential complication of spreadingsmoke quickly and confusing the fire-fighting effort. On the other hand, theventilation system can be used to greatadvantage in starving the fire of oxygenand reducing it to a smoldering condi-tion. Traditionally, this has resulted in a

rather stubborn fire scenario. The fire,starved of oxygen, will smolder inside thecomplicated network of compartments,and the firefighters will have a difficulttime finding it and accessing it. Ship fireshave been known to burn for days thisway and the result is a high demand onfirefighters’ time and equipmentresources. Under these conditions, a goodsupply of breathing apparatus and addi-tional bottles cannot be understated.

Although fighting fires on ships willpresent unique challenges to municipalfire departments, the most practicalmethod of preparing for shipboard emer-gencies is familiarization. Most of thechallenges can be foreseen since shipdesign, layout, and system operation aregenerally similar amongst vessel types.Commercial vessels, particularly cruiseships, which are at their “homeport”, willusually offer vessel familiarization andtraining to the local fire department. Thistraining, along with regular ship visits andpre-incident planning, will greatly improvethe response and effectiveness of the fire-fighting effort, and will reduce the pos-sibility of a firefighter being injured whenresponding to shipboard emergencies.


2222

Anthony DiSanto, P.E., and AndrewGrenier, P.E., are both with RolfJensen & Associates, Inc., a globalconsulting firm specializing in fireprotection engineering. Both Mr.DiSanto and Mr. Grenier have a mar-itime background in the U.S. CoastGuard, including sea service, marineinspections duty, and maritime firesafety policy development as mem-bers of U.S. delegations to the IMO.Both are graduates of Worcester Poly-technic Institute’s graduate program inFire Protection engineering. To learnmore about RJA, visit their website atwww.rjagroup.com

Cruise ships, which rely on theinherent safety of structural fireprotection, use a significantamount of thermal insulation ofthe steel boundaries


Special considerations formunicipal firefightersattending piersideshipboard emergencies

P. 1-34 16/10/06 12:37 pm Page 22

Enquiries: www.chemetron.com

P. 1-34 16/10/06 12:38 pm Page 23

Enquiries: www.hi-fog.com

P. 1-34 16/10/06 12:38 pm Page 24

All tunnels can become a fire related problem sometime in their long lives – a relatively straightforward

assumption? Asks David Lane. Given thetrack record for firstly road tunnels – inJanuary 2000, AIT/FIA (the Europeanmotoring organisation) commissionedDeutsche Montan Technologie GmbH(DMT) to perform a second tunnel testsurvey. A total of 25 tunnels were exam-ined in eight European countries. Thereport stated in amelioration that com-pared to open roads and motorways, therisk of accidents in road tunnels is minor.Statistics showed that fewer accidentshappen in tunnels than on open roads.This is primarily due to the minimumeffect of weather conditions, to speedlimits, steady lighting conditions, as wellas the low number ofjunctions/links in tunnels. How-ever, even small accidents are dif-ficult to manage in tunnels,particularly for rescue personnel(ambulance personnel, firebrigade, police etc.) by havingvery restricted access. Accidentsresulting in fire can lead to a dis-aster – as events in Montblanc,Leinbach and Tauern Tunnelsdemonstrated.

Next, railway tunnels, afterthese devastating fires, safetystandards in Swiss tunnels (bothroad and rail) were the subject ofa detailed study conducted onbehalf of the Department of theEnvironment, Transport, Energyand Communications (UVEK). In1999 the Federal Transport Office(BAV) launched a further studyrelated to safety in rail tunnels.

Their analysis of rail tunnels showed:

● 16% of the 689 tunnels reviewed wererated as having safety problems – astaggering 110 tunnels

● In 26 tunnels, most of them over 3000metres long, the BAV also consideredadditional measures to be warrantedwith regards to facilities for rescue.These included:

a. footpaths and handrailsb. lighting (emergency)c. ventilationd. marked escape routes.

The past few years have seen anappalling succession of major fires intunnels with casualties, some being:

1995 Baku Subway 289 dead1996 EuroTunnel 0 dead1999 Mont Blanc 39 dead1999 Tauern 12 dead2000 Kaprun 155 dead

THE PROBLEM?In fire conditions the firefighter/engi-neer/safety manager knows that the rateof heat release, the smoke and gas con-centrations and rapid fire propagationcreates an environment dangerous tohuman life. Carbon monoxide and “haz-mat” generation in fire effluent canrapidly reach dangerous levels. Tunnelsare designed in so many shapes, curvesand elevations between portals. Many

parameters impinge and weatherconditions; traffic density andtraffic speed are important fac-tors in a fire’s cycle. We are allaware of the risks connected tothe transportation of dangerousmaterials like flammable liquidsand chemicals, and it is commonknowledge that flammablegasses and vapours can formexplosive mixtures when mixedwith air. However, it is less widelyrecognized that every day mate-rials such as flour, coffee, sugar,cacao and milk powder couldform dust clouds, which areliable to explode with seriousconsequences. It is also impor-tant to consider HGVs transport-ing materials like wood pallets;wood chips and different plasticproducts, which are not in them-selves considered dangerous, but


25

Inside Kaprun tunnel post the fire,showing the extent of damage causedby a fully developed fire.

Pic courtesy of ASTV video

Tunnel Questions?

By David Lane. MIFireE

A Fogtec high pressure water fogging gun in action on atest fire. Pic courtesy of Fogtec Gmbh

What’s the Problem with Tunnels?

Tunnel Questions?

P. 1-34 16/10/06 12:38 pm Page 25

will in a fire situation, represent a consid-erable additional fire load. Commonlytransported by road or rail vehicles. TheGerman BIA report “Brenn und Explosions-grossen von Stauben” showed that a dustexplosion can occur if a cloud of com-bustible dust is ignited by heat application,flame or spark – small amounts of energybeing sufficient to start an explosion, typi-cally > 10mJ. Also the pressure wave aris-ing from an initial explosion can raise amuch larger dust cloud, which can thenfuel a catastrophic secondary explosion.

Tunnel fires can generate massiveamounts of destructive power, conditionsare ideal for smoke spread, rapid increasesin radiated heat, and – the much-feared“flashover”, this explosive spread of fire,consuming all human life in its path –easy to conjecture, those fleeing andthose entering to assist along only bi-longitudinal pathways.

Do we now agree that “inhabited”tunnels, instead of say unstaffed cable ormachinery tunnels, particularly thoseused for transportation and especiallyroad transport tunnels are considered avery high fire risk, often with serious con-sequences? What do we do about them?

OUR RESPONSES?If it’s an existing installation usually thefirst task is to assess and reduce risk,using ‘Fire Risk Assessment’ (FRA) tech-niques. Mainland Europe provides a gooddefinition, if we’re hung up at this stageon the hook of finances – as most pro-jects are, as to what are tolerable andintolerable risks. These are to be found inthe ALARP Region, where risks “As LowAs Rationally Possible” (ALARP) becomeacceptable to society. Figure 1 demon-strates. The FRA should identify and care-fully examine the dangerous situations/procedures/substances etc. present in thetunnel(s) complex; the activities involvingthose processes and how they might faildangerously so as to give rise to fire,explosion and similar events with thepotential to harm. Its purpose is toenable tunnel operators to decide whatthey need to do to eliminate or reduce toas far as is reasonably practicable thesafety risks from these dangers. In addi-tion to enhancing ‘Life Safety’ the FRAand a ‘Societal Risk Assessment’ can have“added value” benefits – minimizing dam-age, protecting property and processes,safeguarding the market share, and, one

we can all identify with, protecting theenvironment. Not least “justifying” to oneand all the all too important expenditure.

For the new build we can carry out a‘Qualitative Design Review’ (QDR) for theproposed tunnel (or those to be altered).During the QDR the scope and objectivesof the fire safety design are defined,functional performance criteria estab-lished and potential design solutions pro-posed – usually an acceptable ‘fireengineered solution’ can be formulated.Using IT we can subsume ‘Fire Modelling’and ‘Fire Development and Zone Model’techniques to inform judgements. We canalso for new and existing tunnels look at‘Human Behaviour within Fire Safety Sys-tems’ to bolster fire planning and pro-cedures. The purpose of the QDR being toestablish the fire safety issues for the‘workplace’ – the tunnel in this case underUK law – the Fire Precautions (Workplace)Regulations 1997 (as amended), and totake account of the appropriate areaswithin the following main criteria:

1. perform a characterization study of thepremises, environment and occupants

2. establish the fire safety objectives3. establish an evacuation strategy4. identify acceptance criteria5. identify fire hazards and possible

consequences6. specify fire scenarios for risk analysis7. prepare a fire safety manual for use on

occupationthen to output these results as a proactiveset of sequences to “control” the risks.

FIRE SIZE?If you are responsible for designing a roador rail tunnel to minimise risk from fire,what features should you include? Whatobjectives should be set? A full response tothese issues should consider many ques-tions unrelated to fire, but we are onlyconsidering fire here. An elementary issue isthe size of fire from which protection is tobe provided – the ‘fire design size’. Thereare several approaches to this question, but

let us consider only one possibility. Namelyto design for the largest fire that may rea-sonably be foreseen. This hypothesis pre-vents you “knowingly” designing a tunnelthat could become a death trap even whenall systems function as well as possible in aforeseeable event. This is a powerful argu-ment and it requires little trumpeting eventhough there is some difficulty in deter-mining suitable limits to “foreseeable”. Inpractice, it appears commonly interpretedas implying a fire power in the region of30 MW-100 MW.

STEPS TO BE TAKEN?The provision of effective measuresagainst the outbreak of fire is a tremen-dous challenge. It requires imaginationand great expense. The ‘Steps to betaken’, in the parlance of risk assessment,to perhaps include fire suppression sys-tems at the key risk areas or throughout,a fibre optic cable heat detector basedcomputerised fire warning system or atthe least an effective fire warning system,visual monitoring security systems, emer-gency and primary lighting, signs – emer-gency, instructional and directional, leakyfeeder radio communications, personneltrains or vehicles for emergency logisticssupport and onsite incident commandroom(s), powerful ventilation system(s) tocontrol heat/smoke release rates or allowescape, multiple escape route(s) enablingrapid egress or access for first responders.Detailed plans for rapid-response actionsby staff will need to be developed andregularly tested and updated. This impliesa major commitment of resources andcertainly justified in some cases.

FIREFIGHTING MATTERS?Water, for now, remains the best fire-extin-guishing agent. The challenge is extinguish-ing fires with extremely small amounts ofwater to enhance efficiency in all directions.Water has such a unique ability to absorbheat – 2,253 Mjoul/sec at 100°C. By creat-ing small water droplets the cooling surfacearea is larger, more water is in contact withthe heat, less water is needed and the fire isextinguished and inerted much faster.Investigations from fires in the above listand others indicate that lessons are to belearnt about fire fighting techniques andequipment, ventilation system controls forfire fighting, good robust communicationsrequirements especially between Regionalor National fire brigades, robust water sup-plies for firefighting, extensive preplanningbeing vital particularly to ensure sufficientpersonnel and equipment are provided forthe fire attack when its needed.

Ever more innovative and technologicalappliances appear in the armoury for fireattack utilising small water droplets tech-nology. The Turbo-extinguisher hasdemonstrated its effectiveness and practi-cal capabilities in many operations of fire-fighting and controlling clouds of harmfulgases. It is an example of a development


2626

Pic courtesy of Securiton AG

Pic courtesy of Securiton AG

P. 1-34 16/10/06 12:38 pm Page 26

from “a theoretical application – to apractical purpose” and can play a part.There are high velocity water ImpulseGuns and cannon which can be mountedonboard fire trucks (and helicopters) andas fixed or semi fixed fire-extinguishinginstallations. There are portable and fixedfire suppression very high-pressure fogguns for firefighters. Together with fixedinstallation Firefighting Fogging Systems.Both cannon and guns are capable ofbeing used in combination with any waterbased foam and bio additives to enhanceproperties where appropriate, making themaximum use of precious water supplies.

LIFE AND LIFETIME FIRE SAFETY?Life for us is precious and we should useall our human endeavour, patience,attention to detail and environments, andskills shaped on the anvils of bitter expe-riences at tunnel fires to prevent loss. Wehave foreseen it now, the unthinkablehappens, so we can stop it – this uncon-scionable roll of tragedies.

Proper measures must be taken, tunnelsmust be constructed to ensure accessibil-ity for the rescue squads and fire fightershaving safe escape routes. The enthusias-tic and skilled designers and engineerswho develop these systems do not andcannot retain control or involvement overthe time-scale of perhaps 100 years ormore. They must do their utmost toensure that the systems they are installingwill last. Victims of fire from bad designand constructions cannot be accepted.Systems should ensure a fire would haveminimal impact and be attacked at incip-ient stage, and allow evacuation thatoffers safe exits from danger. Thereforefire suppression systems should beinstalled that “guarantee” to increase andsustain – the ‘tenability time limit’ – theperiod for escape. Firefighting matters!

Research and testing underpins thetremendous effectiveness of fixed instal-lation very high-pressure water foggingsystems, this “cutting edge technology”,that has rapid cooling and fire suppres-sion effects, immediately reducing fireand smoke so people escaping and emer-gency staff responding alike can breathsafely. Then one can only conclude thatall tunnels should be so provided withthese systems?

LONGEVITY?However impressive, sophisticated ortechnological the fire safety systemsappear at the onset of a tunnel project.Can these same systems continue to workand be available at any time in the life-time of the tunnel? These systems, andthe management tasks that supportthem, must be viewed from this perspec-tive if tunnels are to remain safe for ournations, employees, first responders,transportation of goods, the travellingpublic and the staff who tend them.That’s the problem question for Tunnels.

REFERENCES1. AIT/FIA (the European motoring organisa-

tion). Concept 2000 – Tunnel Test byDeutsche Montan Technologie GmbH(DMT). January 2000.

2. Alan Vardy. Tunnel Fires, Tunnel Safety andHuman Fallibility. FEJ. July 2001.

3. F. Steur Sr. Fire Protection in Road Tunnels.IFEX Gmbh 2000.

4. R. Haselhorst. BASF Gmbh. Turbo-E-xtinguishers a first report on experiencegained. FEJ. March 2000.

5. JFL Lowndes. Lifetime Fire Safety in Tun-nels. FEJ. May 2000.

6. Eurotunnel. Summary of the Eurotunnelenquiry into the fire on 18th November1996. Eurotunnel 1997.

7. Department of the Environment, Transport,Energy and Communications (UVEK). Swisstunnels – study of road and rail safety fromfires. Federal Transport Office (BAV). 1999.

8. BIA. “Brenn und Explosionsgrossen vonStauben” report. BIA. 1999.

9. Fogtec Gmbh. Fogtec Fire Protection.Fogtec Gmbh. 2003.


27

Figure 1. ALARPdiagram –showing theALARP region,the economicallyviable zone thatfalls between –Negligible Riskand IntolerableRisk. Pic courtesy of Prof. HermannKnoflacher, Vienna

David Lane, Fire and Marine SafetyConsultant and Film Producer,formerly a UK Senior Fire Officer isa Partner at Lane, Jefferies &Associates, a small specialist fireand marine safety consultancy,highly experienced, working withinEurope and abroad in all firerelated matters including trainingresource provision.Tel/Fax no: UK +44 (0) 1562884585 Email: [email protected]

Enquiries: www.securiton.ch

P. 1-34 16/10/06 12:38 pm Page 27

IFP is the world’s only dedicated international magazine that covers the wholePassive and Active Fire Protection Industry. It is entirely authored by the world’sleading fire protection/prevention professionals. It’s their vast knowledge andexpertise that ensures every issue is packed full with in-depth technical features,as well as the most recent developments in testing, codes and standards.

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MDM Publishing Ltd, 18a St James Street, South Petherton, Somerset TA13 5BW UKTel: +44 (0) 1460 249 199 Fax: +44 (0) 1460 249 292 E-mail: [email protected]

P. 1-34 16/10/06 12:39 pm Page 28

Open the UL Fire ResistanceDirectory and you will find atleast sixty firestop manufac-

turers and over 3000 individual testeddesigns for various building service ele-ments passing through fire-resistiverated barriers including floor/ceilingsand wall assemblies. Add to that, vari-ous trades and specialty installers allclaiming to be firestop experts. With allof these choices, how do you identifywhich is the best product for a particu-lar application and who is the bestchoice to apply it? The purpose of thisarticle is to provide guidance and direc-tion on through-penetration firestopproducts, systems, and contractor selec-tion that provides the best value forcommercial buildings.

Say the word firestop and most of usthink of red caulk being shot into all of

the openings. In reality, there is a greatdeal more to firestopping than justshooting red caulk into a hole.Firestopping is a system rather thanjust a product. A firestop system con-sists of the barrier (the fire-rated wallor floor) being penetrated, the pene-trating item (piping, cables, conduits,etc.), and the firestopping products anddesign used to seal the opening. Thismeans that you are already makingchoices that affect your firestoppingsolution as you choose the wall or floorconstruction or decide how and whereto route essential building services. Alittle time spent in advance choosingthe right systems will not only makethe initial installation easier and morecost effective, but may also continuesaving the owner time and money overthe life of the facility.

It’s All About ValueBuilding owners want their money’sworth. General contractors or construc-tion managers who understandfirestopping and address their client’sspecific needs provide added value. Thisgives them a competitive advantageover their competitors. Firestopping canbe specific to the construction type orintended use of the facility. Data richenvironments have their specific needs.


29

Getting TheBest Value For YourFirestop Dollar

Pic courtesy of Specified Technologies, Inc.


By Raymond J. Brunoof Specified Technologies, Inc.

With many different firestop products and UL systems on the markethow does a general contractor, construction manager, or buildingowner know they’re getting code compliance at a fair price?


P. 1-34 16/10/06 12:39 pm Page 29

Healthcare facilities have their ownrequirements. Firestop manufacturersarmed with a complete system base willusually have the appropriate individualsystems for the application. Those whodo not have as complete a base willrely on systems designed for multipleapplications. While this may sound fine,the problem with this approach is thatsuch a system may be appropriate forone application but be completeoverkill for another. Project firestoppingcost suffers. Ensuring the appropriatesystems are installed not only assurescode compliance, but also eliminatescost overruns and costly job delays. Italso affects fire barrier maintenancemoving forward. Some general contrac-tors and construction managers evenrecord the firestop systems and loca-tions during construction so the build-ing owner or manager can more easilyidentify and maintain these fire barriersafter the building is turned over.

To Caulk or Not to Caulk…The red caulk unquestionably has itsplace. For permanent installations (onesthat will not require subsequentchanges) a permanent firestop productsuch as a caulk or sealant is often theright choice. Depending on the applica-tion, either an intumescent (expanding)or endothermic (heat absorbing) prod-uct is required. For large diameter

plastic pipes an intumescentdevice known, as a firestopcollar is required.

Data or telephone inten-sive facilities have their ownunique criteria. In many ofthese facilities, the additionor removal of cables can be aregular occurrence. Choosingthe wrong product in thisenvironment can be aquandary that can causeheadaches, down time, aswell as additional recurringcosts. The often-specifiedcomposite sheet type prod-ucts are essentially a steeland intumescent sandwich.These products require fieldfabrication and are typicallylabor intensive to install.Composite sheet type prod-ucts are an effective firestop for appli-cations that will not be altered,however they are often installed with-out knowledge of, or considerationgiven to future re-entrance.

A Quick Re-EntryThere are products and systems avail-able that maintain the life safety of thestructure, while facilitating quick, easyalteration of the cabling system. Welike to refer to them as re-enterablesand recommend products that areready to install out of the box withoutthe need for cutting or alteration ofany kind. Additionally, we prefer prod-ucts that do not require tools or fas-teners. Firestop putty and pillows fitthat bill. Firestop putties represent aclass of 100% solids, non-hardeningproducts. They do not shrink nor dothey harden like most caulks andsealants. Putty excels in applicationsrequiring subsequent changes afterinstallation. Most firestop putties areintumescent products meaning theywill expand with heat or flames to help

seal off combustible cabling jackets toprevent the spread of fire through firebarriers. Firestop pillows are ready toinstall out of the box and require nocutting, fastening or compression tools.Firestop pillows have all but obsoletedthe older style firestop bags and foamblocks, which are far less resilient andrequire tools to install. Pillows typicallyconsist of a fibrous core materialencapsulated in an intumescent coat-ing protected by a poly bag. Thefibrous core material is resilient. It willrebound after being compressed totightly fill and seal all void areas. Thepoly bag is slip-finished to allowing foreasy cable retrofit by simply removingand re-inserting a single pillow at thecable interface. In the event of a fire,the product expands to form a hard-packed monolithic char that impedesthe passage of fire, smoke and com-bustion byproducts. Many early ULsystems utilizing pillows required thatthey be secured into the opening usinga wire mesh. This requirement has been removed from many systems but may still be a wise choice in situa-tions where the firestop is located in an exposed area subject to potentialtampering.

The Mechanical AdvantageA new generation of mechanicaldevices best described as fire rated


3030


Ensuring the appropriate systemsare installed not only assures code compliance, but alsoeliminates cost overruns andcostly job delays



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31


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bst Multi Cable TransitModular Systemhighest fire rates according to international standards!resistant against shock, pressure and water!

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Enquiries: www.bst.co.at Enquiries: www.metraflex.com

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Building’s seismicexpansion jointBuilding’s seismicexpansion joint

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protects fire sprinkler systemsthat cross seismic joints

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cable pathways has evolved. Requiringno field firestopping, these new devicesconsist of galvanized steel casings linedwith intumescent liners that functionas an internal fire sealing system. Thedevices are square in shape, allowingthem to be ganged together to increasecable-loading capacity within a givenarea. The devices allow 0 to 100 per-cent visual cable loading meaning thedevice is firestopped when it is firstinstalled with no cables and sealedthroughout the remainder of the build-ing’s lifespan. A 3 by 3 in. device hasmore cable fill capacity than a 4 in.conduit sleeve firestopped with caulk orputty. The square shape also allows forthe cables to be installed more uni-formly, leading to less unsealed inter-stitial space which equals a tighter sealagainst fire, smoke and other combus-tion byproducts.

Who Is Going To Do This Work?Currently, firestopping is performed byall trades that compromise rated con-struction. Plumbers, insulators, electri-cians, etc. either perform firestoppingor sub-contract it. If they are welltrained and proficient there will beminimal problems. Many are not. Insome areas there is a trend towardsspecialty firestop contractors. These

dedicated contractors provide firestop-ping for the entire project. Many havetaken and passed the recently devel-oped Factory Mutual proficiency test.Since they are soley focused onfirestopping, they are often more sys-tem and code savvy and can provide aone stop competitive answer to projectfirestop needs. It also simplifies andreduces the cost of managing thefirestopping portion of the project.Another advantage is unlike other con-tractors; specialty firestop contractorsremain on the job until completion andcan tie up any loose ends that coulddelay a building’s completion.

Knowledge Is PowerThere is an old saying… Knowledge ispower! This certainly applies tofirestopping. You should not be totallyreliant on others when it comes to theinformation that you will use to makecritical firestopping decisions regardingyour projects. To ensure that your com-pany receives high quality, code com-pliant work, you must know how to askfor it and how to recognize when youhave received it. Many general contrac-tors as well as construction manage-ment firms have created a firestoppingchampion on their staff. This individualserves as the go-to-guy for firestop-related issues on the jobsite. This is agreat idea. While you can’t reasonablyexpect this person to know all 3,000 ofthose UL systems, he or she can betrained to know where to go to get theright answers when they are needed.

Comprehensive firestop training isavailable for virtually all aspects of thisprocess. The FCIA (Firestop Contractorsand Installers Association) providestraining and certification methodologyfor installers. Courses are also availablethat provide AIA accreditation. Keep inmind that no one is better versed whenit comes to firestopping then the leading

manufacturers who have invested soheavily in the testing required for a fulland complete, UL tested and Classifiedsystem base. They can be an invaluablesource for training, technical assistance,and on-line information.

What’s The Answer?Early in my career I had a boss whowas always saying things like “plan thework and work the plan”, or failing toplan is like planning to fail”. This is truefor design-build. With the number ofpenetrations, systems and potentialinstallers on a project it certainlyapplies to firestopping. Manage thefirestop bid package. Evaluate thebuilding type and intended use andstandardize UL systems for the project.Standardizing puts you in control,reduces project costs and simplifies bidcomparisons.

The hardest part of getting the bestvalue for your firestop dollar is deter-mining what you need and who shoulddo it. Like most other things doing thehard work up front will make the restof the project a whole lot easier.


3232

Raymond J. Bruno is Vice Presidentof Marketing for Specified Tech-nologies, Inc.

Specified Technologies is a leadingmanufacturer of firestop productswith over 600 UL listed systems.Headquartered in Somerville NewJersey the company has marketedtheir products nationally for over 10years. Additional information canbe found at www.stifirestop.com orby contacting the authors directly at800-992-1180.


You should not be totally relianton others when it comes to theinformation that you will use tomake critical firestopping decisionsregarding your projects



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OVERVIEW

CONTRARY TO SOME THINKING,voice alarms have been in use for a longtime and can be recognised as such inthe 1939-45 war. Used to give alarmand direction in military establishments,as well as used for scrambling aircraft,also on fighting ships, submarines,tanks, the ‘Tannoy’ loudspeaker grillebecame a household name.

After that war it was appreciatedthat there was still a requirement forthis application of loudspeakers andamplifiers, the resulting developmentfor use in industry was rapid. Thisincluded not only warning systems forfire with selective zoned announce-ments, but also included chemical haz-ards and then bomb warnings. At thesame time the majority of the newpassenger liners were equipped with

systems that combined the entertain-ment functions with the emergencybroadcast facilities. The key word withall these applications is ‘Communica-tions’. This is where the sounder is nolonger effective and speech is essentialto achieve a quick response and actionin the best direction.

STANDARDSA number of standards exist, whichhave a direct bearing on VA systems. Inmany cases the specification for a pro-ject will demand compliance to most ofthem, whether they are relevant to thatproject or not. This is either due tolaziness or ignorance on behalf of thespecification author.

In the 1960s there were few standardswith any relevance to public addresswhen used as part of the fire alarm (VA).Then in 1988 the new version of BS

5839 appeared, recognising at long lastthat things could be done to advantageusing loudspeakers and amplifiers. Fromthen on the fight has been intense, withtoday’s results being recognition of theimportance of good communication inan emergency situation. In the mean-time, in 1990, the London District Sur-veyors Association (LDSA), in conjunctionwith the London Fire and Civil DefenceAuthority, produced a ‘Guide No 3Phased Evacuation from Office Build-ings’. This required the use of publicaddress and formed the basis of some ofthe text in the standards to follow.

With the publication of BS 7443:1991, a very poorly written document,only leading to confusion, BFPSA puttogether a team to write a ‘Code ofPractice for the design, installation andservicing of voice alarm systems associ-ated with fire detection systems’. Thiswas launched by BFPSA September1994 and was adopted by BSI as thedraft document for BS 5839: Part 8.


35

Amplifier assembly providing a total power of 1.3 kW, manufactured by BaldwinBoxall Communications Ltd.

Voice AlarmDennis Terrett F Inst SCE, anindependentconsultant joinedthe public addressindustry during1951. From then he has beeninvolved with thedevelopment ofvoice alarm, beingin the workinggroups for writingvarious Standards,including the BFPSACOP for voice alarmand BS 5839: Part8: 1998. Theintention of thisarticle is to coverthe mainconsiderations of atotal system fromthe interests of theuser, installer,supplier,manufacturer andspecifier.

Voice AlarmP. 35-72 16/10/06 12:52 pm Page 35

The following list is of the most common standardsrelating to VA at this time:

BS 5839: Fire detection and alarm systems forbuildings.

BS 5839: Part 1: 2002 Code of practice for system design,installation, commissioning and mainte-nance. This supersedes BS 5839: Part 1:1988, which was withdrawn 1st Janu-ary 2003.

BS 5839: Part 8: 1998 Code of practice for the design, installa-tion and servicing of voice alarm systems.Of all the standards this should beregarded as the most important for gen-eral use and should provide the meansto conclude differences between stan-dards, in favour of this one.

BS EN 54-2: 1998 Fire detection and fire alarm systems. Part2. Control and indicating equipment.

BS EN 54-4: 1998 Fire detection and fire alarm systems.Part 4. Power supply equipment.There are other Parts in preparation; itis therefore recommended that readersfamiliarise themselves with the latestpublished Parts.

BS 6259: 1997 Code of practice for the design, plan-ning, installation, testing and mainte-nance of sound systems.

BS 7594: 1993 Code of practice for audio-frequencyinduction-loop systems (AFILS).

BS 7807: 1995 Code of practice for design, installationand servicing of integrated systemsincorporating fire detection and alarmsystems and/or other security systemsfor buildings other than dwellings.

BS 7827: 1996 Code of practice for designing, specify-ing maintaining and operating emer-gency sound systems at sports venues.This standard is often accompanied byBS 5839; the main difference is themeans by which the sports venues arerequired not to have the ability to simul-taneously evacuate all areas, by oneswitch.

BS 8300 : 2001 Design of buildings and their approachesto meet the needs of disabled people.


3636

DSP Router By Application Solutions Ltd., providing automaticsignal routing and fault warning, as well indication, withprecise details given on an alpha numerical LCD.

Enquiries: Tel: +44(0) 1420 520520

P. 35-72 16/10/06 12:52 pm Page 36

Code of practice. Section 9.3 refers toPA systems, including the testing bytrials and the use of induction loops.

BS EN 50014: 1998 Electrical apparatus for potentiallyexplosive atmospheres.

IEC/BS EN 60268 Sound system equipment.There are a number of parts, which arerelevant to the equipment designer, interms of the individual performance ofcomponent parts of systems as well asthe total systems. The Standard is notspecifically for VA, but PA also.

IEC/BS EN 60268-16 The objective rating of speech intelligi-bility by speech transmission index.

IEC/BS EN 60849: 1998 Sound systems for emergency purposes.This replaces IEC 849 and BS 7443.

IEC 61508: 2002 Functional safety of electrical/electronic/programmable electronic safety-relatedsystems.

Accreditation to BS EN ISO 9000 (9001 Model for QualityAssurance in Design Development, Production, Installationand Servicing) is considered by most as important and withinthis structure is the section for software, namely:BS EN ISO 9000-3: 1997, Part 3. Guidelines for the applica-tion of ISO 9001: 1994 to the development, supply,installation and maintenance of computer software.

This includes the design control, including the design prin-cipals, together with the method of testing of software andmaintenance, which should be taken seriously. In life safetysystems this is most relevant and should an incident result inan enquiry, there could be serious consequences for the per-son responsible, if it is found that this has been ignored. Thisis reinforced by BS EN 61508: 2002.

LDSA Fire safety guideNo 3 & update notesPhased evacuation from office buildings.This advocates the use of public address systems to evacuateoffice buildings of six or more floors in the London region.

There are other standards, which could be included; how-ever, they are common to fire detection and sounder alarms,or have little, if any relevance to the majority of projects.They are found in the numerous lists included in the variousStandards documentation and a scan of them is alwaysworthwhile to avoid overlooking something, which could berelevant in a particular case. It is important to be aware of


37


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new and revised or replaced standards.Compliance with H&S, as well as EMCmust apply. In this article ‘Offshore’applications have been omitted asbeing a special case.

Compliance with the standards is amatter of agreement with all the inter-ested parties. Where it is necessary todeviate, or to not comply, then thisshould always be documented. If thereis an incident resulting in the loss oflife, as a result of a VA system problemor failure, a court of enquiry would not be sympathetic to a negligentdesign or installationand one which didnot meet theappropriate stan-dards as expect-ed. The thoughtof what answersto questions relat-ing to complianceyou would give to thecoroner, is a relevant one.

AUDIBILITY AND INTELLIGIBILITYWhilst audibility has been recognised asa necessary requirement for hearingalarms in an emergency condition andgiven as a minimum of 65 dBA, with5 dBA above the background (ambient)noise level, there is a further factor invoice alarm systems; can you under-stand what the message is saying? Thisis where it is essential to be able tomeasure the level of intelligibility andspecify the requirement.

There are a number of methods ofmeasurements in use, some requiringlisteners to write their perceived resultsfrom a carefully made broadcast, withothers using electronic sound genera-tors and analysers. Although the resultsare comparable there is in some casesrisk of misinterpretation. In more recenttimes a hand held meter has beenintroduced and not only is the resultproduced in a shorter time (15 sec-onds.), but it seems to have advantageswith regard to accuracy.

Most specifications call for an intelli-gibility level of 0.5 STI and in manycases that is not possible due to theacoustic environment. At the time oftender this should be made clear andagreed as to what can be produced. Themain problems relate to backgroundnoise levels and reverberation. BS 5839:Part 8 recommends that the broadcastmessage is at least 10 dBA above thebackground noise level, to provide asatisfactory level of intelligibility. Thisshould include smoke extract fans etc.

AMPLIFIERSThere are centralised amplifier systemsas well as distributed amplifier systemsfor large sites and in some cases largebuildings. The principles are the samewith the addition of a communicationloop for the latter. This should complywith the Standards in all respects, sadlyin the past that has not always beenthe case. Partial failure of the loopshould not prevent full operation andfull failure only affect the amplifiersbetween the breaks, during which timethe affected amplifiers should operatefrom local control.

FIRE PANEL INTERFACEThe interface between the fire paneland the VA should be monitored by thefire panel, which should regard the VAas a sounder circuit. On initiation ofthe alarm the VA should latch until aseparate command is given. This is toensure that the alarm continues even ifthe link is destroyed in a fire.

FAULT MONITORINGWhilst there should be very comprehen-sive automatic fault monitoring it isonly necessary to inform the fire panelthat there is a fault, there being muchmore information on the VA equipment.

Included in this fault monitoring arethe loudspeaker circuits. A number ofmethods are used and some are muchbetter than others. High frequenciesthat are not audible tend to be affectedby the cable reactance and if used tomeasure the impedance are likely togive false information. Low frequencyuse can sometimes be heard due to theharmonic content. The most reliablemethod is to use DC resistance measure-ments, with end of line resistors. This is

not affected by the cable typesand continues duringbroadcasts.

In some systemsthe control androuting unit, whicha u t o m a t i c a l l ydirects the appro-

priate pre-recordedmessage and signals

to the correct loud-speaker zones, also

contains the fault monitor-ing control. The information can bevery precise, with specific details, cus-tomised to the building, enablingspeedy action to rectify any fault.

LOUDSPEAKERSLoudspeakers should be constructed tomeet BS 5839: Part 8. This is to ensurethat even if the loudspeaker is in thefire, others connected to the same cir-cuit in other areas will continue tobroadcast. The main consideration isthe type of terminals and the internalwiring, to prevent a short when sub-jected to 800°C, this includes mechani-cal protection. Caution is requiredwhen choosing loudspeakers for VA, arethey compliant and will their perfor-mance give the required intelligibility?They may look good but perform badly.

USER RESPONSIBILITIESFinally, it is the user that has responsi-bility for checking that the system isfunctioning. This includes daily, weeklyand quarterly attention, not forgettingthe training of personnel in the correctuse of the system. This is detailed in BS5839: Part 8.

GENERALThis has been a brief insight into VAand it is hoped that an appreciation ofthe need to attend to the finer points,as well as to comply with the Standardsis necessary. It is not wise to cut cor-ners with life safety systems and thechances are that it will be found out,sooner or later.


3838

Examples of VA loudspeakersmanufactured by Audio Design Servicesltd. Common types shown here arehorn, ceiling with a fire dome and bi-directional wall mounting.

P. 35-72 16/10/06 12:53 pm Page 38

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P. 35-72 16/10/06 12:53 pm Page 39

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P. 35-72 16/10/06 12:53 pm Page 40

Over the past fifteen to twentyyears, changes in the cookingindustry have resulted in several

significant fire protection changes as aresult of some increased hazards. Thesehazards have been created through theuse of higher efficiency cooking appli-ances and the increased use ofvegetable cooking oils.

In order for the cooking industry tomeet the demand for faster food prepa-ration, insulated high efficiency appli-ances were introduced. The oldercooking appliances were either notinsulated or minimally insulated. Thenewer high efficiency cooking appli-ances now minimize heat loss and use up to 25% less energy than oldercooking appliances.

The introduction of vegetable cook-ing oils by the cooking industry hasreduced health concerns associated withthe use of animal fat based cooking oils.The new vegetable cooking oils have alower percentage of fatty acids, whereasthe animal fat based cooking oils have ahigh percentage of saturated fats.

These changes in the cooking indus-try have resulted in a re-evaluation bythe fire protection industry to addresschanges in the special hazards that havebeen created. Resulting changes havetaken place in both automatic fire sup-pression systems and manual fire extin-guishers used in commercial cookingenvironments.

The new high efficiency cookingappliances heat cooking oil fasterbecause of the improvements made tothe heat exchanger. Cooking oils retainheat and cool more slowly because ofimproved insulation. In a deep fat fryer,for example, cooking oils and greasesare typically heated to a temperature of

300° to 375°F in order to cook the foodproperly. However, these temperaturesmay be exceeded for various reasons inthe cooking appliances. The temperatureof the cooking oil may reach the auto-ignition temperature if this problem isnot addressed.

The auto-ignition temperature ofmost animal fat based cooking oilsranges between 550° and 600°F. Theauto-ignition temperature of most veg-etable cooking oils is 685°F or higher.The higher auto-ignition temperature ofthe vegetable cooking oils results in afire that is more intense and hotter than

that of a fire involving animal fat basedcooking oils.

The slow cooling of the cooking oilsdue to the insulation poses an increasedrisk of reflash after the fire protectionsystem is discharged. Tests have shownthat aging of the cooking oils results in lower auto-ignition temperatures.However, the temperature required forthe cooking oil to reflash also decreasesas the cooking oils age. Therefore, the more the oil is reused, the lower the auto-ignition temperature and thegreater the risk of a fire.

A typical fire in a cooking appliance,


41

FFIIRREE EEXXTTIINNGGUUIISSHHEERRRROOUUNNDD UUPP

Pic courtesy of Thomas Glover Ltd.

KitchenFireProtection

By Ajay Gulati, Rolf Jensen & Associates, Inc.

P. 35-72 16/10/06 12:54 pm Page 41

such as a deep fat fryer, often resultsfrom heating the cooking oil to itsauto-ignition temperature. The fire con-tinues until the temperature of thecooking oil is lowered below its auto-ignition temperature or the cooking oilhas completely burned.

Most jurisdictions have adopted NFPA96, NFPA 17A, and NFPA 17 throughtheir building, mechanical and fire pre-vention codes to address problems suchas fires involving restaurant cookingappliances. NFPA 96, Standard for Ven-tilation Control and Fire Protection of Commercial Cooking Operations,requires commercial cooking appliancesto be protected by a primary and a sec-ondary means of fire protection. Theprimary means of protection is usuallyby an automatic fire extinguishing sys-tem, and the secondary means is byportable fire extinguishers. The auto-matic fire extinguishing system mustnow comply with the UL 300 Test Stan-dard, Fire Testing of Fire ExtinguishingSystems for Protection of RestaurantCooking Areas.

The first edition of the UL 300 TestStandard, which went into effect in1994, used animal fat based cooking oilfires, in deep fat fryers, for the testingof the automatic fire extinguishing sys-tems. A second edition of the UL 300Test Standard was published in March1996 to address the use of vegetablecooking oils and the risk of re-iginitionof the cooking oils in high efficiencydeep fat fryers. The changes to the sec-ond edition of the UL 300 Test Standardare as follows:

1. The minimum auto-ignition temper-ature for the cooking oils wasincreased from 650°F to 685°F tomore closely resemble actual fieldconditions.

2. The one-minute pre-burn after auto-ignition was also changed to a two-minute pre-burn for the cooking oilsin the deep fat fryer.

3. After the two-minute pre-burn peri-od, the fire’s heating source is turnedoff, and the automatic fire extin-guishing system is discharged.

4. The time permitted for the re-ignition of the cooking oil once thefire was extinguished was increasedfrom five minutes to 20 minutes oruntil the temperature of the cookingoil decreases 60°F below its observedauto-ignition temperature, whicheveris longer.

In addition to the fire extinguishingtest, splash tests are conducted toensure that the operation of the extin-guishing system will not splash burningcooking oils out of the fryer vat. Suchsplashing could result in spreading thefire and injuring an operator who is try-ing to manually extinguish the fire. Thetest protocol for the hood and duct pro-tection was not otherwise changed.

All new restaurant automatic fireextinguishing systems manufacturedafter March 1996 must comply with thesecond edition of the UL 300 Test Stan-dard or ULC 1254, Pre-Engineered DryChemical Extinguishing System Units, inorder to receive a UL listing.

The two common automatic fireextinguishing systems protecting thecooking appliances are the pre-engineered wet chemical extinguishingsystems and the pre-engineered drychemical extinguishing systems. UL1254 is used to determine if the pre-engineered dry chemical systems com-plied with UL test standards. Thepre-engineered dry chemical extinguish-ing system units covered by the UL1254 Test Standard are intended to pro-vide protection for industrial totalflooding protection systems, Class Blocal application protection systems,restaurant cooking area protection sys-tems, automobile service station fuelingarea protection system, open-face paintspray booth protection systems, vehiclepaint spray booth, and off the roadvehicle protection systems. The UL 1254Test Standard, Section 30, RestaurantCooking Area Protection System, statesthat a dry chemical type extinguishingsystem unit intended for the protectionof restaurant cooking areas shall complywith the UL 300 Test Standard. Thesepre-engineered automatic dry chemicalextinguishing systems were once listedby the UL 300 Test Standard for use inprotecting cooking areas before changeswere made to the Test Standard inMarch 1996.

The chemical agents used in the


4242

The primary means of protection isusually by an automatic fireextinguishing system, and thesecondary means is by portable fireextinguishers

P. 35-72 16/10/06 12:54 pm Page 42

Enquiries: www.kxfire.com

P. 35-72 16/10/06 12:54 pm Page 43

pre-engineered automatic dry chemicalextinguishing system consist of sodiumbicarbonate and potassium bicarbonate.Sodium bicarbonate and potassiumbicarbonate react with common cooking

oils to form a soapy foam (saponifica-tion) created by the hydrolysis of fatscontained in the cooking oils. The soapyfoam floats on the cooking oil surfaceto create a blanketing action which pre-vents oxygen from reaching the fire andeventually results in extinguishing thefire. The dry chemical agents do nothave significant cooling capabilitiessince water is not present in the drychemical agents. The heat loss throughthe deep fat fryers is the mechanism forcooling the cooking oils below its auto-ignition temperature.

Wet chemical agents consist of potas-sium carbonate or potassium acetateand water. The water content is approx-imately 40 to 60 percent by weight andmay vary by manufacturer. The pre-engineered wet chemical extinguishingsystem also creates a soapy foam(saponification), which prevents oxygenfrom reaching the fire and eventually

results in extinguishing the fire. Thewater content of the agent aids in cool-ing and reducing the temperature of thehot cooking oils below their auto-ignition temperature.

The key difference between a drychemical agent and the wet chemicalagent is the method of cooling thecooking oil below its auto-ignition tem-perature. The dry chemical agents relyon the heat loss through the deep fatfryers whereas the wet chemical agentsrely on the water contained in the mix-ture to remove heat from the oil andthus lower the cooking oil temperaturebelow its auto-ignition point. The highefficient deep fat fryers retain heatbecause of the insulation.

Additionally, the higher temperaturesassociated with vegetable cooking oilscontributes to the faster breakdown ofthe soapy foam layer created by the dry chemical agents. Therefore, the


4444

The key difference between a drychemical agent and the wetchemical agent is the method ofcooling the cooking oil below itsauto-ignition temperature

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P. 35-72 16/10/06 12:54 pm Page 44

extinguishing capabilities of the drychemical agents is reduced, and theprobability of re-ignition is increased,whereas the wet chemical agents main-tain the soapy foam blanket and allowcooling of the vegetable cooking oils toprevent reflash.

UL will no longer “list” a systemwhen the appropriate service parts oragent for recharging are not availableand cannot be maintained in accor-dance with the manufacturer’s manualand NFPA Standards for the pre-engineered extinguishing system unit.Dry chemical extinguishing systems areno longer UL listed for use on cookingappliances because the manufacturershave either discontinued the system orthe system does not meet the secondedition of UL 300 Test Standard. How-ever, dry chemical extinguishing systemsare permitted to be used to protecthood and plenums above the cookingappliances since the second edition ofthe UL 300 Test Standard was notrevised for the hood and plenumprotection.

Portable fire extinguishers are intend-ed to be used as a secondary means ofprotection for restaurant cooking appli-ances. NFPA 10, Section 2-3.2, Excep-tion, states that extinguishers installedspecifically for these hazards prior toJune 30, 1998 may remain. Prior to

June 1998, 40B:C bicarbonate-baseddry chemical extinguishers were requiredto be installed and are still permitted bythe Exception.

Similar to the dry chemicalautomatic fire extinguishingsystems, the dry chemicalfire extinguisher willextinguish a fireinvolving vegetablecooking oils. How-ever, the dry chem-ical will notprevent re-flash ofthe vegetable cook-ing oils because ofits inability to pro-vide sufficient cool-ing of the cookingoils. As indicated inNFPA 10, testing hasshown that wet chemicalextinguishers have several times thecooking fire extinguishing capability ofa minimum Class 40-B rated sodiumbicarbonate or potassium bicarbonateextinguisher. This has led to the devel-opment of Class K portable fire extin-guishers using wet chemical agents. The1998 edition of NFPA 10 includes a newfire Class K, which is defined as “Firesthat involve cooking appliances withflammable cooking oils and fats (veg-etable or animal.)”

The Class K fire extinguisher is a wetchemical fire extinguisher which func-tions similarly to the wet chemical auto-matic fire extinguishing system. The wetchemical agents in the Class K rated fire extinguisher create a foam blanketwhen reacting with the burning cookingoil. The foam blanket also aids incooling the cooking oil below its auto-ignition temperature, thus preventingre-flash.


45

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P. 35-72 16/10/06 12:55 pm Page 45

Although NFPA 10 requires Class Krated fire extinguishers to protect cook-ing appliances, ABC multi-purpose drychemical fire extinguishers are permittedin the cooking areas. The ABC multi-purpose dry chemical agent consists ofmonoammonium phosphate. The chem-ical agent, monoammonium phosphate,is effective on fires in ordinary com-bustibles (Class A), flammable liquids(Class B) (except heated grease) and inlive electrical equipment (Class C). NFPA10 indicates that the agent itself haslittle cooling effect and, because of itssurface coating characteristic, it cannotpenetrate below the burning surface.For this reason, extinguishment of deepseated fires may not be accomplishedunless the agent is discharged below thesurface or the material is broken apartand spread out. Therefore, ABC multi-purpose dry chemical fire extinguishersare not recommended for use on firesinvolving heated grease.

Monoammonium phosphate providedin ABC multi-purpose dry chemical fireextinguishers is acidic in nature. The wetchemical agents consisting of potassiumcarbonate and potassium acetate usedin pre-engineered wet chemical auto-matic fire extinguishing systems arealkaline base. The material safety datasheet for potassium carbonate and

potassium acetate indicates thatthe chemicals are incompatible withacids and any materials reactivewith water. Testing by UL of Canadahas shown that the monoammo-nium phosphate will break downthe soapy foam blanket created bythe wet chemical agents. Thisbreakdown of the foam blanketmay eventually result in a reflash.

A paper presented during the1978 NFPA fall meeting concludedthat only sodium bicarbonate,potassium bicarbonate and potas-sium carbonate agents should berecommended for deep fat fryerprotection. Monoammonium phos-phate, potassium chloride andpotassium sulfate based agentsshould not be allowed in the vicinityof the deep fat fryer.

The automatic fire extinguishingsystem is designed to discharge onlyone time. The use of an ABC multi-purpose dry chemical agent on afire involving vegetable cooking oilsin deep fat fryers will not prevent

re-ignition of the vegetable cooking oils.The possibility of reflash will hinder thefire extinguishing capabilities of the wetchemical agents should an occupant usean ABC multi-purpose fire extinguisherprior to the discharge of a wet chemicalautomatic fire extinguishing system.

There are two methods whereby a drychemical agent can be discharged froma fire extinguisher shell, depending onthe basic design of the fire extinguisher.Those include stored pressure or car-tridge operated. The stored pressuretype ABC multi-purpose dry chemicalfire extinguisher is pressurized to 50 to200 psi. Regardless of the type of fireextinguisher, stored pressure or cartridgeoperated, if the extinguisher is aimed atclose range to a fire involving cookingoils, it may cause splashing. The splash-ing of the cooking oil may spread thefire beyond the hazardous areas protect-ed by the automatic fire extinguishingsystems.

The automatic fire extinguishing sys-tems are tested in accordance with themanufacturer’s manual and NFPA Stan-dards. Any alterations to the specificguidelines provided in the manufactur-ers installation manual will affect theextinguishing capabilities of the system.Therefore, it is very important that theproper extinguisher be used as a

secondary means for the protection ofcooking appliances.

The use of appropriate fire extin-guishers will require training of theoccupants by the distributors of the fireextinguishers. Occupants should also betrained to manually activate the auto-matic extinguishing systems as a firstline of defense prior to the use of anyfire extinguishers.

REFERENCES

AISG, Fire Protection Report, Kitchen FireProtection and UL 300, No. 64.10,April 1999, 5 pp.

The Ansul Company, Marinette, Wisconsin,The Continuing Art of Fire Extinguish-ment, an Aid to SCORE, 1973, 13 pp.

Fire Equipment Manufacturers’ Associa-tion, Inc. UL 300 (11-94) RestaurantFire Protection Changes, (questions andanswers), 7 pp.

Fire Equipment Manufacturers’ Associa-tion, Inc. Statement on Class KExtinguishers, July, 1999, 1 p.

Fryburg, George, Review of LiteraturePertinent to Fire-Extinguishing Agentsand to Basic Mechanisms Involved inTheir Action, National Advisory Com-mittee for Aeronautics, Technical Note2102, May 1950

Gill, Susan, and Metes, W. S., Underwrit-ers Laboratories Inc. Report on theNovember 1, 1988 Meeting of Under-writers Laboratories Inc. IndustryAdvisory Conference for ExtinguishingSystems, Appendix C, 15 pp.

National Fire Protection Association,NFPA 10, Standard for Portable FireExtinguishers, 2002 Edition, 58 pp.

National Fire Protection Association,NFPA 96, Standard for VentilationControl and Fire Protection ofCommercial Cooking Operations, 2001Edition, 35 pp.

Stauffer, E. E., The Testing of Class BAgents on Deep Fat Fryer Fires, NFPAFall Meeting, 1978, 14 pp.

Underwriters Laboratories Inc., UL Stan-dard for Safety for Fire Testing of FireExtinguishing Systems for Protection ofRestaurant Cooking Areas, UL 300, Sec-ond Edition, March 29, 1996, 21 pp.

Underwriters Laboratories Inc., UL Stan-dard for Safety for Pre-Engineered DryChemical Extinguishing System Units,US 1254, Second Edition, June 28,1996, 58 pp.

Underwriters Laboratories Inc., Subject300, Meeting of Industry AdvisoryConference (IAC) for ExtinguishingSystems, June 30, 1995, 31 pp.


4646

It is very important that the properextinguisher be used as asecondary means for theprotection of cooking appliances

Mr. Ajay Gulati is a consultingengineer with Rolf Jensen & Associ-ates, Inc. (RJA). Located in the USA,Mr. Gulati works in the Chicago, ILoffice and is a graduate of theUniversity of Maryland with adegree in Fire Protection.

P. 35-72 16/10/06 12:55 pm Page 46

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Halon 1301s major drawback is thatit depletes atmospheric ozone. TheMontreal Protocol, introduced in

1987, spelled the demise of Halon 1301and today the use of this agent is primar-ily limited to the aviation sector, somemilitary applications and a small numberof applications categorized as “essentialuse”. The installation of new Halon sys-tems is now rare and in almost all casesuses reclaimed and recycled Halon 1301agent. This is due to an almost worldwideban on the production of new Halon1301.

A number of countries around theworld have also taken steps to mandatethe removal of installed Halon systems.Most notably these include Germany andAustralia, the first two countries in theworld to require this action. In both ofthese countries complete removal ofinstalled Halon systems has been com-pleted except for a very few essential useapplications. The European Union is cur-rently undergoing a similar mandatedremoval of installed Halon systems. UnderEC regulation 2037/2000 since December31 2002 installed Halon systems cannotbe refilled if they discharge, and fromDecember 31 2003 all Halon systemsmust be decommissioned (again with very few exceptions). Canada also has

commenced a Halon phase out period.The “Canada Strategy to accelerate thePhase-Out of CFC and Halons Uses andto dispose of the surplus stocks” detailsthe phase-out plans in place in Canada.For fixed suppression systems one systemrefill will be allowed between 2005 and2010, on the condition that the system isreplaced by an alternative within one yearof refill. Starting in 2010, no refills offixed Halon systems will be allowed.

The search for environmentally respon-sible Halon alternative agents com-menced in the early 1990’s. Manufactureslooking to find suitable Halon replace-ments tested multiple agents in theirquest to find an agent that would be anacceptable Halon replacement. The agent

and hardware manufacturers were look-ing for agents that provided at least thesame safety and performance as Halon1301, that is the agent needed to be safefor use in occupied spaces, it needed tobe safe for critical assets and be environ-mentally acceptable. Other factors suchas storage requirements and overall costof the system were also important in theselection of viable Halon alternatives.

In general the Halon replacement agentsavailable today fall into two broad cate-gories, in-kind (gaseous extinguishingagents) or not in-kind (alternative tech-nologies). In-kind gaseous agents generallyfall into two further categories, Halocar-bons and Inert Gases. Not in-kind alterna-tives include such options as water mist orthe use of early warning smoke detectionsystems. A table of the more commonlyused alternatives is shown below.

HALOCARBONSHalocarbon agents are similar in manyrespects, although each agent has some


49

Pic courtesy of Kidde-Fenwal Inc.

By Kate Houghton,Marketing ManagerSuppression Systems,Kidde-Fenwal Inc

Halon Alternative Fire Systems

Halon Alternative Fire Systems

Halocarbons HFC-227ea (FM-200, FE-227)HFC-23 (FE-13)HFC-125 (FE25)

Inert Gases IG 55 (Nitrogen/Argon blend – Argonite)IG 541 (Nitrogen/Argon/Co2 blend – Inergen)IG-10 (Nitrogen)IG-01 (Argon)

Not In-kind Water MistEarly Warning Smoke DetectionPyrotechnic Aerosols

FROM THE MID 1960s Halon 1301 was the industry standardfor protecting high value assets from the threat of fire. Halon1301 had many benefits as a fire suppression agent; it is fastacting, safe for people, safe for assets and required minimalstorage space.

s


P. 35-72 16/10/06 12:56 pm Page 49

subtle differences. Halocarbons are activeagents that extinguish fires by directlyinteracting with the fire itself. This mech-anism employs similar chemistry to Halon1301. All of the Halocarbon agents areelectrically non-conductive, most requiresome form of super-pressurization withnitrogen, most require both more agenton a weight basis than Halon 1301 andmore storage space than Halon 1301. Eachof the Halocarbon systems has a typicaldischarge time of ten seconds, providingrapid discharge and consequently rapidextinguishment. By far the most popularhalocarbon agent is HFC-227ea (trade-mark FM-200 or FE-227). FM-200 has anestimated 100,000 installations in morethan 70 countries around the world.

INERT GASESIn contrast to Halocarbon agents, InertGases are considered passive agents, inthat they alter the atmosphere around thefire and do not directly interact with thefire itself. Inert Gases are used to lowerthe oxygen content within an enclosuretypically to 10-14%, where oxygen con-centration below 12-14% will not sustaincombustion. A number of different InertGas blends, or pure mixes have been usedin fire suppression, as shown in the tableabove. All of these inert gases are electri-cally non-conductive; they are stored ashigh-pressure gases and have dischargetimes in the order of sixty seconds. Dueto the inability to store these inert gasesas compressed liquids, significantly morestorage space is required when comparedto Halocarbon agents such as FM-200.Since oxygen levels are reduced, occupancyof the protected space post-discharge is

typically restricted in comparison withHalocarbon extinguishants.

NOT IN-KIND ALTERNATIVESAlternative technologies such as WaterMist and Pyrotechnic Aerosols are still yetto develop widespread acceptance in thereplacement of land based halon systems.This is primarily due to the fact thatmuch of the testing and approval ofthese systems is on an individual applica-tion-by-application basis. Thus a particu-lar application (such as gas turbines orflammable liquid stores) must have beenspecifically tested by an approval agencyand clearly defined design limits for thatspecific application approved.

Some end users have chosen to replaceHalon 1301 systems with early warningsmoke detection alone. This option maybe valid if the response time to an alarm isshort or if the area is always manned. Forremote facilities or those that are not con-tinuously manned, a suppression system inconjunction with an early warning smokedetection system is most often preferred.

FACTORS TO CONSIDER DURING RETROFIT

In assessing the various Halon alterna-tives available one of the many categoriesto consider is third party approval andlisting. Third parties such as FactoryMutual Research Corporation (FMRC),Underwriters Laboratories (UL) and LossPrevention Council Board (LPCB) thor-oughly test the systems and agent toensure compliance with local codes andstandards and that the product is safe forits intended use. A third party approvalgives the end user peace of mind that thesystem has met a recognized code orstandard, and adds to the manufacturesown recommendations. An approval is aclear way to distinguish between compet-ing products when an end user is makinga decision on suitable products.

A small number of Halon retrofit sys-tems claim the ability to re-use existingpipe work. The re-use of existing Halonpipework can save the end user both sig-nificant downtime and cost. Before re-use however it should be determine thatthe type and grade of pipe is suitable forthe new agent. Also the manufacturer ortheir representative should be able todemonstrate via hydraulic calculation thatthe in-situ pipework is sized correctly forthe new agent and complies with thenew systems installation requirements.

THE HALON RETROFIT SOLUTIONThe Advanced Delivery System (ADS),which utilizes Great Lakes Chemical

Corporation‘s FM-200 and is manufacturedby Kidde-Fenwal, provides an all roundsolution to the problem of Halon retrofit.Using patented technology, the ADS sys-tem enables Halon retrofit with a minimumof business interruption to the end user.The ADS system utilizes a “piston-flow”design in which the nitrogen gas “pushes”the FM-200 liquid through the piping.Nitrogen and the FM-200 agent are storedin separate cylinders that are connectedwith a hose and control hardware. Whenthe system is actuated, the nitrogen flowsinto the FM-200 cylinder, which opens theFM-200 valve so that the agent dischargesthrough the system piping.

This unique design enables an increasein flow rate for the FM-200 agent and asustained higher average cylinder pres-sure. This leads to smaller diameter pipesizes (essential for retrofitting alreadyinstalled Halon piping), while the relativelyconstant pressure allows for significantlylonger pipe runs than conventional FM-200 systems. In fact, pipe distances of upto three times the normal pipe length foran FM-200 system can easily be achieved.What this means is that the ADS systemcan be an effective retrofit solution forHalon 1301 systems, with little or nomodification to existing system piping.This means significant reduction of costs,downtime and inconvenience associatedwith the removal and replacement ofHalon systems. The new ADS system alsooffers significant advantages for new fireprotection applications and is fully ULlisted and FM approved. The increasedflow rates facilitate longer pipe runs,more complicated pipe layouts and net-works, small diameter piping, and greaterinstallation flexibility. The new systemallows even more businesses to takeadvantage of the unsurpassed speed,safety, and space savings of an FM-200fire suppression system.

CONCLUSIONThe need for Halon alternatives, and inparticular for systems able to retrofitinstalled Halon systems is growing. Anumber of countries around the worldcurrently have phase-out and decommis-sioning dates in place for Halon 1301systems. This trend is only likely to con-tinue as time goes on. Careful considera-tion of the available options is requiredand a number of factors should be con-sidered including product approvals andability to re-use existing pipe arrange-ments. The ADS system combines thepreferred Halon replacement agent FM-200 with patented technology to ensurethat the end user experiences minimalbusiness interruption and is provided withthe most economical installation solution.


5050

Pic courtesy of Kidde-Fenwal Inc.

P. 35-72 16/10/06 12:56 pm Page 50

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About two-thirds of all fires on board ships start in the machinery space. An estimation1 made by Det Norske

Veritas (DNV) indicates that the direct costfor a fire is of the order of 1 – 4 millionUSD for a cargo vessel – and much morefor a passenger vessel. A fire in themachinery space also represents a hazardfor the crew members and fire fighters andmay lead to a situation where passengersneed to be evacuated from the vessel.

Traditionally, Halon and Carbon Dioxide(CO2) gas extinguishing systems are thosemost commonly used in machinery spaces.With the phase-out of Halon and increas-ing safety concerns regarding the use ofCO2, a need for alternative fire protectionsystems has emerged.

During mid-1990s the InternationalMaritime Organisation (IMO) developed firetests procedures,2,3 MSC/Circ.668 and 728for water based fire protection systemsconsidered as ‘equivalent’ to Halon sys-tems, for machinery spaces and pumprooms on board ships. Numerous testsaccording to these fire test procedureshave been conducted, and currently a revi-sion is proposed. The performance require-ment of these fire test procedures is basedon ‘time to extinguishment’.

There are presently several certified sys-tem concepts on the market that all pass

the current IMO fire test procedures. Somesystems use extremely low amounts ofwater inside the compartment combinedwith massive water curtains in front of thedoorway openings; while others use theapproach of turning the system on and offin prescribed sequences, or alternatingbetween high and low pressure. Yet othersystems use inert gas or other additives toenhance the extinguishing performance.All concepts are optimised to reduce thetime to extinguishment for a particular firetest scenario. Although the concepts men-tioned all represent clever ways of passingthe fire test, it is not necessarily the casethat the concepts represent sound fireprotection in practice.

Therefore, there is a need for efficientfire test procedures and quantifiable para-meters that can be used to distinguishbetween acceptable or non-acceptablewater spray or water mist system conceptsfor machinery spaces. It is also necessary todefine parameters that capture the truecharacteristics of a given system, so that itspotential to function in a variety of envi-ronments (enclosure volumes, ventilationconditions, fire sizes, etc) is secured.

ExperimentsA first series of experiments at the SwedishNational Testing and Research Institute

(SP) has been carried out in an enginecompartment with a volume of 500 m3.The compartment measured 8,0 m by 12,5 m and had a ceiling height of 5,0 m.The walls and the ceiling were constructedfrom nominally 2 mm thick steel plates.The compartment was fitted with onedoorway opening at floor level and threepositive pressure relief vents, with steelhatches at the ceiling. The doorway open-ing had a large sliding steel door, whichwas open during the ignition of the testsfires, but was closed immediately thereafter.

The test compartment was instrumentedto measure thermal conditions inside thetest compartment, including the wall andceiling temperatures, and radiant heat fluxfrom the fires. Further, the compartmentpressure, the humidity and the gasconcentration of O2, CO and CO2 weremeasured.

Three different systems were used in thetests:

1 A water spray system flowing500 L/min at 2 bar. This system wasdesigned according to the SOLAS con-vention. Eight pendent nozzles wereinstalled at the ceiling using a 3,33 mby 3,33 m spacing. The nozzles weremade by Tyco Fire Products and desig-nated Protectospray D3 25-110. Thenozzles had a K-factor of 43,2 (metric)and a spray angle of 110°.

2 A low-pressure system flowing 97 L/minat 12 bar. Eight upright nozzles wereinstalled at the ceiling using a 3,33 mby 3,33 m spacing. The nozzles weremanufactured by Tyco Fire Productsand designated AquaMist AM15. The nozzles had a K-factor of 3,6(metric).

3 A high-pressure system flowing60 L/min at 70 bar. Four pendentnozzles were installed at the ceilingusing a 2,5 m by 5,0 m spacing. Thenozzles were manufactured by MarioffCorporation Oy and designated Hi-Fog4S 1MC 8MB 1000. The nozzles had a K-factor of 1,9 (metric).

The trials involved various sizes of poolfires and different degrees of ventilation.The fires had nominal heat release rates of500 kW, 1 MW and 2 MW, respectively andwere either fully exposed to the waterspray or completely shielded by a horizon-tal obstruction steel plate.


5252

The tests were carried out in a 500 m3 ‘engine compartment’ enclosed by steel walls.

NNeeww mmeetthhooddss nneeeeddeedd ttoo eevvaalluuwwaatteerr sspprraayy aanndd wwaatteerr mmiisstt ss

By Magnus Arvidson and Tommy Hertzberg, SP Swedish National Testing and

Research Institute

TIME UNTIL EXTINGUISHMENT is a poor measure of the efficacy of waterspray or water mist systems. Recent fire testing shows that variations in theperformance of the same system can be of the order of several tens of percentunder apparently identical conditions. Better methods for evaluating theefficacy of total compartment water spray and mist fire protection systemsduring fire testing are therefore needed.

P. 35-72 16/10/06 12:57 pm Page 52

Several interesting resultsThe extinguishing times varied betweenthree minutes for large exposed fires, up to30 minutes for small obstructed fires.Although the fact that small obstructedfires take the longest time to extinguish iswell known, some of the results were asurprise. It was, for example, unexpectedthat the extinguishing time for the small-est fires (500 kW) was least under free-burning conditions (i.e. without using anysystem!). The extinguishing times for thetwo larger pool fires (1 MW and 2 MW)was comparable with and without any sys-tem present. However, it should be pointedout in this context that the time to extin-guishment is a very poor measure, as dis-cussed in more detail below. Nevertheless,the results show that the advantages of awater spray or a water mist system do notnecessarily lie in a shorter extinguishingtime. If an engine room is sufficiently air-tight and robust, the fire will self-extinguish just as quickly, or more quickly,than would be the case with a water sprayor a water mist system involved.

Generally, the water spray system pro-vided significantly better gas phase coolingthan both the low-pressure and the high-pressure water mist systems for theobstructed 500 kW and 1 MW fires. This isprimarily attributed to the higher waterflow rate of the water spray system. It isalso noticeable that the gradual decreasein temperature is more significant for thewater spray system tests compared to theother two systems. For the 2 MW fires, thedifference in gas phase cooling for thethree systems is not as great, although it isclear that the water spray system providesthe fastest cooling. The gas phase coolingcapability of the three systems is furtherdiscussed below.

The water spray system also provides thebest wall surface cooling of the three sys-tems tested. The wall cooling ability of thelow-pressure and the high-pressure watermist systems are essentially comparable.

In general, there is a negative pressurewhen the water spray or water mist systemis activated and cooling starts, followed bya positive pressure as the water begins tovaporise. As the test compartment incorpo-rated pressure relief valves in the ceiling,positive pressure was not a problem. How-ever, the negative pressures were surpris-ingly large, in the order of 400 Pa. Thiseffect has not previously been discussed inconnection with fire protection systems ofthis type. The trials also showed that asubstantial negative pressure (in the orderof 300 Pa to 500 Pa) could be generatedjust as the fire is put out, due to the sud-den drop in temperature that occurs then.

The results show, in other words, thatengine rooms protected by water spray orwater mist systems should be fitted withboth negative and positive pressure reliefvents.

For exposed pool fires, it is clear that an ‘efficient’ fuel surface cooling cancounteract extinguishment. When waterdroplets are large enough to penetrate thefire plume and the flame of the fire, i.e. tointeract with the fuel surface, the extin-guishment of exposed fires may be pro-longed compared to obstructed fires of thesame fire size. This effect was primarilyobserved for the water spray system, but tosome extent also with the low-pressuresystem. When the water droplets are smallenough to interact with the flame of the

fire, exposed fires are generally extin-guished faster than obstructed fires. Thiswas observed with the high-pressure sys-tem. This experience supports the conclu-sion that ‘time to extinguishment’ is aninadequate measure of the performance.

The tests indicate that the high-pressuresystem provided slightly better mixing ofwater droplets, water vapour and combus-tion products within the compartment, com-pared to the water spray system and thelow-pressure system. However, for 2 MWfires the high turbulence inside the compart-ment, resulted in all three systems providingsimilar mixing efficiency. Indeed, the freeburn test is comparable to those conductedusing the three systems, which illustrates theeffect of turbulence generated by the fire


53

aalluuaattee tthhee ppeerrffoorrmmaannccee oofftt ssyysstteemmss dduurriinngg ffiirree tteessttiinngg

Figure 1. The Total Heat Release Rate (THR), based on the weight loss of the fire tray,for the obstructed 500 kW heptane pool fire scenario. This figure illustrates the‘inerting’ effect of the three tested systems.

Figure 2. The Total Heat Release Rate (THR), based on the weight loss of the fire tray,for the obstructed 2 MW heptane pool fire scenario. No free burn data available.

P. 35-72 16/10/06 12:57 pm Page 53

itself on providing good mixing. The mixingability for the low-pressure system was notinfluenced by the fact that a large hatch atthe ceiling was fully open, as compared tothe cases where the test compartment wassealed closed. The ability of the water spraysystem and the high-pressure system to pro-

vide proper mixing was reduced. The mea-surements of the concentration of CarbonDioxide (CO2) were used for the evaluationof the mixing ability. A ratio indicating themixing ability was obtained by dividing themeasured concentration at the highestposition with the measured concentrationat the lowest position.

Time to extinguishment is a poormeasure of the performanceThe present practice of evaluating the effi-cacy of total compartment water spray ormist systems during fire testing is to mea-sure the time taken to extinguish the fire.However, the trials presented here haveshown that this is a very poor measure.When some of the trials were repeatedusing the same system and under appar-ently identical conditions, the extinguish-ing time could vary by up to as much as80 %. The reason for this is that fires arehighly non-linear phenomena, in whichsmall variations in the initial conditions orboundary values (wall temperatures, airtightness of the compartment, etc.) canresult in major changes in the rate at whichthe fire develops or in its final state. In addi-tion, the fact that the interaction betweenthe water droplets and the fire is also highlycomplex, and that relatively minor tempera-ture variations can result in major differ-ences in both the rate of evaporation andthe rate of combustion are important.

It seems clear that the performance havebeen based on a highly dubious criterion:‘time to extinguishment’. In addition, thechoice of fire scenario has a major impacton the extinguishment time, i.e. on theestimated quality of the system, by today’sstandard test methods. There is a definiterisk that a system is optimised in order toprovide good test performance when deal-ing with a particular fire scenario, ratherthan being developed to operate wellunder most conditions.

A new approach of evaluating theefficacy of systemsThe problem lies in knowing which charac-teristic measures truly indicate whether theperformance of a water spray or water mistsystem is acceptable or not. Based on the


5454

Figure 3. The average gas temperature inside the tests compartment and the energyaccumulated in the gas, for the obstructed 500 kW heptane pool fire scenario.

NNeeww mmeetthhooddssnneeeeddeedd ttoo eevvaalluuaatteetthhee ppeerrffoorrmmaannccee ooffwwaatteerr sspprraayy aannddwwaatteerr mmiisstt ssyysstteemmssdduurriinngg ffiirree tteessttiinngg


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P. 35-72 16/10/06 12:57 pm Page 54

trials at SP, the following three characteris-tics quantifiers are proposed:● the systems capability for inerting a

compartment ● the systems capability for gas phase

cooling of the compartment● the systems capability to mix the

atmosphere within a compartment

These points are discussed further below.

1 Inerting. The inerting effect of wateris related to its vaporisation. Water vapourdilutes the gas phase environment andreduces the accessibility of available oxy-gen, which in turn reduces the rate ofcombustion of the fire. In this context, thecapability of the droplets to be transportedinto the flame zone is also important. Thephase transformation introduces a ~1700times volume expansion, which has a majorimpact on the flames. A water mist systemthat uses small droplets and achieves a highdegree of mixing will create efficient inert-ing conditions, even for obstructed fires.

One method to measure this capability isto compare the amount of produced energyfrom a given pool fire with and without thewater spray or water mist system. A loadcell positioned under the pool fire tray willshow the variations of momentary effect,which when integrated over time will givethe total energy produced (Total HeatRelease, THR). By using an obstructed poolfire, the impact from droplets impinging onthe fuel surface will be minimized.

Figure 1 illustrates the THR for theobstructed 500 kW heptane fire scenario.

It can be seen that the water spray system,10 minutes after its activation (i.e. att=720 s as the pre-burn time was 120 s)has reduced the THR by 16% compared tothe free burning scenario. The high-pres-sure water mist system has lowered theTHR by almost twice as much, 29% andthe low-pressure mist system has decreasedthe amount even more, by approximately38%. Figure 2 illustrates the THR for theobstructed 2 MW fire scenario (no freeburn data was available for this case). Thetrend is similar for this fire scenario, i.e.,the water spray system provides the leastreduction of the THR and the low-pressuresystem the highest reduction.

It should be noted that the fire itselfusually provides an important inerting

effect through the formation of CarbonDioxide and water vapour in the combus-tion reactions.

2 Gas phase cooling. The capabilityof rapid cooling of hot fire gases is impor-tant, e.g. to prevent the fire from spread-ing to other spaces and to allow for firefighters to approach the area. Rapid cool-ing is relatively easy to obtain with a highvolume flow rate of water. However, formany applications, reduced amounts ofwater are called for and the cooling capa-bility might be a crucial issue. Technically,gas phase cooling can be determined bymeasuring the gas temperature at suffi-ciently many spots in a fire test compart-ment, in order to obtain a valid mean


55

Figure 4. The average gas temperature inside the tests compartment and the energyaccumulated in the gas, for the obstructed 2 MW heptane pool fire scenario.

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P. 35-72 16/10/06 12:57 pm Page 55

temperature value. This value correspondsto the accumulated energy of the gas vol-ume and by comparing the resultsobtained for the tested system with freeburn data, the cooling capability can bequantified. The energy losses through theboundaries of the test compartment varydepending on the gas/wall temperature aswell as possible liquid film on the enclo-sure surfaces. However, the lack of anabsolute measure is not important sincethe obtained value can be compared to theresults from other tested systems, i.e. it canbe used as a relative measure. Figure 3 and4, shows the average gas temperatureinside the test compartment for theobstructed 500 kW and 2 MW heptanefires, respectively. The water spray systemprovided the best cooling for both cases.The figures also show the energy accumulat-ed in the gas. This value is calculated byassuming a constant heat capacity of thegas volume (1350 J/m3).

The systems combined capability for gasphase cooling and inerting of a compart-ment (i.e. the net effect from these twocharacteristics) can be calculated. This isillustrated in figure 5. The result is obtainedfrom the difference between the THR forthe free burning scenario and the accumu-lated energy value, as shown in figures 3and 4. The figure, which illustrates theobstructed 500 kW heptane fire, shows thatall three systems perform very similarly,with the water spray system being slightly‘better’ than the other two systems.

3 Mixing. The ability to mix waterdroplets, water vapour and combustionproducts within a compartment expresses acharacteristic quality of a water spray or awater mist system. Mixing is a measure ofhow the initial momentum of the waterdroplets is transferred to the gas. A highdegree of mixing may be obtained using ahigh system flow rate. Systems with higherflow rates typically have higher momentumsprays from the nozzles that result in bet-ter mixing due to the increased turbulencein the compartment. A high degree of mix-ing may also be obtained using largedroplets, however, larger droplets provideless water/gas interface area per volume ofwater, compared to smaller droplets. Thisin turn means that the gas phase coolingwill be less efficient. In addition, largedroplets are less prone to interact with‘obstructed’ fires, i.e. fires that cannot bedirectly ‘hit’ by droplets from the waterspray. The mixing capability might be con-sidered as a measure of how well the sys-tem will function in fire scenarios differentfrom the scenarios used in the fire test

procedure. Such a test should be performedwithout any fire source, in order to avoidthe additional mixing induced by the actu-al fire. The mixing capability can be mea-sured, e.g. by introducing an inert gassubstance (such as Carbon Dioxide) intothe test compartment and registering thetime it takes for the water spray or watermist system to ‘stir’ the volume so that aneven concentration is obtained throughoutthe compartment.

Additional work is neededThese three proposed quantifiers are notindependent of each other, but cover dif-ferent aspects of the performance of agiven system and provide a good picture ofthe characteristics and efficacy of waterspray and water mist systems during firetesting. Much experimental work is stillneeded in order to make a definitive state-ment on which requirements should beimposed in any approvable system for usein ship engine rooms. The advantage ofthese suggested quantifiers is that theyhave a considerably better potential forexperimental repeatability and repro-ducibility, and that they provide a morerealistic representation of the performanceof total compartment water spray or awater mist systems than present-day testmethods. The advantage of the existingparameter ‘time to extinguishment’ is obvi-ously its simplicity once a time limit forthe extinguishment has been established.However, the simplicity also has the disad-vantage of carrying very little practical sys-tem information to the end user. As hasbeen discussed in this article, the parame-ter is also very uncertain and sometimeseven nonsensical with regard to the systemextinguishing qualities.

Vinnova, the Swedish Agency for Inno-vation Systems, finances the projectdescribed in the article. Two companies areinvolved in the project: Marioff Hi-Fog Oy(Finland) and Tyco Fire Products (USA).

References 1“Engine room fires can be avoided”, informa-tion from Det Norske Veritas, 2000/05/01.2“Alternative arrangements for halon fire-

extinguishing systems in machinery spaces andpump-rooms”, MSC/Circ. 668, 30 December,1994 – Appendix B, ”Interim test method forfire testing equivalent water-based fire-extinguishing systems for machinery spaces ofCategory A and cargo pump-rooms”, Interna-tional Maritime Organization, London, UK.3“Revised test method for equivalent water-based fire-extinguishing systems for machineryspaces of Category A and cargo pump-roomscontained in MSC/Circ.668”, 4 June, 1996,International Maritime Organization, London,UK.4FP47/8, “Performance Testing and ApprovalStandards for Fire Safety Systems, Report ofthe Correspondence Group”, document sub-mitted by the United States to the 47th IMOsession on Sub-Committee on Fire Protectionto be held February 10–14, 2003, documentdated 7 November 2002.


5656

Figure 5. The combined gas phase cooling and inerting effect (i.e. the difference betweenthe THR for the free burning scenario and the accumulated energy value) for the threesystems. The figure illustrates the obstructed 500 kW heptane pool fire scenario.

NNeeww mmeetthhooddssnneeeeddeedd ttoo eevvaalluuaatteetthhee ppeerrffoorrmmaannccee ooffwwaatteerr sspprraayy aannddwwaatteerr mmiisstt ssyysstteemmssdduurriinngg ffiirree tteessttiinngg

Magnus Arvidson is a graduate Fire Pro-tection Engineer from the University ofLund in Sweden. He has been involvedin the development of installation guide-lines for water mist systems for ship-board use at the International MaritimeOrganisation and has served as amember for the NFPA 750 technicalcommittee from 1993 to 2000. Currentlyhe is involved in the development of aCEN standard for water mist systemsand a member of the research council ofthe International Water Mist Association.He can be reached at telephone +46 3316 56 90 or [email protected] Hertzberg has an MSc in Chem-ical Engineering from Chalmers,Gothenburg, in 1984. After a fewyears in the Chemical process industryhe returned to the academic worldwhere he obtained a PhD in ChemicalEngineering at Lund University in 1997.After graduation he started working atthe development division of ABB withflue gas cleaning systems, and 2000 hebegan working at SP. At SP, he hasmainly been involved in fire simulationprojects as well as research related toparticles and water mist systems. Hecan be reached at telephone +46 3316 50 46 or [email protected].

P. 35-72 16/10/06 12:57 pm Page 56


57

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5858

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Patterson Pump Ireland services itscustomers from sales to order entry, tomanufacturing and testing, to shippingand on site commissioning. A complete

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High Pressure Two-Stage Fire Pumps High Pressure Two-Stage Fire Pumps areengineered to produce as much head astwo single-stage pumps in series, and aremuch more compact in size. Heavily built,they are highly efficient and have everymechanical feature to assure long andreliable service.

Designed in sizes from 3� (75 mm) to6� (150 mm) discharge, for capacities to 1,000 GPM (3,785 L/M), and for headsto 1,150 feet (34 bar), they represent themost economical pumping equipmentavailable for rugged and reliable service.

Vertical In-line and End Suction SeriesFire Pumps Patterson’s V.I.P. In-line and End SuctionFire Pumps are designed for ease inadapting to existing systems or beingdesigned into new systems in safety appli-cations. Their ease of installation intopipe lines eliminates the need for costlyfoundations or pads. Standard pipingsupports on either side of the pump areall that is required. Vertical In-line suction

and discharge flanges are on a commoncenter line, 180° apart, for mounting inthe pipe line. End Suction Pumps havecenter line suction and discharge.

Both pump types feature full ranges ofpsi (bar) and GPM (L/M).

The Patterson Pre-Pac® Fire Pump The Patterson Pre-Pac Fire Pump wascreated to provide quality fire control atless cost and in less space. Unlike con-ventional pumping systems, the Pre-Pacis self-contained so it saves money byreducing labor, engineering and installa-tion time.

The real muscle of this prepackagedsystem is Patterson’s reliable split case orvertical turbine pump, featuring dischargepressures of 40 to 390 psi (2.8 to 27 bar)and capacities of 150 to 5,000 GPM (565to 18,925 L/M), plus all the necessaryranges of hydraulic performance thatmeet individual requirements and Euro-pean standards.

Whether you select a completely housedPre-Pac or a base mounted package, youcan be assured that all sensing lines, fit-tings, piping, drive, pump and controls aredesigned to meet, or exceed, all applicablecodes. For an added measure of security,the Pre-Pac is completely unit tested withall piping hydrostatically tested.

Patterson Vertical Turbine Fire Pumps Patterson Vertical Turbine Fire Pumpsemploy the latest design concepts andengineering technology in producinghighly efficient pumps for use in allsafety applications. They can be staged asnecessary to meet desired requirements.Minimum floor space is required. Firefighting application capacities are from500 to 5,000 GPM (1,892 to 18,925L/M), with pressures up to 350 psi (24 bar).

A Final Word World-class quality fire pumps, lowermaintenance costs, less downtime, andprompt delivery of O.E.M. parts which areguaranteed to last longer typify Pattersonas one of the world’s most reliable firepump manufacturers.

PPAATTTTEERRSSOONN FFIIRREE PPUUMMPPSS…Sentinels of Safety

P R O D U C T P R O F I L E

For more information, contact:

Patterson PumpIreland Ltd.

Unit 14, Mullingar Business Park,Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, Ireland

Tel: 353 44 47078Fax: 353 44 49858

Web: www.ie.pattersonpumps.comE-mail: [email protected]

P. 35-72 16/10/06 12:58 pm Page 58

Enquiries: www.macron-safety.com

P. 35-72 16/10/06 12:58 pm Page 59


P. 35-72 16/10/06 12:59 pm Page 60

EVOLUTION OF STORAGE SPRINKLERS

Storage sprinklers can be dividedinto two distinct groups: thoseused for storage applications up to

12 feet and those used for storageapplications over 12 feet, or high-pilestorage. High-pile storage is the topic ofthis article.

The original standards for high-pilestorage were found in NFPA 231 (thesehave since been moved to NFPA 13),and were established based on fire test-ing that utilized only 1⁄2� (15 mm) and3⁄4� (20 mm) spray sprinklers, with K fac-tors of 5.6 and 8.0 respectively. Conse-quently, these were the only sprinklersallowed, and high pressures were com-mon. Larger orifice sizes were intro-duced to reduce starting pressure forthe higher water delivery requirements,or densities. And in the 1980s, newchallenges, due to the high storageheights and the increased flammabilityof products being stored, prompted an

increase in the development of newtypes of sprinklers. Plastic commoditiesand storage heights over 30 feet, withapplication densities of .4 to .6 gallonsper minute per square foot or higherhave become commonplace, while theyused to represent the exception.

To address the changes in storage,Large Drop technology was initiallydeveloped. These sprinklers utilize highpressure and larger droplets of water topenetrate the fire plume seen in “highchallenge” high-pile storage fires. Theyare allowed in storage applications up to20 feet in wet and dry systems, withoutthe need for in-rack sprinklers.

ESFR SPRINKLERS OFFER DESIGN ADVANTAGES

The next new development was EarlySuppression, Fast Response (ESFR) tech-nology, pioneered by Factory MutualResearch and Engineering – the long-timechampion of research and development

of storage sprinklers. ESFR sprinklers usea combination of higher pressures andfire suppression to eliminate in-racksprinklers, and can be used wherestorage is up to 35 feet high.

The ability of ESFR sprinklers tovirtually eliminate the use of in-racksprinklers for the protection of class Acombustible materials stored in racks,has been a great advantage to buildingowners and storage facility occupants. Alower cost installation and added flexi-bility for the occupant has made con-ventional systems with in-rack sprinklers“old technology.”

Sprinkler contractors and designersalso see advantages when using ESFR’s.The competitive water usage and rela-tive ease of design for an ESFR sprinklersystem is very attractive. Storagesprinkler system design was at one timeconsidered an “art” by many. This is dueto the complexity of determining thecorrect design due to the many credits,and design area and density increasesrequired by both NFPA 231 and 231C,based upon the type of storage, thestorage height, temperature of thesprinkler head, and the distancebetween the top of storage and the ceil-ing where the sprinklers were installed.The application of ESFR sprinklers haseliminated this complexity.


61

This obstructed 14.0 K Upright ESFRsprinkler successfully passed FM firetests.

MultipleChoices for

High-PileStorageBy Martin Workman and Sandi Wake

of The VIKING Corporation

MultipleChoices for

High-PileStorage

SPRINKLERS FOR STORAGE APPLICATIONS have probably been usedsince the late 1800’s when the first Parmalee sprinklers were installed in hispiano factory. It is reasonable to assume that these sprinklers were used toprotect the stored raw materials used to make the pianos as well as anymachinery and the building itself. Since that time, research and develop-ment has increased with the goal of providing better fire protection at alower cost to encourage growth in the industry. Over the last 15 years,several industry groups have focused on specific problems, resulting in newsprinklers and technologies. One of the most significant changes has beenin sprinklers designed especially for storage applications.

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LIMITATIONS TO ESFR PENDENT TECHNOLOGY

The first ESFR sprinklers introducedwere pendent style. And while ESFRpendent technology offers manyadvantages, as with all sprinklers thereare strict guidelines for its usage.Factory Mutual created the guidelinesand limitations regarding how andwhere ESFR sprinkler systems may beinstalled. These include:

● Low tolerance of obstructions belowor to the side of ESFR sprinklers

● Specific pressure requirements forgiven K factors correlating to ceilingheights

● Installation on wet systems only*● Maximum 45-foot ceiling height

without the installation of in-racksprinklers, is specific to 25 K factorESFR’s only

Factory Mutual recently changed theirapprovals on pendent ESFR’s with Kfactors of both 14 and 17. They nolonger allow the use of these sprinklersin rack storage in buildings with 45-footceilings without the use of in-racksprinklers.

ESFR sprinklers are “suppressionmode” sprinklers. This means that ratherthan controlling the fire by cooling theatmosphere and wetting the adjacentareas, an ESFR sprinkler is designed tosuppress or extinguish the fire. For ESFRsprinklers to effectively suppress a fire, itis imperative that they operate in theearly stages of the fire and deliver largeamounts of water through the fire plumedirectly onto the fire. If the amount ofwater needed is not delivered soonenough, suppression – or even control –may not happen. Because the delivery ofwater onto the fire during its early stages

is so important, quick operation of thefirst few sprinklers located directly abovethe fire is critical. Most fire-test failuresof ESFR sprinklers are due to prematureoperation of sprinklers away from the firearea. This cools the surrounding atmos-phere, temporarily delaying operation ofthe sprinklers directly over the fire.

With the initial ESFR sprinkler offer-ing available only in a pendent orienta-tion, there are additional considerations.The primary function of these sprinklersis protecting high-pile storage and pen-dent sprinklers are much more likely tobe struck by a lift truck or encounterother mechanical damage. And, as inthe case of all pendent type sprinklers,pendent ESFR’s supplied from a rawwater source must be installed on areturn bend to eliminate the accumula-tion of sediment in the sprinkler.

ADVANTAGES OF AN UPRIGHT ESFR

Today, upright ESFR sprinklers are avail-able to protect many of the same hazardsas pendent ESFRs, while addressing someof the limitations. They are approved forstorage heights up to 30 feet and build-ing heights up to 35 feet, depending onthe commodity being protected.

Because upright ESFR sprinklers areinstalled on top of sprinkler branch linesup to 3� (80mm), they are designed toperform even when running through barjoists or trusses. In fact, they areapproved for installation above continu-ous, ungrouped obstructions up to 4�(100 mm) wide. Even obstructions suchas small pipes, conduits or cross-bracingmembers can create problems for pen-dent ESFR sprinklers, by scattering waterdroplets and cooling the surroundingsprinklers, inhibiting their activation.This can cause sprinklers outside of the

immediate fire area to operate, which isineffective at putting the fire out andwastes valuable water resources.

It is estimated that over 95% of exist-ing ESFR installations utilize pendentsprinklers with a K factor of 14. Manyof these installations have beenobstructed post-installation. This createsa dangerous situation as noted above. Ifthese obstructions cannot be moved tocomply with NFPA design criteria, themost cost-effective solution is to replacethe K-14 pendent ESFR sprinklers with aK-14 upright ESFR.

Sprinklers installed on top of sprinklerpiping are much less susceptible tomechanical damage than pendentsprinklers. The positioning of an uprightESFR minimizes the possibility of beingstruck by a lift truck. It also eliminatesthe cost associated with installing returnbends when using a raw water source.

Another advantage of upright ESFRsprinklers is the additional vertical spacebelow the ceiling available for branchline installation. Fusible elements ofupright ESFR sprinklers must be locatedbetween 4� (100 mm) and 13� (330 mm)below the ceiling. It is much easier tokeep the fusible element inside that heatzone using an upright ESFR installed ontop of the branch line than it is with apendent ESFR installed on the bottomof the branch line.

CONCLUSION

New technologies in sprinklers offeradded protection in high-pile storageapplications for Classes I through IVHazards. Multiple choices in K factors(14 through 25) and orientation allowyou to choose the best product for yourapplication to limit starting pressure,minimize pipe size and eliminate in-racksprinklers and fire pumps, depending onthe storage and building height. Thechoice is yours!

*All ESFR sprinklers are limited to use onwet systems. Large drop sprinklers may beused in dry systems (commonly freezerapplications), typically without the need forin-rack sprinklers.


6262

Upright ESFR testing at FM for 30-foot storage at 39.2 seconds and 51.25 secondsinto the test.

This article is a collaborative effortbetween Martin Workman, ProductManager – Special Hazards andSandi Wake, Marketing Manager ofThe Viking Corporation. MartinWorkman has been in the firesprinkler industry for 18 years.Before joining Viking in 1997, heworked as a sprinkler fitter, designerand estimator. Sandi Wake beganher career at Viking in 1983 andhas held various positions incustomer service and marketing,including that of Product Manager.

New technologies in sprinklersoffer added protection in high-pilestorage applications for Classes Ithrough IV Hazards

P. 35-72 16/10/06 12:59 pm Page 62


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However, there may be otherpotentially problematic areaswhere employee training is criti-

cal to maintaining business operations.How do you rate the effectiveness of

your risk reduction training? Does thistraining ensure your employees canperform according to plan in the eventof an unexpected event? As sure as thesun rises, you will face daily situationsthat require a precise response byothers. Some of those responding maybe located at your corporate site or in

satellite operations. In order to assuremanagement that you have created anadequate Fire Protection and LifeSafety Master Plan, you need to askyourself whether you can live with theresults of your training program. Willyour Plan serve to limit large scale riskreduction after an incident hasoccurred that tests the efficiency ofboth the Plan and employee training?

As a fire protection manager, you havedeveloped a well-organized Master Planthat includes many components. One

fundamental element deals with theselection of integrated automatic sup-pression and detection equipment. Nodoubt your Plan requires the use ofequipment listed or approved by a testingagency. Your Plan most likely requirescompetent and reputable contractors toinstall this equipment. You can use a fireprotection-engineering firm to help youselect equipment and design systems toensure that you facility has the properprotection when a fire occurs.

Another element of your Plandefines areas of risk and the policiesand procedures your employees mustfollow. You may have obtained thesedefinitions from your insurance brokeror insurance carrier. You may have alsosought the counsel of your local firedepartment, especially when specialhazards are involved. But, are you con-fident that your employees understandyour procedures and plans? Have youdevoted the same effort to train per-sonnel responsible for the maintenanceof your systems that you have devotedto the training of sales personnel?What about the training of all otheremployees that may be impacted by acatastrophic event? If you do not run amandatory program for employee train-ing in this area, you may have a falsesense of security that only an unex-pected event will expose.

Whether your organization is afinancial institution or a manufacturerof pharmaceutical substances, the wayyou follow through on your Plandepends on the employees’ reactionsand their level of understanding ofwhat to do to maximize the safety atyour facility.

PARADIGM CHANGES IN TRAINING...

Organizations have depended on train-ing over a long period of time. Most ofthe time, the traditional classroom hasserved as the setting for training.Employees meet with an instructor,usually either annually or semi-annuallyto review new products, procedures and policies. Sometimes organizations


6464

Pic courtesy of Hughes Associates, Inc.

Can You Live With thEmploye

Can You Live With thEmploye

By David Hooton, Ph.D., COO, Safety Sphere, LLCand Kathy A. Slack, Hughes Associates, Inc.

MANY ORGANIZATIONS run mandatory employee training programs for avariety of job functions. Professionals view sales training as one of the morepopular and important areas that, if run effectively, can make a major positiveimpact on the bottom line.

P. 35-72 16/10/06 12:59 pm Page 64

provide training to enhance corporatecapabilities. Most organizations havefound that “forewarned is forearmed”.For decades organizations constructedsuch programs to feed new informationto their workforce.

As a side effect to classroom training,employees often enjoyed the perks oftravel to off-site facilities, as well as theopportunity to interact with associatesand peers. Many times, employees wouldspend an 8-hour day in the classroom.After two days, many employees started“tuning out” as their levels of interestwaned and their abilities to retain infor-mation became diluted. Instructorswould quiz students in non-standardways. Some instructors quizzed theirstudents on an individual basis. Othersrandomly tossed out quiz questions tothe group, a rather incomplete means ofevaluating student comprehension.

As regular training programs grew inimportance, many organizations devel-oped weeklong training sessions off-site, as part of the cost of doingbusiness. And, these sessions did provecostly. Not only did the training pro-gram have development and instruc-tional costs, most programs requiredsignificant travel funds and expendedlarge sums to pay for the almost incal-culable cost of lost productivity or lostbusiness opportunities.

Even with this expenditure, whathappens, or doesn’t happen betweentraining sessions often fails to makeheadlines when the unexpected occursto challenge your Plan. However, thelack of standardized and evaluatedtraining still finds its way into thecourtroom. Failed training often servesthe plaintiff’s counsel all too well.

In spite of this, many employersdon’t have the necessary resources toupdate their training every time theyimplement new policies or procedures.Sometimes key employees leave theorganization or move to different posi-tions and follow-though falls throughthe cracks. When management choosesto use paper-based messages tocommunicate important changes, no

one really evaluates and documents themessages. Mix all the reasons com-panies fail to keep employees abreastof updates and new policies, or ensurecomprehension, and you will find arecipe for disaster, in spite of all themoney spent on training.

The good news for managementcomes from recent significant changesto training. So-called “traditional train-ing” has begun to evolve into “web-based training”. As one form ofeLearrning (electronic learning), web-based training (WBT) offers a signifi-cant paradigm shift stimulated by theuse of the Internet.

MONEY MATTERS...

The most significant and effectivechanges in training have occurred withthe increased use of the Internet as acorporate tool for sourcing, research,market analysis, and communications.Why? Using the Internet for trainingoffers a quick, easy to use, accessible,and incredibly cost-effective method.Even with the market fall, Wall Streetremains convinced that WBT willtrounce e-mail’s use of bandwidth by2005. All of the Fortune 1000 com-panies have implemented or havebegun experimenting with WBT as atool for corporate communications andperformance improvement.

Imagine training individual employ-ees in a hundred locations for less thana dollar each! Imagine having the abilityto evaluate and document employee’s

comprehension and manage theirlearning with a simple to use, always-accessible specialized database knownas a Learning Management System(LMS). And, costs continue to drop asnew systems hit the market. Althoughrecent reports put the common cost ofimplemented LMS’s between $200,000and $2 million, many hosted solutionshave begun arriving on the market thatdo not require nearly this level ofinvestment to implement. Imagineknowing that you can now efficientlyimplement you Master Plan, the onethat you have labored over to make themost effective, because you now havethe previously missing piece of FireProtection Management under control– employee training and guidance.

You can research many publicationsthat study the benefits and features ofweb-based training. Most have con-cluded that the savings over traditionaltraining costs range 60-80%. This is asignificant savings, particularly becausethe monetary gains don’t result in lossof quality or reduced effectiveness. Infact, the savings come with a high levelof accuracy in delivering and trackingthe information that is so critical to theplan. Amazingly, you can even do thison a customized basis. That’s right,WBT can easily be customized to eachand every site, and tailored to specificgroups of employees.

WEB-BASED TRAINING KEYS...

If this good news makes you feel enthusi-astic about exploring how you can transi-tion to web-based training, or even useWBT to augment your existing traditionaltraining (called “blended solutions”), thenyou need to understand the variousdimensions of this type of training, andhow to select the most effective programfor your organization.


65

the Results of Your yee Training?the Results of Your yee Training?

The most significant and effectivechanges in training have occurredwith the increased use of theInternet as a corporate tool forsourcing, research, market analysis,and communications

P. 35-72 16/10/06 1:00 pm Page 65

As with all paradigm shifts, pitfallsand plenty of misleading informationabounds. Some of the areas that youmost need to understand include theones that follow:● Experts often measure WBT courses

by “seat time,” or the amount oftime you can sit in front of a com-puter and effectively absorb thematerial. Usually, course designersthat follow best practices will limit acourse to only 20-minutes in length.This equates to about 40-50 webpages. Further, a 20-minute WBTcourse roughly equates to one hourof classroom training, with no loss incomprehension. Why? WBT hasfewer diversions. Well-designed WBTalso requires the constant interplayand response of the user. This facili-tates comprehension. Look for pro-grams that have deep levels ofinteraction for students to test theirunderstanding and tools that allowfor in-depth information transferdirectly and indirectly related to thetraining course.

● Costs for course development can varywidely. Many course developers usepoorly adapted software. These devel-opers require many months to developeven a single course, obviously at avery high cost – usually in the $12-

$21k range. Investigate vendors thatcan develop in the $6-8K rangebecause of their subject-matter exper-tise. Make sure to ask questions aboutyour required modifications and howquickly and inexpensively the devel-opers can incorporate these modifica-tions into a programmed course.

● Courses can only prove as effectiveand interesting as a developer makesthem. When computer programmerscreate or overly influence theinstructional design, as opposed toan instructional design influencedsolely by a subject matter expert(SME), the course will become off-target and boring. Watch out fordevelopment or delivery of a coursenot written by a SME. Do not payhefty fees to “program a draft”, andthen pay even higher costs for smallchanges. Lots of WBT vendors fail tomention their high cost to keep thecourses up-to-date, or to add a pageof information. Shop for a vendorthat offers course-authoring toolsthat either support an SME’s coursedevelopment, or a vendor that hasSMEs that know your industry andthe specific fire protection issues athand. Also find a program thatallows for quick, inexpensive modifi-cation at page level — including

graphic, text, and course layoutchanges. Avoid buying services orsoftware that require significant feesfor sending back the changes to aprogrammer, causing significanttime delays. A few fire protectionengineering consulting firms canassist you in finding the right pro-gram that fits your company’sneeds. Authoring tools exist thatactually allow for quick and easymodification at the page level usingsimple MS Word templates! Remem-ber, making changes can be verycostly if you use the tools thatrequire re-programming that, inturn, takes more than an hour. Soft-ware now exists that will fully pro-gram a 50-page web-based trainingcourse in less than 10-minutes.

● The Learning Management System(LMS serves as a critical componentof WBT. The LMS delivers the coursesto employees, tracks their progressand quiz scores, allows you to delivercourse sets to any department in yourorganization concerned with specificemployee issues, and allows a secure,hosted to host the courses. The LMSdoes all this, and still permitsemployees to access the courses viayour internal website or intranet!Imagine, no burden on your ITdepartment. Cost for hosted servicesare based on “per user” fees, averageabout $150 for 1000 employees.These cost drop for larger companies,down to the $60 range. Look for apackage that offers an LMS withuser-friendly reports for manage-ment. Choose and LMS that offerseasy and inexpensive customization.Make certain the LMS allows for indi-vidual portfolios for your employeesthat show what courses they havetaken, what their scores they have onquizzes, when they must retake acourse and how long they have tocomplete the course or course set.Also, make sure the LMS can groupcourses into sets – for certificate pro-grams – or based on job functions.

A DIFFERENT VIEW OF TRAINING...

Hopefully, you now have a greaterunderstanding of how web-basedtraining can serve as a superior meansof supporting your Fire ProtectionManagement Plan. With this know-ledge, you can start to focus on all fireprotection issues of concern. You canrest assured that the value of yourtraining dollar will extend to areas ofimprovement, even when only theunexpected can truly measure theeffectiveness of your Master Plan.Imagine, no surprises.


6666

Pic courtesy of Hughes Associates, Inc.

Shop for a vendor that offers course-authoring tools that either supportan SME’s course development, or avendor that has SMEs that knowyour industry and the specific fireprotection issues at hand

P. 35-72 16/10/06 1:00 pm Page 66

There are plenty of reasons to use

Novec 1230 fluid from 3M.

He’s just one.

Introducing 3M™ Novec™ 1230 Fire Protection Fluid—the new standard for halon replacement. Protect what

matters most with Novec 1230 fluid. It’s the long-term, sustainable clean agent that has the greatest margin of safety

of halon replacements. Ideal for use in occupied spaces, it protects high-value assets, has zero ozone depletion

potential, a global warming potential of one and a five-day atmospheric lifetime. Novec 1230 fluid not only meets

today’s regulations but those of the foreseeable future. It is easy to handle and store, and is available for use in

streaming and flooding applications. To view or download product information, visit our Web site at

www.3m.com/novec1230fluid. Or call 800-632-2304 in the U.S. or 32 3 250 7874 in Europe. Created for life.

98-0212-2616-6 3 iEnquiries: www.3m.com/novec1230fluid

P. 35-72 16/10/06 1:00 pm Page 67

The long-term performance ofpassive fire protection in com-mercial buildings is key to them

remaining safe, as the structure and thecompartmentation must be able towithstand the ravages of fire for theprescribed time to allow the occupantsto escape. Firstly a brief reminder ofthe requirements from the BuildingRegulations with regard to fire; build-ings should:

● Be protected from collapse for aspecific period of time

● Be subdivided into areas of manage-able risk

● Have adequate means of escape● Have fire separation between adjacent/

adjoining buildings.

Passive fire protection plays a majorpart in achieving the above objectivesvia the protection of structural steel ina building.

And via the installation of fire ratedbarrier systems such as partitions, firedoors, fire curtains and penetrationsealing systems.

A recent DTI sponsored Partners inInnovation project has found that inexisting buildings the level of structural

steel fire protection is generally accept-able and that any problems are associ-ated with the application phase of thework. These are found with the fixingsystems for boards, the thicknesses ofsprayed cementitious products andvariation in dry film thicknesses ofintumescents.

These problems can be avoided bythe use of third party inspection duringthe application phase of the project.This inspection lends backing for theCertificate of Conformity that is issuedby the installer at the end of the job.Thus for any readers that are currentlyinvolved with the development of newcommercial property you should askthat that the passive fire protection beinstalled by a third party accreditedapplicator as this will ensure a level ofindependent third party inspection.How many readers of this article willhave been brought up with the Beatlesor will at least be aware of their music?

In 1967 the Beatles released theseminal album (for any younger readersthese are now known as CDs!) SergeantPepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Thisalbum contained a track called ‘A Dayin the Life’ whose lyrics contained theline ‘Four thousand holes in Blackburn,

Lancashire…’. You may well now ask,“What does this have to do with thefire protection of modern commercialbuildings?”

Good question, well it is a safe betthat if you went into any sizeableexisting commercial building in Black-burn, or for that matter in any otherlarge town in the UK, you would findmany (perhaps four thousand, perhapsmore, perhaps less) un-stopped holes infire rated partitions where services suchas pipes, fibre optic cables etc. passthrough. This indeed was the finding of the aforementioned Partners inInnovation Project.

These unstopped holes in the mainhave been caused by work carried outafter the installation of the fire ratedpartitions. This may have been due tofollowing trades in the constructionphase of the building, or by renova-tions after the building has been hand-ed over to its owners.

Further on in ‘A Day in the Life’ theBeatles go on to say ‘And though theholes were rather small’, and thus youmight again ask in view of their size,does it matter whether these holes havenot received the appropriate fire stop-ping solution? The answer is that anygap around a service can allow smoke,hot gases and/or flame to pass through


6868

Spray applied cementitious materialsapplied to steel beams. Pic by kindpermission of ASFP member – CafcoInternational.

What do the Beatleshave to do with

Passive FireProtection?

What do the Beatleshave to do with

Passive FireProtection?

What do the Beatles have to do with Passive Fire Protection?To gain the answer to this unlikely sounding question it will be neces-sary for you to read this article and there are no clues at this pointwhere the connection will crop up!

By Graham Ellicott, Chief Executive, Association for Specialist Fire Protection(ASFP)

P. 35-72 16/10/06 1:01 pm Page 68

into the next area. Thus in the event ofa fire the rate of spread is greatly accel-erated by the presence of breached firerated partitions.

The Building Regulations require that“All openings for pipes, ducts, conduitsor cables to pass through any part of afire separating element should be:

● Kept as few in number as possible,and

● Kept as small as practical● Fire-stopped (which in the case of a

pipe or duct, should allow forthermal movement)

As part of the Workplace Regula-tions, as amended in 1999, all buildingoccupiers are required to undertake arisk assessment of their buildings andto maintain the assessment in an up todate manner – even where a Fire Cer-tificate exists for the building. Yetincredibly, a recent survey carried outby the Chief and Assistant Chief FireOfficers Association (CACFOA), high-lighted that as many as 40 per cent ofbuilding occupiers are unaware of theirduty in this matter and that a largerpercentage had simply not undertakenthe work! Have you carried out yourrisk assessment? This risk assessmentwill highlight where any shortcomingsexist in the building’s passive fire pro-tection, but where do you start to lookfor the location of the fire protectionsystems? Firstly refer to the drawings ofthe building, if these are not readily tohand try looking in the CDM (Con-struction Design and Management) file.If they are not there then contact theconstructor of the building, of course if

the building is very old this may beimpossible. In this case you shouldconsider calling upon a competent per-son to come and inspect the buildingand then prepare detailed drawingsshowing the location of the passive fireprotection. In some cases the passivefire protection may also have beenmarked in-situ. Once the drawings havebeen located or created the passive fireprotection should be inspected.

In order to fully inspect the passivefire protection in your building youneed to examine the hidden areas, suchas those above false ceilings.

Having found the areas where thePFP is deficient an action plan shouldbe developed to remedy the problems.

In summary to get the best out ofthe passive fire protection in yourbuilding throughout its lifetime:

● Locate the passive fire protection● Inspect the passive fire protection as

part of your risk assessment● Draw up an action plan to remedy

any deficient passive fire protection

But don’t forget to plan for the future,for instance every time you upgrade yourcomputer network it is likely that fire ratedpartitions will be breached to pass throughnew cabling. In addition any old cablingshould be removed as to leave it in place isto add to the fire load in the building.

By the way the first line of the Beat-le’s ‘A Day in the Life’ is ‘I read thenews today oh boy’.

Would you want your building to beheadline news because it burnt downdue to the lack of properly installedand maintained fire rated passivefire protection?


69

Sealed gaps around services that pass through fire rated barrier systems.

Typical bad practice, a cable tray passes through a fire rated partition that has not been fire stopped. Ask yourself the questionhow would your insurers view this bad practice?

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LPG LAUNCHES NEW AUTOMATIC PRESSURERELIEF DAMPERS

LPG, the Spanish manufacturer of fixed firesuppression systems is expanding it’s rangeof products with the developing of auto-matic pressure relief dampers.

The discharge of a fixed extinguishersystem that uses pressurised gas as theextinguishing agent creates on discharge aconsiderable increase in the volume of gasin the area being protected, thus causing anincrease in pressure in the room. This effect

may cause structural damage to the area being protected, which makesit evident that there is a need to limit this increase in pressure throughthe installation of pressure relief dampers.

LPG pressure relief dampers do not require any type of signal orexternal components in order to work. When a discharge takes place,the increase in pressure within the room causes the dampers to open,thus easing the overpressure. When the pressure decreases, the grillesin the damper close, making the room airtight.

MAIN FEATURES:● Design according to UNE, ISO, NFPA, CEA and BRITISH STANDARD

regulations.● Temperature resistance up to 1000°C for 2 hours.● Adjustable to walls of different thicknesses.● Simplicity of the system.● Automatic action device.● Good level of airtightness.● Aesthetic appearance.

BENEFITS:● Easy to install.● Low inspection and maintenance costs.

The pressure relief area has to be calculated to avoid structuraldamage in the enclosure but without under any circumstances com-promising the capacity for maintaining the concentration of the extin-guishing agent for a period of time sufficient for putting out the fire.

EXPLOSION AND HYDROCARBON FIREThere is currently no legislative requirement within the UK, Europe or USfor structural steel assemblies (where gas, oil and chemicals are not a haz-ard) to have any testing or approval against the effects of explosion and/orhydrocarbon fire. However since the events in New York on September 11th2001 many questions have been asked about the protection of tall build-ings around the world. In order to provide an additional level of confidenceand to address these questions in advance of any specific requirementsFIRETEX M78 has been subjected to the following tests.

Gas Explosion – A universal steel section 254x254x132 Kg/m2, 1.6mtrslong and HpA 90 m-1 was coated with a 90 minute cellulosic fire protec-tion thickness of FIRETEX M78. This was subsequently delivered to Advan-tica Technology (formerly British Gas Technology) who have an outdoortest facility within the R.A.F. base at Spadeadam in the UK. The steel sec-tion was then subjected to a gas explosion generating an overpressure of1697 mbar in a 182 m2 explosion chamber for a duration of 104 msec. Thetest was witnessed by Warrington Fire Research.

Result – Advantica Report No.5539 – The relative severity of this blast testwas demonstrated by the fact that it could only be observed at a safe dis-tance of approximately a quarter of a mile. The test specimen and intu-mescent coating was unaffected by the explosion and Advantica reportedthat “There was no damage to the specimen due to the overpressure gener-ated by the gas explosion”.

Hydrocarbon Fire Testing – Immediately after the blast test WFRC signed anddated the test specimen which was subsequently removed from site for hydro-carbon fire testing. The specimen was then hydrocarbon fire tested (againwitnessed by WFRC) alongside a control specimen coated with the samethickness of Firetex M78 which had not been subjected to the explosion.

Result – WFRC Report No.C128566 – During the H/C fire test the time toreach 550°C for the section which had undergone blast testing was 51minutes and the control section 53 minutes, i.e. no significant difference.WFRC reported “It is noted that the performance under hydrocarbon heat-ing conditions appears to be in the region of 50-60% when compared tothat achieved under cellulosic heating conditions.”

Conclusion – FIRETEX M78 provides additional confidence beyond anylegislative requirements. FIRETEX FB120, M782 and F908 have also beensubjected to the above test regime with similar results and conclusions.

THE HI-FOG TUNNEL SOLUTIONMARIOFF’s HI-FOG tunnel concept is basedon utilising high-pressure water mistsprinklers together with water mist curtains.The sprinklers activate at the location ofthe fire whereas the water mist curtainsrestrict the heat spread and consequentactivation of sprinklers further away fromthe fire. A thermal bulb activated sprinklersystem, divided into zones with water mist

curtains, will self-activate in the right location without complex detec-tion interfaces. This means that the water flow requirement is minimised,small size piping can be used, and installation is straightforward.

In the fire tests carried out by Marioff, the correct zone was quicklyactivated, no additional sprinklers were activated, and the temperatureswere quickly cooled down and kept at safe levels. In order to operate,the system requires no additional detection and the pump-unit for atunnel of 10km would be a similar size to that fitted on a large cruiseship. Any length of tunnel can be economically protected with HI-FOGwater mist. For tunnels with a detection system, a zoned delugesystem is available.

Water mist is ideal in tunnel fire protection thanks to its efficientcooling capabilities. It quickly makes the thermal conditions muchmore tenable for evacuation and for rescue. Fire tests and calculationsshow that there are usually ‘false’ activations of conventional sprinklersystems even at large distances from the fire caused by hot gas cur-rents. This would put enormous demands on the water flow, making aconventional system totally impractical for long tunnels. High pressurewater mist has been proven to operate effectively within typical windconditions of road and rail tunnels.

NON-FLAMMABLE SAFE ENDORSED FASTOIL-FREE NON-DAMAGING

● UL Approved Solo™ Aerosol possesses all thesequalities. Do others?

● Solo™ Aerosol conforms to requirements forboth new BS5839-1:2002:“Since stimulus of the sensing element…formspart of the test, use of a test button or a testmagnet does not satisfy the recommendationsgiven.”“Point smoke detectors should be functionallytested by a method that confirms that smokecan enter the detector chamber and produce afire alarm signal. It should be ensured that thematerials does not cause damage to, or affectthe subsequent performance of, the detector.”And also NFPA 72 1999 Table 7-2:“Detectors shall be tested in place to ensuresmoke entry into the sensing chamber and analarm response”

Product Update ● Product Update ● Product Update

For more information please contact:Leighs Paints

Tel: +44 (0)1204 523723www.wjleigh.co.uk

For more information please contact:LPG Técnicas en Extinción de Incendios, S.A.

Tel: +34 93 480 2925E-mail: [email protected]

For further information, please contact:Marioff Corporation OyTel: + 358 (0)9870 851

www.hi-fog.com

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71

● Solo™ Aerosol, used with the innovative Solo 330 Smoke Dispenser,will ensure correct testing of the detector, without swamping thedetector sensor with smoke particles or leaving a residue.

● Solo™ Aerosol research programme uncovered alarming factsregarding other smoke test aerosols. Flammable ones could igniteand others left a sticky residue on the detectors, which could causedamage the detector plastics or sensitivity drift.

● Solo™ Aerosol – the professional solution

RELIABLE announces the K-22 MagnumEarly Suppression Fast Response Sprinkler(ESFR) which has been optimized for use in13.7 m (45 ft.) high buildings, eliminatingthe need for in-rack sprinkler protection.This sprinkler is intended for protection ofClass I to IV Commodities and Group A andB Plastics, which includes cartoned unex-panded plastics. The K-22 is designed torespond quickly to growing fires with a highvolume of water discharge to suppress ratherthan control fires at lower pressures and

without in-rack sprinkler protection for 10.7 m (35 ft.) to 12.2 m (40 ft.)storage as is required with ESFR sprinklers having nominal K-factors of200 (14.0) or 243 (17.0). The K-22 is Listed by Underwriters Labora-tories Inc. and UL certified for Canada (cULus) for installation inaccordance with National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standardsfor storage heights to 12.2 m (40 ft.) in buildings with roofs/ceilingsup to 13.7 m (45 ft.) high. The K-22 is also Factory Mutual (FM)Approved for use in buildings up to 13.7 m (45 ft.) high with storageheights to 12.2 m (40 ft.) when installed in accordance with FM LossPrevention Data Sheet 2-2 or other FM Installation Standards.

Having a K-factor of only 320 (22.4), the Reliable K-22 ESFR pro-vides K-25 ESFR protection at lower flow requirements. Minimum sys-tem design savings over a K-25 ESFR is 818+ L/min (216+ gpm) forcULus and 908.5+ L/min (240+ gpm) for FM Approval. These lowerflow requirements provide the opportunities to reduce interior andunderground pipe sizes, fire pump sizes, and tank sizes. The K-22enables a maximum ceiling to deflector distance of 457 mm (18 inches),has a R1 (1” NPT) thread, and is available in 68°C (155°C) and 93°C(200°F) temperature ratings.

SAUDI FACTORY FOR FIRE EQUIPMENT CO (SFFECO) is an ISO9001certified manufacturing unit. It is a specialised manufacturer of fireextinguishers, fire hose cabinets and other fire fighting equipment.Having a modern state of the art manufacturing plant in Riyadh hashelped SFFECO build a reputation as being a very professional com-pany as well as being one of the market leaders in the production offire protection products.

Our product range includes, portable and mobile extinguishers, hosereels and cabinets, fire pumps, hydrants, foam, CO2, clean agent sys-tems, fire doors, as well as dry and wet riser equipment.

SFFECO’s decision to seek CE/KITEMARK approval was driven byboth the companies desire to prove it’s product quality and reliabilityand also to satisfy specifiers demands for reputable product certifica-tion. As such, all of our portable fire extinguishers are CE/KITEMARKapproved and certified. Our hose reels are EN671 approved.

SFFECO currently employs over 450 people who each insure theongoing success of the company.

TUNNEL FIRE DETECTION SYSTEMS FROMSECURITON SWITZERLAND

Based in Switzerland, SECURITON has beendedicated to the electronic fire detectionsince 1948. SECURITON develops andmanufactures a large range of different firedetection systems to fulfill broad customerneeds. These range from tunnels, commer-cial buildings, industries, telecommunica-tion, utility stations and others. Today,hundreds of tunnels are protected bySECURITON Fire Detection Systemsworldwide.

Tunnel Fire Detection – Heat Detectionwith Linear Heat Detector The SecuriSens TSC 511 fire detection sys-tem features fast and reliable fire detection. Based on the principle oftemperature differential measuring, efficient operation is guaranteedunder very harsh ambient conditions such as dust, humidity, corrosivegases and high electro-magnetic interference.

The PU-coated sensor cable holds semiconductor type temperaturesensors. The sensors are located at regular distances (typically 7.2 m)and are continuously measuring the ambient temperature. The temper-ature sensors are monitored via the LISA communication bus and con-tinuously polled for the actual temperature value. The TSC 511 systemsoftware evaluates temperature variations and activates alarm signals.The tunnel temperature profile can be visualized on a standard PC.

THE ITALIAN JOBThe State Archives of Venice, includ-ing documents studied by BenjaminFranklin in formulating the AmericanConstitution, is being protected fromthe threat of fire by a VESDA systemfrom VISION FIRE & SECURITY.

VESDA aspirating smoke detectionis the ideal technology to protectvaluable or irreplaceable documents

due to its high level of sensitivity. In this application, not only thedocuments could be irrevocably damaged by fire – the archive is locatedin the ex-monastery of ‘Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari’, dating back tothe 11th Century. Early smoke detection is also vital to prevent poten-tial damage to this valuable historic building.

Sigma Controls, the distributor for VESDA in Italy, worked with theMinistry of Italian Cultural Artefacts, the Commission for the Pro-tection of Venice and the Order of the Engineers of Venice on thetwo-year project to install the fire detection system.

It features 35 VESDA LaserSCANNER detectors, connected to aVESDAnet closed communications loop, controlled by a central panellocated in the Archive control room. The system is linked to Sigma’soffice in Milan via a modem. VESDA LaserSCANNER was chosen forthis application due to its ability to identify which of its four-airsampling pipes detects smoke.

The Archivio Di Stato Dei Frari was founded in 1815 to provide acentral point of storage for the documents of the magistracies andoffices of the Republic of Venice. Some documents go back as far as400 AD, the time of the Roman Empire, and therefore provide aninvaluable source of information for scholars researching Venetian life.

Vision Fire & Security is a member of the Vision Systems Group,which manufactures a range of high-value products, contract engi-neering and technology-based services for worldwide markets. Withheadquarters in Melbourne, Australia, Vision Systems also has officesin the UK (supporting Europe and the Middle East), the USA and AsiaPacific.

Product Update ● Product Update ● Product Update

For more information, please contact: Securiton AG

Tel: +41 31 9101122www.securiton.ch

For more information please contact:SFFECO

Tel: +966 1 265 00 70www.sffeco.com

For more information, please contact: Vision Fire & Security

Tel: +44(0)1442 242 330 www.vesda.com

For more information, please contact: Reliable Fire Sprinkler Ltd Tel: +44 (0)1372 724461

www.reliablesprinkler.com

For further information, please contact:No Climb Products Ltd

Tel: +44 (0)208 440 4331www.noclimb.com

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3M PERFORMANCE MATERIALS DIVISION . . . . . . . . .67

AMERICAN PACIFIC CORPORATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

BST BRANDSCHUTZTECHNIK DOPFL . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

CAFCO INTERNATIONAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

CHEMETRON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

CONTROL LOGIC SRL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

CRANFORD CONTROLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36

DANFOSS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57

DR. STHAMER HAMBURG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

DUPONT EXTINGUISHANTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .IFC

EDWARDS MANUFACTURING INC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54

ESSEX FLUID CONTROLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57

FIREBOY-XINTEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44

FIRE FIGHTING ENTERPRISES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63

FIREPROTECT (CHESTER) LTD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34

FLAMRO BRANDSCHUTZ Gmbh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

FOGTEC GMBH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57

FULLEON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39

FURNACE CONSTRUCTION LTD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34

GREAT LAKES CHEMICAL CORPORATION . . . . . . . . .OBC

HOME SAFEGUARD INDUSTRIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

KIDDE PRODUCTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63

KLAXON SIGNALS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34

LPG TECNICAS EN EXTINCION DE INCENDIOS S.A. . . .48

MACRON SAFETY SYSTEMS (UK) LTD. . . . . . . . . . . . . .59

MARIOFF CORPORATION OY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

METRAFLEX COMPANY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 & 33

METRON ELEDYNE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

MORLEY IAS FIRE SYSTEMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

NFPA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .IBC

NINGBO KAIXUAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43

NO CLIMB PRODUCTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

NOTIFIER FIRE SYSTEMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45

OCV CONTROL VALVES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

PATTERSON PUMP INC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

PILKINGTON DEUTCHLAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

RELIABLE FIRE SPRINKLER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60

SECURITON AG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

SFFECO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40

SVENSKA SKUM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

TORNATECH INC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

THE FIRE SHOP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55

TSS ANSUL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

ULTRA FOG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57

VESTA SRL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51

VETROTECH SAINT GOBAIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

VIMPEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37

WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE . . . . . . . . . . .33

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Spend four energizing days in Dallas next May networking with your

peers from around the world. Decide your future as you vote on codes

and standards that will affect the way you do your job. Participate in

pre-conference seminars and professional development opportunities,

including CEU-accredited courses. Experience the newest technologies

demonstrated by over 250 exhibitors. If you’re a fire protection or life

safety professional, you should be there!

Save the date!Your future may depend on it.

Save the date!Your future may depend on it.

For more information, including how to register and exhibit, visit us online atwww.nfpa.org/meetings or call +1-617-984-7310

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OFC,IFC IBC,OBC 1st 16/10/06 11:08 am Page ibc3

The World’s Most Trusted Choice In Clean Agent Fire Suppression.

www.FM-200.comFM-200 is a registered trademark.FM-200 use is covered by U.S. patent 5,124,053.

©2002 Great Lakes Chemical Corporation

Now is the time to decide which system

you are going to install and when you are

going to install it.

Why Now?

• Allow enough time for a thorough evaluation

• Take control and make the conversion

on your time line, not someone else’s

• Eliminate the last minute rush when demand

for technical resources will be overloaded

and conversion costs at a premium

Why FM-200®?

• Fastest fire suppression system on the market

• Safe for people and sensitive equipment

• Environmentally safe

• Simple to install and occupies up to 7

times less space than an inert gas system

• More than 100 thousand customer

applications in over 70 countries makes

FM-200® the most widely accepted clean

agent in the world

To find out more about why an FM-200

system is ideal for Halon replacement, call

+44 (0) 161 875 3058 or visit www.FM-200.com.

Regulation EC No 2037/2000 on substances that deplete the ozonelayer. Article 4. Paragraph 4 (v) Fire protection systems containinghalon shall be decommissionedbefore 31 December 2003.

(a small number of exceptions are listed in Annex VII in the regulations).

Start thinking about replacingyour Halon systemnow, while you still have time.

www.fm-200.com

OFC,IFC IBC,OBC 1st 16/10/06 11:08 am Page obc4

ifp issue 13

Documents

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