One of the early test programs to study the performance of sprinklers for tunnel protection was conducted in the Ofenegg tunnel in Switzerland in 1965. The tunnel was an old single track railway tunnel, 4 m wide at the base and 6 m high. Three fire sizes obtained with aircraft petrol fuel were used in the test with following specifications: (a) 100L and 6.6 m2 pool size; (b) 500 L and 47.5 m2 pool size; and (c) 1000 L and 95 m2 pool size. Two lines of sprinklers were installed on the ceiling of the tunnel. The water capacity was 19 L/(min m2). There was no information on the sprinkler system activation time.
The fires developed very quickly during the tests and the maximum temperature was reached 1 to 2 minutes after ignition. Temperatures in the tunnel were quite high with maximum temperatures near the ceiling ranging from 1200 degree Celsius to 1400 degree Celsius prior to sprinkler activation.
The sprinklers were able to extinguish all of the fires within a short period of time. But, a significant quantity of hot steam was obtained during fire suppression. Visibility was found to decrease because of hot steam and cooling of the smoke layer by the sprinklers’ discharge. Smoke and hot steam were pushed a considerable distance from the fire site, resulting in higher temperatures than without sprinklers at some locations in the tunnel.
After the fire was extinguished, the fuel continuously evaporated with the vapour spreading along the tunnel. The vapour was re-ignited in the
The pyrotechnics that ignited the fire were designed to spray sparks 15 feet for 15 seconds. The two that were mounted at outward angles ignited foam that had
The department decided to investigate this particular topic to determine which nozzle would be more beneficial when a firefighter is in a burning commercial structure. The smooth bore shoots out more water per second but at a straight stream. The combination nozzle shoots out more water droplets at a wider stream. Both processes are functional when putting out a fire. However, the combination nozzle can act as a barrier or wall against flames and smoke because it shoots at such a wide pattern. At the same time because the combination nozzle system shoots out water droplets, the droplets produce steam. The steam that is now present is more harmful to firefighters, which can be prevented by keeping the smooth bore nozzle in place.
You have asked the following question: “We have a high school project with a noncombustible gymnasium. The entire school is protected with a fire sprinkler system per NFPA 13. The angled seating structure is stair stepped concrete to allow for elevated seating. The area under the seating is designated as storage with full height doors and has an angled inverted stair step ceiling. Does this storage area under the seating require fire sprinkler protection?” In response to your question, we have reviewed NFPA 13, 2013 edition that you indicated as the applicable standard. Our informal interpretation is that fire sprinklers are installed throughout the premises and would be required for the storage area.
The fire escape became more than an emergency exit in a burning building. It is used for everything from outdoor to dining to sleeping and gardening, opening up the home to the surrounding city like a “porch in the sky” or “private get-away”.
The history of fires goes back to the 17th century. They were called, “Fire buckets”. They came into existence because there was no fireman. Fire buckets were people organizing themselves like a human chain with buckets passing around. There was at least two to three buckets full of
Fireline intensity and rate of spread
Fire sprinklers have been around since the late 19th century yet the technology has been slow to be adopted in residential construction. The main reason for the slow adoption is due to strong resistance from homebuilders
Keywords: Howard Street Tunnel fire, hazardous material, Incident Command System, Incident Commander, Span of Command, Command and control process
Within the United States there are five different types of construction. Firefighters need to know and understand each of them. Every construction type have fire resistant weaknesses, these weaknesses will result in fire spreading in the building. If firefighters understand how the fire will spread, then understand how to extinguish the fire faster and more importantly firefighters are better protected from injuries or worse. In America all buildings are associated with one of the types of construction, identified by Roman number. The building codes are, fire resistant (type I), combustible (type II), ordinary construction (type III), heavy-timber construction (type IV) and wood-frame construction (type V). It is important to remember that all buildings are not the same. Each different building construction type will burn much differently than the others do. In order to be able to size-up a building 's fire hazard, firefighters need to be able to understand a buildings contents and construction. Materials that are stored inside of the building and also materials used to construct the building will both fuel the fire. Also know that if a structure is vacant or if the contents in the building are not combustible, the main fire hazard is the building. The scale of the construction types are scaled according to the fire load of combustible material that was used for its construction. A fire resistant building is constructed with least amount of combustible materials, and a
As stated above, the Baltimore tunnel fire was successfully managed, since there were neither serious injuries nor fatality. However, the general consensus from the fire aftermath reflection or lessons learned are that the city needed an upgraded emergency preparedness policy on hazardous spills and fires in enclosed spaces; in addition, the critics also called for an improved process and protocol for the dissemination of evacuation information to the Baltimoreans. Truly, had the cargo on board the derailed CSX freight train being hazardous, the outcome of the Baltimore fire would have been disastrous. The case studies depicted moments of near misses that could have resulted in fatalities or serious injuries had the fire been more threatening.
Although the automatic sprinkler system is the most widely used type of fire protection system, it does have its limitations and uses inside certain building types. As previously stated, it is generally used in commercial buildings. This is because there are usually no special hazardous materials in these buildings, or any large quantity of materials that would react negatively with the application of water. It is installed in buildings such as hospitals, schools, and office buildings for life safety first, then building preservation. Since a proper functioning sprinkler system will reduce the fire size and prevent its spread, it will allow for more time of evacuation for these buildings. This is especially useful in hospitals and nursing home settings where there may be a large number of
Although the automatic sprinkler system is the most widely used type of fire protection system, it does have its limitations and uses inside certain building types. As previously stated, it is generally used in commercial buildings. This is because there are usually no special hazardous materials in these buildings, or any large quantity of materials that would react negatively with the application of water. It is installed in buildings such as hospitals, schools, and office buildings for life safety first, then building preservation. Since a proper functioning sprinkler system will reduce the fire size and prevent its spread, it will allow for more time of evacuation for these buildings. This is especially useful in hospitals and nursing home settings where there may be a large number of immobile people that require time to move to a more safe location. The automatic sprinkler system is also used in buildings such as warehouses. It is used here due to the large amount of combustible material that goes along with mass storage.
The fire of pumps set in action diesel was placed into the manual control mode because of the presence of divers in the water around the platform. This practice was more conservative than the policy of company and report about the revision of fire-prevention protection into 1983 was recommended so that this practice would be stopped.
Blast protection, until recently, has only needed to be considered when constructing underground shelters and military bunkers. Currently, however, there is a need for urban buildings and similar structures used consistently by the general public to withstand forces from nearby explosions. This need is due to the recent climb in terrorist attacks in urban or crowded environments. These attacks have used the lack of blast resistance in these buildings as a means for creating widespread havoc through detonating an improvised explosive device (IED). These devices range from explosives planted inside a structure to roadside or vehicular bombs. An urban environment causes even relatively small explosions to be extremely potent
Buildings with atrium are big challenge for smoke ventilation system, because if fire is initiated in atrium by any different causes at any level of atrium where there is amount of fuel to maintain steady heat release rate, there is probability that the fire will be maintained.