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Fire Protection for Flammable and Combustible Liquids
1. Introduction: The hazard of flammable and combustible liquids comes from the vapours evaporated from the liquid rather than from the liquid. When a flammable or combustible liquid is heated to a temperature above the flash point, vapours evaporated from the liquid can be ignited and burn. Since, by definition, most flammable liquids are stored [...]
Selection and Sizing of a Fire Pump for Sprinkler System
This blog outlines a process to determine if a fire pump is needed for the sprinkler system and explains how to select a fire pump that meets the required pressure and flow. The need for a fire pump should be decided ideally when project scope is being developed. For better understanding of the process, definitions [...]
Protecting Adjacent Buildings
When it comes to the protection of adjacent buildings, commonly used terms such as Exposure Protection and Spatial Separation should be familiar to most. The need to protect adjacent buildings arises from the possibility of spread of a fire from the building of origin to a neighbouring building/structure due to heat exposure from the fire [...]
Low, Medium, and High Expansion Foam Systems
1. Introduction: Foam systems use Low, Medium, and High Expansion foam concentrates to discharge foam into protected areas. Finished foam is a stable mass of small bubbles of lower density than most flammable liquids and water. Foam is a blanketing and cooling agent that is produced by mixing air into a foam solution that contains [...]
Determining Water Supply Requirements for Rural Firefighting
An underlying firefighting assumption building codes make is that firefighting measures (full time or volunteer) are available to all buildings. Building codes do not assume that a specific level of firefighting protection will be provided (i.e. minimum equipment available, water capacity, pumping capacity, manpower, response time, etc.). The code assumes that between 10-30 minutes could [...]