17 Sep

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 [...]

03 Sep

Selection and Sizing of a Fire Pump for Sprinkler System

Sumir Pattoo

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 [...]

15 Jul

Protecting Adjacent Buildings

Jithin Kurien

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 [...]

07 Jun

Low, Medium, and High Expansion Foam Systems

Sumir Pattoo

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 [...]

28 May

Determining Water Supply Requirements for Rural Firefighting

Kevin Kaye

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 [...]

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