How Much Fire Protection do You Need?
Today’s businesses operate within narrow limits. Just-in-time delivery, the desire for high
levels of productivity, and total facility utilization stress every organization’s operations. Many
companies have the entire operation under one roof with diverse processes and equipment
often too close to each other. The strong push for productivity may cause safety measures to
be overlooked. It is human nature for a busy maintenance staff to delay responding to a report
of a small puddle under an infrequently used machine. After all, the lobby doors are stuck, the
lights are out in the main conference room, and snowmelt must be spread on the sidewalks
soon or they’ll become icy.
What happens, however, when the small puddle turns out to be a flammable solvent leak and
is ignited by a static spark from a passing employee? Depending on the type of fire protection
installed in your facility, the fire could either be contained at the machine or it could spread
throughout the building. The possible loss of your facility and equipment is serious, but it’s
overshadowed by the potential danger to staff and visitors.
What are the chances a fire in your facility will force you to close your doors, possibly forever?
Will customers be waiting for your return? Will your employees seek other jobs? Many small
businesses that experience a serious fire never reopen.
Protection from every possible accident is expensive; however, many facilities don’t require
total fire protection. The design of fire protection systems is a multi-step process beginning
with an assessment of the environment to be protected. Both internal and external
constraints are considered and used to establish performance objectives for the facility. Once
the objectives are established, a system can be designed to meet them.
A properly designed fire protection system impacts many aspects of the construction process.
The addition of smoke or fire walls to segregate high risk or high value areas may provide
adequate protection. Large facilities with a correspondingly high investment may require
active protection like fire sprinklers or special agent suppression systems. These systems use
water or other agents to stop a fire from growing and may even extinguish a fire while
notifying the fire department. A suppression system must be matched to the overall plan. In
some cases, holding a fire to a small area or the room of origin is all that is required. The fire
department can then provide final extinguishment. In other situations, the system must act
quickly to completely suppress a fire. A typical example is a clothing warehouse where a few
minutes of smoke-producing fire may ruin, but not burn, millions of dollars of inventory.
The issue of planning for code compliance is vital in the planning for a new facility or an
addition to an existing facility. However, looking to the local fire and building codes to suggest
a suitable level of fire protection for your facility is not a reliable method of planning. Codes
are minimum standards, and the level of protection they specify may not be consistent with
the special objectives of your particular facility. Continually under revision, fire and building
codes cannot cover every situation. Unusual conditions and special objectives may require
increased levels of protection or exceptions to the existing code. Code exceptions can often be
justified or modifications recommended by a licensed fire protection engineer without
© JDB Engineering, Inc. | York, PA & Hunt Valley, MD | Engineering the Built Environment to Sustain the Natural Environment
compromising fire protection. The fire protection engineer can also assess the level of life
safety features provided in a building (e.g., exiting requirements, levels of required protection
or detection, and the necessity for emergency lighting).
There are the basic minimum code requirements for various types of facilities. Different
facility uses require special considerations in fire protection. For example, office facilities
contain large quantities of paper, plastics, and fabric. The open layout of today’s office
environment may not provide the means to stop the rapid spread of smoke from even a small
fire.
Industrial facilities offer diverse challenges. A small group of hand assemblers produce little
fire hazard. Conversely, complex manufacturing equipment may include molten metals,
flammable liquids under pressure, open flames, and fast-moving automated material-handling
equipment that can easily spread a fire. Large facilities compromise means of egress by their
size alone.
Educational facilities face a multitude of issues. Administrators are challenged to minimize
costs while offering adequate life safety provisions to students and staff. Campuses are often
complex and encompass a variety of uses: chemistry laboratories, classrooms, large public
assembly areas, computer rooms, and supply storage areas. In addition, formulas for dealing
with typically high occupancy rates are further complicated by the young age of the occupants
and their lack of experience in emergency situations.
Medical facilities experience almost continuous change. Today’s spare examination room may
be tomorrow’s Diagnostic Lab containing more than $100,000 worth of high tech equipment.
A protection scheme that is inflexible or expensive to change is more likely to be compromised
by future alterations.
In the end, fire prevention is the best defense. What can you do to reduce fire risk in your
facility, other than install every known method of fire protection? Multiple expensive fire
detection and suppression systems are not typically necessary. Constructing your building with
fire resistant materials like concrete and steel and furnishing it with fire resistant, low smoke-
producing furniture and equipment are only a few of the ways to reduce the risk of fire.
Hazardous conditions may also be avoided through the preservation of adequate aisle space,
appropriate in-process storage and transportation, and prompt maintenance of equipment.
Still, the natural desire for more comfortable furnishings or the need to use hazardous
materials within a building both increase the fire risk. The coordinated use of protection
systems (fire alarm, smoke control, and fire sprinklers) can help compensate for the added
hazards. Just-in-time delivery and high productivity goals can be reached without
compromising the safety of your employees and the longevity of your facility.
© JDB Engineering, Inc. | York, PA & Hunt Valley, MD | Engineering the Built Environment to Sustain the Natural Environment
JDB Engineering, Inc.
www.jdbengineering.com
3687 Concord Road
York, PA 17402
120 Cockeysville Road #101
Hunt Valley, MD 21030
PA: 717.757.5602
MD: 410.771.3433
© JDB Engineering, Inc. | York, PA & Hunt Valley, MD | Engineering the Built Environment to Sustain the Natural Environment
