Fire prevention measures are typically used to minimize or reduce the danger of a fire.
The National Fire Protection Association NFPA (a United States organization tasked with establishing and maintaining minimum standards and specifications for fire prevention and suppression practices, training, and equipment, as well as other life-safety codes and standards) and local building fire codes set the standards for fire protection implementation and design.
The following are the various forms of measures:
– Life protection is paramount.
– Fire defense that is passive
– Defense from active fires
– Firefighting is performed manually.
Security of Life
Fire prevention measures mandated by house, fire, and life safety codes are usually referred to as life safety measures. The main aim of these codes is to make certain that:
– The passengers are able to leave the station without being subjected to dangerous or inhumane conditions (thermal exposure, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, soot, and other gases).
– Firefighters can safely perform a rescue and avoid a fire from spreading.
– People (including firefighters) who are likely to be in or near the building are not at risk if it collapses.
– Fire protection systems have the following performance elements to achieve these goals:
– Detect a fire as soon as possible.
– A fire should be reported to the building’s occupants and/or the fire department.
– Make sure an exit has enough light (emergency lights).
– Exit signs that are illuminated should be given.
– All sections of a building should have fire-separated exits within acceptable travel distances. These exits must all lead to the building’s exterior.
– To avoid fire spread, provide fire separations between building floors and high-hazard spaces.
– To prevent structural components from failing due to fire exposure, provide passive protection.
– Defense from passive fires
– Wall assembly with fire door, cable tray penetration, and intumescent cable coating that is fire-resistant.
– Passive fire safety is a series of static measures designed to prevent a fire from spreading and to withstand the impact of a fire. These are the most effective strategies for protecting people and property in a building from a fire.
This form of defense limits a fire to a particular area or guarantees that the building remains protected for a set amount of time after it has been exposed to fire. Its popularity stems from the fact that it is a reliable method of defense that does not necessitate human interference or equipment activity. Fire-stopping, fire separations, equipment spacing, noncombustible construction materials, low-flame-spread/low-smoke-development rated materials, substation grading, and the placing of crushed rock around oil-filled equipment are all examples of passive safety.
The degree of passive security for a building structure will be calculated by the area’s occupancy and the structural integrity needed. In order to protect people and property, a building’s structural integrity is important. A major concern is a building’s premature structural collapse before the tenants can evacuate or the fire department can put out the fire. Any of the standards for structural fire resistance would be given by building and electrical codes. Recommendations for these steps in substation design are included in IEEE 979.
Defense Against Active Fires
Active fire prevention systems are automated fire safety devices that alert occupants to the presence of a fire and extinguish or monitor it. These steps are meant to extinguish or regulate a fire at its earliest stage without endangering people or property.
Building and insurance authorities have widely acknowledged and embraced the advantages of these schemes. When automated suppression devices are installed, insurance firms have seen a substantial reduction in losses.
An extinguishing agent supply, control valves, a distribution system, and fire detection and control equipment make up an automatic suppression system. The agent supply could be practically infinite (as with a city water supply for a sprinkler system) or limited (such as with a water tank supply for a sprinkler system). Deluge valves, sprinkler valves, and halon control valves are all examples of agent control valves. The agent delivery systems are a series of piping, nozzles, or generators that apply the agent to the hazard area in a suitable form and quantity (e.g., sprinkler piping and heads).
The devices used to detect and control fires may be mechanical or electrical. These systems can either use a fire detection system, such as sprinkler heads, or they can use a separate fire detection system. These active fire suppression systems detect a fire, warn the authorities, and activate the distribution system. Wet, dry, and pre-action sprinklers, deluge systems, foam systems, and gaseous systems are examples of active systems.
IEEE 979 includes detailed explanations of each of these systems, as well as code references and implementation suggestions.