The focus of fire protection has always been to limit the damage a fire can cause. Originally, the goal was to confine fire to a city block. Today’s conventional water systems can confine a fire to a building, a floor and even to the point of containing a fire within a single room. Water was, and still is, the primary tool to control structural fires.
However, with today's technical sophistication, containing a fire to a single area is not always enough. Critical facilities require an even higher level of fire protection. The Fire Detection Installers Association (FDIA) is an organisation of manufacturers, suppliers, and designer-installers, dedicated to providing a higher level of fire protection. FDIA members are specialists in protecting high value special hazard areas from fire.
A small fire, even one contained in a room or controlled by a conventional sprinkler system can cause problems in a critical operation. Most sprinkler systems activate when temperatures reach a pre-set level, often after a fire is established and equipment damage may have begun. Water-based agents are electrically conductive and permit current flow which can damage sensitive equipment. Even with the power off, water discharges often cause equipment problems. Abrupt electrical shutdowns are hard on both equipment and operations; and the clean-up process, mopping up and drying out equipment, is often tedious. Even with this extensive recovery process there is no guarantee the unit will function properly afterwards.
Specialised extinguishing agents
Other specialised extinguishing agents, such as foam and dry chemical powders, extinguish most fires but may have a long lasting effect on equipment. They can even damage equipment not affected by the fire. While very effective fire fighting agents in the right applications, these agents are not normally used to protect sensitive hazards in normally occupied areas.
Fortunately, there are fire protection tools that do protect highly valuable and sensitive areas, clean agent fire suppression systems.
Clean agent systems not only protect an enclosure from fire; they protect the contents as well, including people, documents and equipment. Clean agent systems work on class A, B and C fires and react quickly to extinguish a fire at its earliest stages. Using early detection and rapid extinguishment, clean agent systems eliminate the fire, reduce the damage to equipment, and provide for the safety of people in the fire area.
Clean agents extinguish fires as a gas, giving them the ability to penetrate into cabinets and flow around obstructed areas. It also makes them uniquely suited to protect the electronics hidden inside a piece of equipment, a likely place for a fire to start. By thoroughly flooding the area with a gaseous fire-fighting agent, even obstructed or hard to reach fires are quickly extinguished, usually long before they can be seen. After extinguishment, the agent is readily ventilated from the room along with any by-products of the fire. Unlike water, these fire-fighting agents are nonconductive and noncorrosive, making them safe to use on and around live electrical equipment. There is no residue to clean up, no lingering materials to slowly degrade equipment, and no need for an expensive 'disaster recovery' process. Operations are brought back on-line in a very short time.
Most agents are also safe to use in occupied areas. These agents have undergone extensive toxicity testing to prove they are compatible with people. While ISO14520 recommends always exiting the hazard in the event of a fire, it is important that people not be harmed by the extinguishing system. The US Environmental Protection Agency, in the Significant New Applications Policy (SNAP), provides toxicity guidance for the use of new clean extinguishing agents through the use of LOAEL (lowest observable adverse effect level) and NOAEL (no observable adverse effect level) values.
Protecting valuable assets
The physical benefits of a clean extinguishing agent are many, but a greater value is what their fire-fighting agents can do for business. In today's highly competitive global economy, any interruption or loss of service can be disastrous. The increased reliance on sophisticated electronics, telecommunications and other valuable equipment, requires protecting those assets as effectively as possible. Clean agent systems are the best way to keep critical operations running.
Fires adversely affect business. Industry studies show that 43% of businesses closed by a significant fire never reopen, and another 29% fail within three years.
This is a strong testament to the value of good, effective, fire protection. The immediate effect is lost assets. Most people view assets in terms of tangible items: equipment, computers, supplies and product inventory.
The rand value of these items can range into the millions. In some circumstances the value is immeasurable. Consider the effect of a fire in a museum, a one-of-a-kind piece of equipment, a library or a record storage vault. The lost items are irreplaceable at any cost. For these hazards, fire damage and the collateral damage that can occur with water protection methods is simply unacceptable.
Saving valuables from fire makes good sense. But destruction of tangible assets is only one problem. A study by the Network Reliability Council, an organisation established by the Federal Communications Commission in America found advances in technology have created a higher level of risk exposure. It is no surprise that businesses are highly productive using fewer staff and more sophisticated equipment. The repercussions of a fire, even a small one, have a greater impact today than the same size fire of 10, or even five, years ago.
Clean agent extinguishing systems are not new. For many years, fire protection experts have called upon halon 1301 and carbon dioxide to protect essential property from fire. Halon is no longer available but fortunately there are several good clean agents available in South Africa to continue protecting critical hazards.
In today's world of increasing global competition, simple fire protection may not be enough. Equipment downtime and loss of records, archival storage, and ultimately ongoing operations could have a severe effect on your operation and possibly that of your customers. New detection technologies using a high sensitive smoke aspiration system provide quicker sensing of smoke conditions and early warnings of up to 100 times quicker than conventional detection systems.
For further details contact the FDIA on tel: (011) 397 1618 or e-mail: fdia@fdia.co.za
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