Category: NFPA Journal

Sprinkler controls fire in assisted-living unit Tremblay, Kenneth J COLORADO A single sprinkler controlled a fire that began when a couch was intentionally ignited in an assisted-living apartment. No one in the unit was injured, and all the fire suppression and detection systems operated properly. The complex, which had multiple additions, included an independent-living apartment […]

Limiting velocities Fleming, Russell P When it comes to estimating pressure loss through piping different methods work best for different applications. One of the recurring concerns with designing water-based fire suppression systems is the need for velocity limits. Part of the debate focuses on possible limitations of the Hazen-Williams equation as the method of determining […]

Fire Testing Ethanol Fuels Colonna, Guy IN 2005, THE U.S. ENERGY POLICY ACT ESTABLISHED INITIAL TARGETS FOR INTRODUCING RENEWABLE FUELS, AMONG THEM ETHANOL FOR USE AS A FUEL, PURE ETHANOL is transported from the ethanol plant where it is manufactured to blending facilities where it is denatured, or rendered unacceptable for human consumption, by mixing […]

Candle ignites decorative linen over bed Tremblay, Kenneth J FLORIDA When a candle ignited bedding in a condominium on the top floor of an 11-story building, the occupants had the presence of mind to close the front door when they left the unit, thus limiting smoke damage to the condominium. The unsprinklered, 85-unit concrete structure […]

Hub of the far east Reese, Shelly To call the HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT an airport is a bit like calling the Siberian tiger a cat or the Grand Canyon a crater. It’s technically accurate, but falls woefully short in capturing the project’s scale and grandeur. * SHELLY REESE Built on reclaimed land off the […]

Cutting torch heats metal bolts, igniting wooden structure Tremblay, Kenneth J MERCANTILE GEORGIA A fire damaged an unoccupied university office building under renovation when a worker using a cutting torch to remove metal stairs unintentionally started a chain of events that led to a concealed fire in a wall space. The fire burned undetected, spreading […]

Lodging Industry WEB SITE: http://www.nfpa.org/lodging CHAIR: vacant HOT ISSUES Nominating Committee Report Elections for the section Executive Committee will take place at the section business meeting, to be held at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 25, in conjunction with the NFPA World Safety Conference and Exposition(TM). Nominating Committee Chair April Berkol submitted the following nominations: […]

dust: When a nuisance becomes deadly Spencer, Amy Beasley Many people never knew sugar could explode until February 7, 2008, when an explosion rocked the Imperial Sugar Company in Port Wentworth, Georgia, killing 13 people and injuring 40. Located just outside Savannah, this 91-year-old facility processed granulated and powdered sugar. While this incident is still […]

Foam use in aircraft hangars Reese, Shelly When it comes to aircraft hangars there are two ways of describing fire protection requirements. One focuses on classifying properties and boils down to a simple matter of scale: big, bigger, biggest. The second delves deeper into the financial implications of the fire protection requirements applied to those […]

Home Safe Huggins, Roland OVER THE LAST 20 YEARS, advances in the residential sprinkler have provided steadily decreasing discharge densities. In May 2000, however, a tentative interim amendment (TIA) to NFPA 13, Installation of Sprinkler Systems, required residential sprinklers to have a minimum density of 0.1 gallons per minute/square foot (gpm/sf), or 0.3785 liters per […]