Monthly Technical Articles
Explore our collection of articles written by engineers, for engineers. Categorized based on the COPE approach to assessing risk within a facility, the archives below contain essential information for the development of engineers in our field.
Changes to the 2010 edition of NFPA 13, Standard of the Installation of Sprinkler Systems
NFPA 13 is the most important standard for the design of automatic sprinkler systems. Fire protection engineers use this detailed standard to determine the design of an automatic sprinkler system....
National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Fire Loss Statistics in the USA for 2008
515,000 structure fires, decrease of 2.9% from 2007 Of these structure fires, 403,000 or 78%, were residential fires A fire department responded to a fire somewhere in the U.S. every 22 sec. ...
Flammable and Combustible Liquids
When trying to determine what liquids need to go into your flammable liquids room, you may be tempted to use the flammable liquid labels that are on some of the liquid containers. However, this...
Fire Suppression System Impairments
Fire Suppression System Impairments Industrial fire suppression systems include automatic sprinklers, gaseous systems as well as foam systems that might be used in aircraft hangars or to protect...
Protection of Information Technology (IT) Equipment
Information technology equipment/systems include computers and peripheral support such as memory, programming, records, storage, and human activities. Guidance can be found in NFPA 75-2009 "Standard...
Suppression Mode Sprinklers (Updated)
Our technical articles, ESFR Sprinkler Summary and Managing Your ESFR Sprinkler System, detailed the history of Early Suppression, Fast-Response (ESFR) sprinklers, provided some installation details...
Liquefaction
Liquefaction, as it relates to earthquakes, occurs when the strength and stiffness of a soil is reduced by the strong shaking caused by seismic events. It more commonly occurs in soils where the...
Corrosion in Sprinkler Systems
Components of a Sprinkler: What Causes Corrosion? Wet and dry sprinkler systems consist of metal pipe, water and trapped or compressed air. Any environment that places oxygen, metal and untreated...
Automatic Sprinkler Protection for Refrigerated Warehouses
When considering fire protection for situations where temperatures are below freezing, automatic fire sprinklers provide the best fire protection advantages; but sprinkler systems use water, and...
Protection for Storage
There are several factors that go into determining sprinkler system adequacy. The main steps are to determine what is being stored, the storage arrangement present, and the distance between this...
Legislative Review An Overview of Codes, Standards and Regulations in CA, CO, CT, FL, GA, IL, MA, MI, MS, NJ, NY, NC, OH, PA and TX
In the November 2008, Sprinkler Age magazine featured its Annual Legislative Review for the United States and Canada. This summary of legislation and codes offers an overview of regulations affecting...
Flammable and Combustible Liquids
You may be trying to determine if you have any flammable or combustible liquids that need any special protection to be stored in your facility. Your first instinct may be to use flammable labels on...