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.
Fire Protection Statistics
Automatic Sprinklers 1 in 16 million sprinklers will leak or accidentally discharge due to mechanical failure. Between 1 and 9 sprinklers are usually required to control a fire. Sprinklers are...
Fire Extinguishers
Portable fire extinguishers can be a first line of defense in the early stages of a fire. With proper training, they can be very effective is preventing a small fire from growing rapidly out of...
Fire Pumps
Fire pumps and fire booster pumps are critical pieces of equipment when it comes to providing an adequate fire protection water supply for many industrial and commercial properties. Fire pumps are...
Static Electricity Control in Flammable Liquid Dispensing
What is Static Electricity Static electricity is one of the prime ignition sources in flammable liquid dispensing operations. Similar to rubbing things together, liquid flow can cause electrons to...
Cafeteria Extinguishing Systems
It is common to find pre-engineered extinguishing systems in commercial cafeterias. These systems serve to suppress grease and oil fires in fryers, grills, hoods, and exhaust plenums. In the past dry...
Small Heavy Duty Mobile Equipment
Heavy Duty Mobile Equipment (HDME) is widely used in mining, lumbering, road building and plant construction. Most HDME has high-pressure hydraulic systems. Smaller equipment, such as logging...
Fire Barrier Designations
Floors and walls designed as fire separations have been recognized for many years as efficient tools for restricting fires to the area of origin or limiting fire spread. Prior to 1900, relative fire...
Fire Statistics
2005 NFPA Fire Statistics: • 1,584,500 fires attended by public fire departments, decrease of 6.1% from 2002 (1,734,500) - ┬╜ of 1976 • 519,500 structure fires, increase of 0.1% from 2002 (519,000) •...
Aerosols
What are Aerosols? Aerosols are grouped into Levels 1, 2 and 3. Level 1 aerosols are predominately water-based (a good example is shaving cream) and their fire hazard is about the same as ordinary...
Maintaining Dry-Pipe Sprinkler Systems
The owner of the large glass plant couldn't remember the last time he tested the building's dry-pipe sprinkler system. The facility had been sitting idle for at least a year, and he had three other...
Incendiarism
Typically, we consider fire protection as a combination of adequate physical protection and implementation of loss control programs which in combination help to reduce the number of fires and...
Electrical Testing
The electrical demands in industrial or commercial buildings vary from simple lighting and heating requirements for an office building to major on-site power distribution centers for a steel mill,...