Fire Protection :: Fire Suppression :: Fire Extinguishers

Fire Protection ~ Fire Suppression

Fire protection is the study and practice of mitigating the unwanted effects of fires. It involves the study of the behaviour, compartmentalisation, suppression and investigation of fire and its related emergencies, as well as the research and development, production, testing and application of mitigating systems.

In structures, be they land-based, offshore or even ships, the owners and operators are responsible to maintain their facilities in accordance with a design-basis that is rooted in laws, including the local building code and fire code, which are enforced by the Authority Having Jurisdiction. Buildings must be constructed in accordance with the version of the building code that is in effect when an application for a building permit is made. Building inspectors check on compliance of a building under construction with the building code.

Once construction is complete, a building must be maintained in accordance with the current fire code, which is enforced by the fire prevention officers of a local fire department. In the event of fire emergencies, Firefighters, fire investigators, and other fire prevention personnel called to mitigate, investigate and learn from the damage of a fire. Lessons learned from fires are applied to the authoring of both building codes and fire codes.

In the United States, this term is used by engineers and code officials when referring only to active and passive fire protection systems, and does usually not encompass fire detection systems such as fire alarms or smoke detection.

Classifying fires  

 

When deciding on what fire protection is appropriate for any given situation, it is important to assess the types of fire hazard that may be faced.

Some jurisdictions operate systems of classifying fires using code letters. Whilst these may agree on some classifications, they also vary.
Below is a table showing the standard operated in Europe and Australia against the system used in the United States.

	Australia	European	United States
	Class A	Class A	Class A
	Class B	Class B	Class B
	Class C	Class C
	Class D	Class D	Class D
	Class E	(Class E) not in  use	Class C
	Class F	Class F	Class K

 

Type of Fire (US)
Class A Fires that involve flammable solids such as wood, cloth, rubber, paper, and some types of plastics.
Class B Fires that involve flammable liquids or liquefiable solids such as petrol/gasoline, oil, paint, some waxes & plastics, but not cooking fats or oils
Class D Fires that involve flammable gases, such as natural gas, hydrogen, propane, butane
Class C Fires that involve combustible metals, such as sodium, magnesium, and potassium
Class E Fires that involve any of the materials found in Class A and B fires, but with the introduction of an electrical appliances, wiring, or other electrically energized objects in the vicinity of the fire, with a resultant electrical shock risk if a conductive agent is used to control the fire
Class K Fires involving cooking fats and oils. The high temperature of the oils when on fire far exceeds that of other flammable liquids making normal extinguishing agents ineffective.

 

Resource:
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia