SPRINKLER SYSTEM SHUTDOWNS
TRAINING NOTEBOOK
IN THE PAST, industrial buildings were generally the only properties with sprinklers. Today, all major construction projects include automatic fire protection. In many suburban and rural communities the sprinklered building is still a relatively new feature. Some communities consider retrofitting existing buildings for fire protection.
When firefighters respond to a fire in a sprinklered building, they preplan for the sprinkler system to be in good operating condition, particularly in light of construction trade-offs—in terms of number of exits, building size, and fire resistance of structural members — common with sprinklered structures.
Whenever fire protection water supplies, sprinklers, fire pumps, or special protection systems are out of service for any reason, a fire protection emergency exists. The property owner must follow specific fire safety procedures. One procedure is notifying the local fire department immediately.
TARGET THE PROBLEM
When receiving such a call, you should know what questions to ask to determine the nature of the impairment. If you do not know, take a message and notify the appropriate fire department member immediately. You should set an appropriate response to an impairment notification in motion just as you would a response to a fire emergency call.
At minimum, a representative of the fire department should visit the affected property. Even if the impairment is relatively minor, the fire official can stress to the property manager or owner that impairments to fire protection are serious. Also, by visiting the affected property, the fire official can confirm and assess the severity of the impairment. This evaluation may call for further fire department action.
An impairment may range from a small section of a sprinkler system shutoff, to extending heads through a newly installed drop ceiling, to a break in an underground water main that has shut off all fire protection to the largest industry in a community.
PREPLAN FOR A SHUTDOWN
You, as a fire department official, must be ready to advise the property owner of ways to minimize the extent of the impairment. You also must be ready to preplan an emergency response to the affected property.
Sometimes the fire department may be notified beforehand of a planned shutdown of automatic fire protection. The following is a quick checklist to use when planning such an impairment to sprinkler systems:
- Tag the sprinkler control valve that is closed.
- Have everything needed to complete the repair—tools, parts, adapters, etc.—on site before shutting any valves.
- Keep as much of the sprinkler system in service as possible by isolating the impaired area using sectional valves or connecting fire hoses to adjoining sprinkler systems from fire hydrants.
- Provide caps or plugs for open pipe
- ends so that ends can be closed quickly in the event of a fire.
- Work without interruption until completion.
- Schedule work during idle periods, when fewer ignition hazards are present.
- Shut down hazardous processes.
- Eliminate all cutting and welding operations.
- Assign responsible personnel to patrol the affected areas where protection is out of service.
- Lay out charged hoselines or provide extra fire extinguishers in the affected areas.
- For multiday impairment the sprinkler repair crew should provide for temporary restoration at the end of its workday.
A larger impairment, such as a water main break in a big industry in town, may necessitate leaving a fire department pumper with firefighters at the plant for the duration of the major emergency. The pumper may be used to supply part of the plant protection in lieu of the plant fire pump or the usual city water connection.
In an emergency impairment, such as a pipe break or a freeze up, a fire department official should visit the property promptly to ascertain conditions and to review the impairment checklist if possible. An emergency impairment may have already resulted in a fire department response through a waterflow alarm; firefighters may be assisting in water removal and cleanup. Agree on a management plant as soon as possible to promptly restore protection. Establish a preplan for the property for the duration of the emergency.
In an emergency impairment, review with employees exactly what happened prior to and during the water shutdown? Be sure that they did not close valves unnecessarily and that they minimized the actual impairment to the best extent possible. Because of their unfamiliarity with the system, employees may operate every valve that they can find during an emergency water leak until water stops flowing.
A TRAINING TOOL
Any impairment to automatic fire protection presents an excellent train-? ing opportunity for firefighters. Local fire companies should visit the facility with the impairment to see what protection is out of service and to establish or review the preplan for the impairment. Firefighters also can refamiliarize themselves with the property and the building information available to them in normal preplans.
Meet the employees who operate the facility. See how the respective fire protection system operates, be it a fire pump, sprinkler system, or halon system. Generally a sprinkler contractor will be on site doing the actual work on the impaired system. Sprinkler system installers are an excellent source of information about system features and operation.
When the fire department is notified* that all work is completed, a return visit to the property is in order. Inspect the work and check the valves to make sure that they are fully opened. If possible, conduct a drain test of the affected system. If an alarm system or a fire pump was affected, make sure that it is properly reset. If an impairment will last longer than a day or two, establish some follow-up procedure to check the status of protection frequently.
Protection when a sprinkler system is in or out of service may mean the difference between a minor fire and a major one. By treating every impairment as serious and cooperating with building management, you can handle the impairment with more ease.
