ENERGY AND FIRE SAFETY

ASSIGNMENT 3
Q1. . Write Short notes on the following

(I) FIRE TRIANGLE, PHASE AND SPREAD OF FIRE

FIRE TRIANGLE

The triangle illustrates the three elements a fire needs to ignite:

1. Heat,

2. Fuel,

3. And an oxidizing agent (usually oxygen).

A fire naturally occurs when the elements are present and combined in the right mixture.

A fire can be prevented or extinguished by removing any one of the elements in the fire triangle.

For example, covering a fire with a fire blanket blocks oxygen and can extinguish a fire.

Fire Phase
Insipient stage: At this stage, fire just gets started and a spark is seen

Characterized by: No visible smoke, no flame and very little heat. A significant amount of invisible combustion
particles may be created. This stage usually develops slowly. Particles may be created. This stage usually
develops slowly.

Smoke/ Smouldering Stage: Hidden Smoke comes out.

Characterized by: visible smoke, but no flame and little heat.

Flame Stage: This is the beginning of a fully developed fire

Characterized by: visible flame, more heat, often less or no smoke, particularly particularly with flammable
flammable liquids liquids and gas fires. This stage demands the actuation of fire hydrants.

Heat Stage: This is the fully developed Fire.

Characterized by: Large amounts of heat, flame, smoke and toxic gases are produced. The transition from the
previous stage can be very fast. Only Multiple Hydrants can Control this fire.

Spread of Fire

Conduction: Generally, the movement of fire from one room to another is by direct touch with the material s
present.

Convection: Convection currents carry fire through shafts and vertical circulation areas of buildings. Convection
means through air.

Radiation: Heat Radiation from a building to an exposed surface can cause exposed surface to disintegrate.
Radiation means without physical touch.

(ii) Fire Escape Distances.

1. Every building meant for human occupancy shall be provided with emergency exits sufficient to permit safe
escape of occupants in case of fire or whenever other emergency occurs.

2. Emergency exits shall be located in such a way that the travel distance on each floor shall not exceed 30
meters for every occupancy.

3. Exits shall be either horizontal or vertical type.

4. An exit may be a doorway corridor or passageway to an internal staircase or external staircase, ramps to the
street or to the roof of a building; it may be a horizontal exit leading to an adjoining building at the same level:
Provided that lifts and escalators shall not be considered as exits.
(iii) Types of Smoke Detectors.

There are two types of smoke alarms in general use for smoke alarms:

1. Photoelectric and

2. Ionization.

Photoelectric Smoke Detectors

These detectors use a light source and a light sensor to detect smoke .Once the smoke enters the detection
chamber, the smoke particles block the light beam and partially reflect light onto the sensors. This in turn trips
the alarm..

Ionization Smoke Detectors

This type of smoke detector uses ionized particles to detect the presence of smoke. Each ionization smoke
detector holds a tiny amount of radioactive material, which is placed between two electrically charged plates.

The reaction between these components causes the ionization of air. This in turn creates a current between the
two plates.

When smoke gets into the detector, the current is disrupted and the alarm is triggered.

(iv) Fire alarm systems.

•A fire alarm system is an active fire protection system that controls all the fire alarm modules in a building.

• It is composed of alarm initiating devices (smoke detectors and heat sensors), alarm notification appliances
(sirens or devices that produce loud noises), fire control units (sprinkler systems or fire extinguisher systems),
power supplies and wirings.

• The fire alarm system can be set off automatically by smoke detectors, heat detectors or manually.

• These sensors are set to detect certain levels of heat or smoke that could be an indication of fire. A loud bell or
a siren sometimes accompanied by blinking or flashing lights for individuals who have hearing problems, blasts
to alert occupants in the building.

(v) Wet riser/Dry Riser systems

Wet Riser

• It is kept constantly charged with water, in order that it can provide the same level of protection against a fire
in the upper reaches of taller properties as on the lower floors.

• The wet riser system is charged with water from a pressurized supply, which is often pumped from a storage
tank.
• The wet riser system is similar in design to dry risers and can usually be found in buildings over 50m tall.

Dry Riser

• The system consists of a network of pipes that allow water to be delivered to the upper floors of a building in
the event of fire.

• It comprises of an inlet at ground level that can be accessed by the fire brigade to pump water up into the
building to outlets situated on the landings of each floor.

• This allows a firefighter to attach their hose to any one of these outlets and source pressurized water to set
about extinguishing the fire.

• Dry risers are a requirement of building regulations in occupied buildings over 18m tall.

(vi) Sprinkler system for fire fighting

• A fire sprinkler system is a simple, but key, active component of a domestic or commercial building's fire
protection system.

• Installed in ceilings or side walls, the system consists of a water supply, a water distribution piping system and
sprinkler heads.
(vii) Fire Hose Cabinets (FHC)/Hydrant

• Fire cabinet is designed for theft and vandalism protection in public areas and buildings to safely store fire
equipment such as fire hose rack assembly, fire hose reel and fire extinguisher.

• It is a steel box mounted at any place for firefighting convenience, with simple installation, light weight and
small occupation.

• Fire cabinets also help to protect the equipment inside from dirt and rubbish.

(viii) Fire Extinguishers

• A fire extinguisher is an active fire protection device used to extinguish or control small fires, often in
emergency situations.

• It is not intended for use on an out-of-control fire, such as one which has reached the ceiling, endangers the
user (i.e., no escape route, smoke, explosion hazard, etc.), or otherwise requires the expertise of a fire brigade.

• Typically, a fire extinguisher consists of a hand-held cylindrical pressure vessel containing an agent that can be
discharged to extinguish a fire.

(ix) NBC Rules for fire

1. A building 15 meter above the ground level or exceeding three storeys is considered a highrise structure and
must obtain a certificate of approval from the Director of Fire Force or an officer authorized by him before
commencing the construction of any such structure.

2. The building plan submitted to the authority should indicate all the fire protection arrangements and the
means of access/escape for the proposed building with suitable signs and symbols on the drawings. The same
should be duly signed/certified by a licensed Fire Consultant/Architect.

3. The detailed plan showing the arrangement of booster pumps, pipelines and water-tanks at various levels
should also be submitted to the concerned authority for approval along with other plans and sections of the
buildings.

4. The Chief Fire Officer should examine the safety plan and escape means and forward the reviewed plan to the
sanctioning authority.

Staircase rules

1. Each floor of the building should have two staircase exits for faster evacuation during a fire. This is crucial for
buildings where residential accommodation exceeds 150 sq meters of the floor area and holds a capacity of
20 occupants. Also, the width of the staircases should be at least two meters wide since narrow staircase
heightens the risk of a stampede during evacuation.

Fire-fighting measures

1. Massive static water storage in the form of underground water should be made available in the buildings at
the rate of 1,000 litres per minute. Automatic sprinklers should also be installed in the basements used for
car parking or storage occupancy exceeding 200 meters.
2. Every building with a height of more than 25 metres should have diesel generators which can be used for
controlling fire in the case of power failure.

Lift norms

Apart from the regular lifts used by the residents, high-rise buildings should comprise separate lifts exclusively
for firemen in case of an emergency. The speed of the fire lifts should be higher than the regular elevators. The
speed should be such that the firemen could travel from the ground floor to the top level within a minute.
Q2. What are the fire safety standards and fire safety design guidelines that must be followed for

various multi-storey buildings being constructed?(specially for basement and lobby area)

The design and layout of a building, in conjunction with the materials used and style of construction, play a key
role in preventing the spread of flames and smoke and in allowing the safe evacuation of people from the
premises in the event of a fire.

Architects, designers, building contractors, developers and the owners of buildings are responsible for ensuring
that suitable designs, building techniques and materials are used. The registered managers of care homes and
those responsible for domiciliary care offices should ensure that compliance with appropriate design standards
and guidance is included in fire risk assessments.

Those responsible for care homes and domiciliary care offices have a duty to:

• provide a safe environment in relation to fire safety for all users of the buildings

• ensure that buildings comply with applicable fire regulations, guidance and standards

• ensure that risk assessments are undertaken to determine the appropriate level of fire safety measures

• identify significant findings of the risk assessment and the details of anyone who might be at risk in case of fire

• provide suitable training for staff in fire prevention, in emergency evacuation and in the use of fire-fighting
equipment

Designers and building contractors should:

• ensure the fire integrity of buildings

• provide suitable fire escape routes

• ensure that evacuation times and travel distances are adequate

• fit suitable fire doors and other fire barriers

When considering the design and layout of the premises, designers and the owners of buildings must consider
the following key principles.

• A building should be designed and constructed so that, in the event of a fire, its stability will be maintained for
a “reasonable period”.

• The unseen spread of fire and smoke within concealed spaces (such as service ducts and ceiling or floor voids)
must be inhibited.

• Large buildings should be subdivided into compartments by using accepted fire-resistant materials and
construction standards — this is important in residential buildings such as care homes where compart
metallization aids the evacuation of vulnerable people.

• Walls common to two buildings should be designed and constructed to prevent the spread of fire between
those buildings.

• The roof and external walls of a building should resist the spread of fire from one building to another.

• Building materials that can hasten fire spread should be avoided wherever possible — this includes thatch,
wood shingles and some plastics.
Q3. Explain the types of fire detection and fire suppression systems with suitable diagrams.

FIRE DETECTION SYSTEM

A fire detection system is a system of alerting devices that takes a signal from fire detection equipment or
extinguishing equipment and alerts the occupants or authorities of a possible fire. They can detect the following
phenomenon.

1. Flame 2. Heat 3. Smoke

1. Flame Detector-

• A flame detector consists of an optical detector to find and respond to the presence of flame fire; through the
U.V and infrared rays coming out of flame.

• A flame detector is used where instant response is required; have high temperature working area, working
with highly combustible material and for unattended machinery space.

• The drawback of such a fire detector is that; it only work in case of flame fire with a tendency to give false
alarm for arch welding in vicinity.

2. Heat Detector

• A heat detector is a device used to detect presence of fire under condition; where a smoke detector is not
suitable such as with environment full of dust or moisture.

• It is a cost effective robust structure that protect against fire; even under variable or harsh environmental
condition.

• A heat detector is mostly used where protection of property is a key criteria; as it does not detect presence of
smoke which accounts for the majority of fire related death.
3. Smoke Detector-

• A smoke detector identify the presence of fire by detecting the presence of smoke as its byproduct in the
surrounding.

• A smoke detector can be based on photo electric or ionization principle.

• A photo electric type detector use a light source, light detector and an insect screen to detect presence of
smoke.

• An ionization smoke detectors are more sensitive to smoke produced from live fire; whereas a photo electric
types are more sensitive towards smoke produced during smouldering stage of the fire.

• A smoke detector is installed in place where; the possible fire hazard is believed to produce considerable
smoke to be detected

FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEM

Fire Suppression Systems are used to extinguish, contain, or in some cases, entirely prevent fires from spreading
or occurring.

There are three main types of suppression systems; these are

1- water 2- inert gases 3- chemical agents.

1- Water Systems

This is the most commonly used fire suppression system and is what is mostly used in buildings in the form of
sprinkler systems. This type of system can be wet or dry.

A sprinkler system is always ‘charged’, meaning that there is water in the pipes at all times. It will generally be
automatic and will activate if the sensors sense smoke or high temperatures.
A dry system is a manual system; it will only work once it is connected to a standing pipe. Another type of water
system is an aqueous film forming foam that can be sprayed over the fire.

It acts very quickly and will cool the flammable materials fuelling the fire quickly and efficiently. It will also stop
flammable vapours from emerging, further reducing the fire until it is out.

2- Inert Gases

This type of system involves filling an area with an inert gas. Fires require oxygen to breath; by filling an area
with an inert gas, we can smother the fire.

3- Chemical Systems

• Chemicals can be either wet or dry. Generally, this type of system is also automatic, although can be set up to
be manually activated.

• In some situations, materials may react badly to a water or inert gas system, so a chemical system is best used.