Fire protection engineering is one of the most valuable of all preventative services. Containing a single fire may save thousands or even millions of dollars. Whether you're facing concerns at a commercial, industrial, or residential location, it's wise to inquire about fire protection design services. A professional can help you implement designs to address these four common problems.

Ventilation

Airflow is a double-edged sword. If you employ it properly, ventilation can draw smoke and chemicals away from the location. Conversely, a poorly designed system can feed oxygen into a fire, turning some situations into bombs.

Without extensive studying, modeling, and engineering of a building's performance during a fire, it's impossible to say how an incident might unfold. A professional can help you to think about not only the way systems will work during an event, but they can study what happens if something fails. For example, what occurs if one of the emergency ventilation fans stops functioning because of an electrical failure during a fire?

Barriers to Prevent Spread

The materials in a building will either serve to fuel or delay a fire's spread. Similarly, the layout of the building will direct the fire. This is an especially important concern if there are dangerous materials at a site. For example, a medical clinic might need to prevent fires from reaching oxygen tanks.

When a professional thinks about a design, they want to minimize the ability of the fire to travel in a specific direction. Likewise, they may encourage builders or remodelers to reinforce walls between zones to reduce risks in sensitive areas.

Suppressant Supplies

Whether you're using water or chemical mixtures to suppress fires, you need to have an adequate supply. Depending on the location, you might need a significant supply on hand. For example, a factory might need to build an artificial lake if the available supply from the municipal water system wouldn't maintain sufficient pressure. You need to know how long the available supply will last at maximum usage, and you may have to find other solutions if they won't meet those specifications. No one wants to discover this is a problem in the middle of a fire.

Collapse Scenarios

As much as you want to prevent structural collapse, it's critical to think about what happens if all suppression and containment efforts fail. Does the building collapse inward, or will it collapse toward other structures? Especially with combustible structures, such as ones made of wood, you want any potential failure to not perpetuate the problem.

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