Fire Protection

Standards

• Applied Fireproofing

  Spray-applied fire-resistive materials (SFRM) and intumescent fire-resistive materials (IFRM) applied to structural steel, structural concrete, and composite steel deck to achieve hourly fire-resistance ratings required by the International Building Code. Covers cementitious SFRM and mineral-fiber SFRM applied to concealed structural framing, and intumescent mastic and thin-film intumescent coatings applied to exposed-to-view structural steel where architectural finish is required. Addresses surface preparation, primer compatibility, application thickness based on W/D and A/P ratios, density, bond and cohesion/adhesion, in-place verification per AWCI Technical Manual 12-A, ICC-ES AC23 acceptance criteria, and inspection of installed work prior to concealment by ceilings, walls, and finishes.

• Clean Agent Fire Suppression Systems

  Engineered and pre-engineered gaseous total-flooding clean-agent fire extinguishing systems that protect high-value, mission-critical, or water-sensitive enclosures by discharging an electrically non-conductive, residue-free agent that suppresses fire without wetting or contaminating the protected contents. Covers both families of agent recognized by NFPA 2001 — halocarbon agents (such as HFC-227ea and the fluoroketone FK-5-1-12), which extinguish primarily by heat absorption, and inert-gas agents (such as IG-541, IG-55, and IG-100), which extinguish by reducing the oxygen concentration below that needed to support combustion. Addresses agent selection, design concentration and the NOAEL/LOAEL occupant-safety margins, cross-zoned detection and the releasing control unit, manual release and abort, agent storage containers and distribution piping and nozzles, discharge time and minimum hold (soak) time, enclosure integrity verified by a door-fan (enclosure-integrity) test, pressure-relief venting of the enclosure, and acceptance testing and commissioning. Typical protected spaces include data centers and server rooms, telecommunications and equipment rooms, control rooms, electrical and switchgear rooms, and museum, library, and archival storage.

• Commercial Kitchen Hood Fire Suppression

  Pre-engineered, wet-chemical, fixed-nozzle fire-extinguishing systems that protect commercial cooking operations — the cooking appliances, the hood plenum, and the exhaust duct — in restaurants, institutional and commercial kitchens, cafeterias, and similar food-service occupancies. Covers the potassium-based wet-chemical agent and its storage cylinder, the cartridge (nitrogen) actuation and regulated-release mechanism, the appliance-specific nozzle and distribution-piping network sized by flow points, automatic detection by fusible links or thermal detectors and manual pull-station actuation, the fuel and power shutoff interlock (gas valve and electric-appliance shutoff) and exhaust-fan operation on discharge, the interface to the building fire alarm system, and the listing, acceptance testing, and semiannual inspection and maintenance program (including fusible-link replacement). The system shall be listed to UL 300 and shall comply with NFPA 96 and NFPA 17A. Applicable to systems protecting fryers, ranges, griddles, broilers, char-broilers, woks, tilt skillets, and similar grease-producing appliances under a Type I (grease) hood.

• Dry-Pipe Fire Sprinkler Systems

  Automatic dry-pipe sprinkler systems designed to NFPA 13, in which the piping downstream of a dry-pipe valve is held under supervisory air or nitrogen because the piping is exposed to freezing. Covers the decisions that exist only on a dry system: the dry-pipe valve and its trim, the quick-opening device, the supervisory gas source and its pressures, water delivery time, pitch and low-point drainage, the corrosion consequences of a wet-and-dry pipe interior, the provisions for piping in refrigerated spaces, and the trip test and 24-hour air leakage test that prove the installation.

• Fire Pumps

  Stationary fire pump assemblies installed under NFPA 20 to supply automatic sprinkler systems, standpipe systems, combined sprinkler and standpipe risers, water spray systems, private hydrant mains, and the water side of foam-water and foam systems, wherever the available supply cannot deliver the system demand at the required pressure. Covers the listed centrifugal fire pump in its horizontal split-case, end-suction, vertical in-line, multistage multiport, and vertical turbine forms; the listed electric motor or diesel engine driver, with the engine's cooling, exhaust, fuel supply at the engine, starting batteries, and battery chargers; the jockey pump and its own controller; the suction and discharge piping and trim inside the pump room, including the listed control and check valves, the relief valves, the hose valve test header or flow meter loop, the gauges, and the automatic air release on the casing; the NEC Article 695 power source arrangement stated as a design requirement; the supervisory signals the assembly sends to the fire alarm system; the fire pump room provisions of NFPA 20 Chapter 4; the certified factory curve; the field acceptance test of NFPA 20 Chapter 14; warranty; and spare parts.

• Metal Wall Panels

  Exterior metal cladding installed on the above-grade wall enclosure of commercial, institutional, and multifamily buildings. Covers the four principal panel families — factory-foamed insulated metal panels (IMP), single-skin formed and profiled panels, metal composite material panels (MCM/ACM), and flat plate or cassette panels — installed as concealed-fastener or exposed-fastener systems and, where specified, as pressure-equalized or drained-and-back-ventilated rainscreens. Addresses the air, water, structural, thermal, and fire performance the assembly shall demonstrate; the metal substrate and its gauge or thickness; the core and insulation type; the coil and panel finishes with their weathering warranties; the attachment, sub-girt, and support framing; the panel joints and sealants; the interface to flashing, trim, and the air/water barrier behind the panel; and the laboratory and field testing that verifies the installed wall. Addresses the NFPA 285 fire-propagation triggers in the IBC that govern combustible-core panels on Type I through IV construction.

• Portable Fire Extinguishers and Cabinets

  Portable (hand-carried and wheeled) fire extinguishers and their mounting hardware, brackets, and cabinets installed throughout commercial, institutional, industrial, mercantile, assembly, and residential buildings to provide a first line of manual fire suppression by occupants and staff. Covers extinguisher selection by fire class (A, B, C, D, K) and occupancy hazard level, UL fire rating and agent type, distribution and travel-distance layout, mounting heights and brackets, recessed/semi-recessed/surface-mounted and fire-rated cabinets, identification and signage, installation, and the inspection/maintenance/hydrostatic-test program required to keep the units in service.

• Pre-Action and Deluge Sprinkler Systems

  Automatic sprinkler systems designed to NFPA 13 in which the piping downstream of a pre-action or deluge valve is normally dry and water is admitted by a releasing control unit acting on a fire detection signal rather than by the opening of a sprinkler alone. Covers the decisions that exist only on these systems: the system type (non-interlock, single-interlock, and double-interlock pre-action, and deluge), the releasing detection and its initiating logic, the releasing control unit and its listing for releasing service, the release actuation of the valve, manual release and any release delay, the auxiliary functions tied to a release, the pre-action or deluge valve and its trim, the supervisory gas and its supply on a pre-action system, the water delivery time of a double-interlock system, the open discharge devices and zoning of a deluge system, and the trip test, releasing sequence tests, and air leakage test that prove the installation.

• Standpipe Systems

  Standpipe and hose systems installed in buildings to provide a fixed water supply for manual fire-fighting operations by fire department personnel and, where the system class provides for it, by occupants. Covers Class I, Class II, and Class III systems of the automatic-wet, automatic-dry, semi-automatic-dry, manual-wet, and manual-dry types, on dedicated risers and on combined sprinkler/standpipe risers. Addresses system classification, pressure limits and zoning, the demand at the hydraulically most remote hose connection, hose connection locations and mounting, hose valves and threads, pressure-regulating devices and their test drain riser, occupant-use hose stations, identification signage, the standpipe required during construction, and the flushing, hydrostatic, flow, and device acceptance tests that put the system into service.

• Wet-Pipe Fire Sprinkler Systems

  Automatic wet-pipe fire sprinkler systems designed under NFPA 13 for commercial, institutional, industrial, high-rise, and multi-family residential buildings, together with the requirements common to every automatic sprinkler system that the dry-pipe and pre-action layers build on. Covers occupancy hazard classification, the design approach, design density and area, hose stream allowance and water supply duration, the water supply basis, pipe arrangement, the hanging and seismic bracing policy for sprinkler piping, sprinkler selection (type, thermal response, temperature rating, K-factor, finish, and corrosion resistance), flexible sprinkler connections, the wet-pipe riser, floor and zone control assemblies, alarm and supervisory provisions, freeze-exposed pockets on a wet system, acceptance testing, warranty, and the spare sprinkler cabinet.

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