Standards Round-Up

INSPECTION, TESTING, AND MAINTENANCE OF WATER-BASED FIRE PROTECTION SYSTEMS

NFPA 25 [Standard for the Inspection, Testing, and Maintenance of Water-Based Fire Protection Systems] sets down the minimum requirements for the periodic inspection, testing, and maintenance of water-based fire protection systems for both land-based and marine applications. It does not though address all of the inspection, testing, and maintenance of electrical components of the automatic fire detection equipment for pre-action and deluge systems, which are covered by NFPA 72 [National Fire Alarm Code].

The types of systems dealt with in this Standard include – but are not limited to – sprinkler, standpipe and hose, fixed water spray, and foam water. Water supplies that are part of these systems, such as private fire service mains, fire pumps and water storage tanks, and valves that control system flow are also included. The Standard does not apply to sprinkler systems designed and installed in accordance with NFPA 13D [Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems in One- and Two-Family Dwellings and Manufactured Homes].

ROAD TUNNELS, BRIDGES, AND OTHER LIMITED ACCESS HIGHWAYS

NFPA 502 [Standard for Road Tunnels, Bridges, and Other Limited Access Highways] provides fire protection and fire life safety requirements for limited access highways, road tunnels, bridges, elevated highways, depressed highways, and roadways that are located beneath air-right structures. It does not apply to parking garages, bus terminals, truck terminals, or any other facility in which motor vehicles travel or are parked.

VENTILATION CONTROL AND FIRE PROTECTION OF COMMERCIAL COOKING OPERATIONS

NFPA 96 [Standard for Ventilation Control and Fire Protection of Commercial Cooking Operations] provides the minimum fire safety requirements – preventative and operative – relating to the design, installation, operation, inspection, and maintenance of all public and private cooking operations. The Standard applies to residential cooking equipment used for commercial cooking operations, but does not apply to cooking equipment located in a single dwelling, to facilities where only residential equipment is being used, where fire extinguishers are located in all kitchen areas in accordance with NFPA 10 [Standard for Portable Fire Extinguishers], where the facility is not an assembly occupancy, or where the authority having jurisdiction has approved the installation.

The requirements include – but are not limited to – all manner of cooking equipment, exhaust hoods, grease removal devices, exhaust ductwork, exhaust fans, dampers, fire-extinguishing equipment, and all other auxiliary or ancillary components or systems that are involved in the capture, containment, and control of grease-laden cooking effluent.

Examples of operations that might not require compliance with this Standard include day care centres’ warming bottles and lunches, therapy cooking facilities in health care buildings, churches and meeting operations that are not cooking meals that produce grease-laden vapours, and employee break rooms where food is warmed.

WATER-COOLING TOWERS

NFPA 214 [Standard on Water-Cooling Towers] applies to fire protection for field-erected and factory-assembled water-cooling towers of combustible construction or those in which the fill is of combustible material. It cites a number of factors that should be considered in determining the extent and method of fire protection required for both induced-draft and natural-draft cooling towers: However, when a cooling tower’s structure, fan and distribution decks, louvers, and fill materials are all non-combustible materials, no fire protection is required.

More information on these, and the other recently accepted NFPA Standards, can be found at www.nfpa.org/aboutthecodes/

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