Fire Protection - Lowry Premises - Case Study Example

Running Head: Fire protection Name: Institution: Course: Title: Date of submission: Introduction Fire protection in the world has been in place since the times of the ancient Rome, at this time the emperor ordered that the city be built making use of the passive fire protection methods such as living spaces between buildings and make use non-combustible building materials. The fire protection became a displine in the 20th century which was identified outside civil and mechanical engineering, this was due to the threat forced by the industrial revolution. Industrial revolution was seen as a potential ground for the fire catastrophes, which might result to disasters if not checked, hence a measure to address this problem before it runs out of control was needed (Burke 2007). The first bachelor’s degree on fire protection was offered in 1903 by what is now known as Illinois Institute of Technology. In the last century building codes have been changed to allow for protection of peoples and properties against fire in buildings are it private or public houses. During its inception the profession of fire protection was unique to its field of operation but it growth was boosted by the institute of fire protection in United Kingdom and the establishment of the society of fire protection engineers. Retrieved from http://www.thelowry.com/about-the-lowry/ on 3rd 5 2010 Lowry premises deals with advertising on to put up structures and buildings which are well protected from fire outcomes and it was started in the early 20th century. Its main aim was provision of advice to construction companies and agencies on how to build houses which are safe and protected from fire outbreaks. With the interaction with the architect and the building control officer in the Lowry at Salford several solutions to the fire safety solutions can be encompassed in the building designs were discussed.. According to the architect houses been build in this modern era are designed in a such way that occupant7s can leave quickly in case of fire thus making the adoption of historic houses more difficult (Fiske et al,1972). The building controller put across that there are two essential factors which should be considered in building a house, these are: the protection of persons living, working, visiting or undertaking the construction. The second thing is the protection of the building fabric and their contents. This is more critical if the building is to open to the public who will be visiting as this calls for more protection measures to be addressed during there Construction According to National Fire Protection Association (1990), it is clear from the discussion that different people have different priorities as it pertain the life safety and protection of property and it depends upon their definition and specification of the requirements. For in instance fire authorities will be concerned with ensuring that maximum standards in the provision of means of escape during the times of fire tragedies and the inclusion of means for fighting fire are adhered to during construction of buildings. The Site manager also said that the owner of the building and the occupant are in most cases left in a dilemma of what are the legal requirements, life standards to be in place for the security of the current occupancy and the future occupancy of the building(Fiske et al(1972). The other dilemma to these two groups is what are the provisions which should be put in place to protect the building and all its inclusive against fire ravages and the risks involved and in what extended are these risks whether they are discernable in the short run or in the long run. The primary law in building and setting up of structures for use either by the public or for private purposes such as accommodation concerns the provision and protection of life safety with the adequate means to escape from the building in the event of fire but not the protection of property from being destroyed by fire. The current legislation only relates to the buildings which are on certain use mostly in the office, hotel, and industry: if the buildings purpose does not fit this there in no its provision in the Act. However, guides to fire safety standards exist in every building but they are based on prescriptive standards that are founded to generally satisfy criteria for main factors of design for life safety for example travel distances, provision of exits and protected routes. National Fire Protection Association (1990). From the discussion we were able to conclude that the fire safety standards in the current legislation only apply primarily to building work, but they are in a position to affect existing buildings where it is expected that material alterations will degrade provisions provided in the regulations. We also found that the regulations are of recent origin coming to respond against the increasing use of modern techniques in building. Passive fire protection systems In the Lowry premises there are several passive and active fire protection systems. Like any other premises in this generation passive fire protection systems are the mostly relied upon systems in Lowry premises. The examples of such systems in the premises include the enclosure in the staircases and corridors which all lead to the escape points in the premises. Fire doors are also provided in the passage ways as passive fire systems. The floors, ceiling, walls and the doors are designed in certain standards that are able to resist fire passage in a minimum time of approximately 30 minutes the arsonists make sure that this achieved in the easiest way as possible. The resistance to fire in the system is also upgraded by the use of lining and seals in the weak spots which resist smoke and fire passage for a period of about 10minutes. http://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/fire/fire.htm. On 3rd 5 2010 Active fire protection systems The active fire protection systems in the Lowry premises are few according to what I observed but this was not a surprise to me as this is always the case in most organizations and premises. The active systems in the premises were only to be used by the eligible fire engineer and his/her crew to counter the most difficult passive measures with the provision of certain elements which act as balances to the design process used in the building. An example of certain systems in the premises was the presence of fire alarms at every corner and as I learned this fire alarm was connected to the municipal fire brigades systems, this fire alarm when tapped in the incidence of fire a distress call is relayed to the brigades offices who in turn respond by coming with their fire fighting equipments. In the Lowry premises there were horse pipes in every corner which was connected to the water system for provision of water in the pipes after a fire break out to help fight the fire. There was also fire suppression equipments in the premises to help suppress fire in the incidence of fire break out. Theses suppression equipments were almost any where in the premises for even the stranger in the premises to be able to seen them for safety purposeshttp://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/fire/fire.htm. On 3rd 5 2010 . Automatic fire detection equipments are also provided in the premises, these detectors are in a position to detect even minute rise in temperatures in the building as a result of fire to help the fire to put under control in the fastest time possible. The detectors like any other fire fighting equipments are located in places where every one in the premises can locate them without any difficult. In addition to these systems in the system there also smoke ventilators which are able to pass the smoke to the air directly to avoid choking anyone inside the building to allow them vacate the premises quickly without difficulty in the event of fire.. Fixed fire fighting equipments There is several fixed fire fighting installations in the Lowry premises. For instance the automatic sprinkler is the common installation in the premises as it is located in the stage, back stage area and service areas; the automatic suppression systems are also found in the commercial kitchen within the premises (Crosby 2000). The sprinkler system is connected to the water mains where it draws water, the system works the same as the watering can in which water comes out as various streams covering a certain diameter its components are the water pipes and taps and the horse pipes which are located in every floor of the building. In the event of fire the sprinkler is turned o automatically and the pipes connected to it are filled with water, the water in the pipes is under a high pressure which enables it to travel to a long distance. The fire fighters are able to put off fire to be a relatively far distance; this shields them from being burnt when fighting the fire. The sprinkler in the premises can be used by anyone in the building as it does not require any kind of advanced skill or knowledge to use it. The only type of sprinkler used in the system is the wet sprinkler this provides wet water for fighting fire this is due to the fact that the mains water systems run cold water. In the protected staircases dry risers were installed for the fire fighters this was to enable the fire fighters to reach every point in the premises without difficulty in the event of fire and be in a position to put it off. The dry risers are metallic or can be made of any other poor heat conductor (Burke 2007). They are put up outside the building in certain distance from the walls of the building. The risers are erected the same time with the building and are strong enough to hold any weight. The fire fighters have the skill to climb up the building using the risers hence not everyone can fight the fire using them as they require certain kind of skill to climb the building using them which is only provided to the fire fighters during their training. The risers are put into the design of the house to enable them to match the fabric of the house and to enable the architects and the fire engineers to determine the size of the risers they can put in the building. Concrete Fire has many effects on the building materials used within the building. In the first case when the building is consumed by fire its beauty is destroyed. Fire produces the smoke, which is an incomplete combustion of the carbon gas and in some cases, is referred to as the suit. When the suit is trapped on the walls black marks are left on the walls; these black marks are not pleasing to look at for instance in a building painted white it may present it as a zebra crossing in the wall. When fire consumes is certain building the materials are severely weakened and they can not be used to put up another structure in the name of the building. The chemistry of the building materials is in most cases weakened by the fire as the fire breaks the bond holding the materials. . Timber Timber at any fire occurrence in a building is the worst hit, timber does not have high capability like the concrete to withstand high temperatures of heat. When exposed to heat timber starts to change colour at temperatures as low between 120 and 150 degrees Celsius, at this temperatures around 250 degrees the timber is in a position to produce combustible gases. When the temperature reaches 400 degrees a flame in the timber is produced, any increase in temperature beyond this ignites rapidly and the timber can not be rediscovered as the timber can be rediscovered when it’s not charred. Steel Steel is known for its high thermal conductivity and its relatively low yield strength which is approximately 550 degrees Celsius this enables its temperatures to vary slightly from those of the fire and thus in most building insulated steel is used. If left without insulation steel can expand when exposed to heat When reinforced bars are heated they are able to loose their strength faster than mild steel bars and the importance is more varied in properties after the bars have been heated but the original yield of the bar is rediscovered after the bar has cooled from a range of 600 to 500 degrees but if the bar has cooled from a temperature exceeding 800 degrees the yield strength of he bar is reduced by approximately 30 percent in cold worked bars and approximately 5 percent for hot rolled bars Crosby (2000). Pre-stressing steel looses its strength under lower stressing temperatures compared to the reinforcing bars but cold drawn and heat treated steel are able to loose their strength permanently when exposed to heat exceeding 300 degrees. At fire resistance experimentation the rate of temperature rises as the steel reaches the critical temperature; at long cooling periods subsequent creep may have various effects on the steel bar which has not reached the critical condition. Masonry The various physical properties and mechanisms which may lead to failure of masonry walls when exposed to higher heat temperatures are yet to be clearly analyst and a proper theoretical frame work in which they are to used against devised, the current insight in the masonry walls and the effect of fire on them is only a gate to a broad displine in future to be called the effects of heat on masonry walls. The behavior of masonry wall when exposed to heat is mostly influenced by edge conditions and the incidence of fire there is loss of comprehensive strength as well as occurrence of unbalanced thermal expansion in the two faces of the wall retrieved from the library website: http://www.thelowry.com/about-the-lowry/ on 3rd 5 2010. At the wall where solid bricks are used the resistance to the effects of fire is directly proportional to the thickness of the wall, however bricks which are perforated with clay units have a high sensitivity to thermal shock from the heat National Fire Protection Association (1990). When fire breaks in the buildings build with these bricks cracking occurs in the connecting webs and a tendency for the withes to separate and leave the building in worst condition. In the withes the cavity wall are the part or the segment of the building that supports the greater weight of the building in this case exterior wall are made under greater forces as compared to the interior walls and the expanding slab walls when exposed to heat. If plaster is applied to reinforce a wall the bricks give a good performance in the even of fire as insulation to the wall is provided by the plaster hence reducing the thermal shock, retrieved from http://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/fire/fire.htm. On 3rd 5 2010 To sum up, from my visit in the Lowry premises it is clear that in the event of building there are several conditions which apart from the architectural conditions of building concerning the structure there are other conditions to be considered when putting up structures. These conditions are like those incidences of fire out break in a building, which have to be given a consideration when putting up a structure, or building. These considerations are the same as those required in putting up a strong building. Reference: Robert Burke (2007).Fire protection: systems and response, Publisher CRC Press National Fire Protection Association (1990). Fire protection handbook, Publisher Standard Pub. Co Henry Anthony Fiske, National Fire Protection Association (1972).Fire protection handbook Publisher university of Michigan Everett Uberto Crosby (2000).Codes and standards: National Fire Protection Association, Volume, Publisher National Fire Protection Association Ways of building conservation retrieved from the website: http://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/fire/fire.htm. On 3rd 5 2010 Lowry building retrieved from the library website: http://www.thelowry.com/about-the-lowry/ on 3rd 5 2010 Read More