Refer to the Points to Ponder Scenario in the Unit II Lesson to respond to this discussion board. Do you think the byproducts of combustion would reach the warehouse’s fire protection, detection, or suppression system to alarm or suppress the fire? Why, or why not?

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Frank:

Looking at the scenario, there are numerous items that stand out as “red flags” to me.  First was the fact that the system was not rated for the combustible storage.  That means that the system would not put out enough GPM to suppress or control the fire.  There would also be a good chance that the system would be overrun by the amount of fire and heat produced and would have no effect at all but maybe slowing the fire for a few minutes before it overran the system.  Secondly, The report states that the system was barely operational. It didn’t say why.  I know during unit 1 there were issues with the availiable water coming into the building was inadequate due to the old pipes in the area.  It could be a housekeeping issue or something was broken and was in the process of being fixed.  Any way, there should have been a fire watch and getting this system operational should have been a top priority.  Third, the power was out and there was no back up power to the building due to flooding. All of the fire suppression and alarm systems should have their own emergency backup in case of power failure.  Fourth, the detectors were only in the ceiling.  That is not good for any fire that starts on the ground level or in those stacks.  With that much space between the detectors and combustibles, by the time the heat reached the detectors to alarm it, the fire would be extremely large and would most likely overrun the suppression system possibly before it even activates. SInce “unchecked fire” doubles in size every 2 minutes, without a lower temp detector closer to the ground, the system would not even have a chance to get this fire under control, even if it activated.  In closing, I do not think that the system would have had enough time to respond or activate in this scenario.  The entire system was designed incorrectly for this building.  The fire would have had way too much time to build before the system would even activate.