Fire Safety

Why are fire detection and alarm systems

required?
• Detect fire in the areas.
• Notify building occupants to take evasive action to escape the dangers of a
hostile fire.
• Summon organized assistance to initiate or assist in fire control activities.
• Initiate automatic fire control & suppression systems & to sound alarm.
• Supervise fire control & suppression systems to assure operational status
is maintained Initiate auxiliary functions involving environmental, utility &
process controls .
INPUT DEVICES
FIRE BOX (Manual Pull Station)
• When shorted trips an alarm (usually fire)
• Installed in the normal exit path
FIRE DETECTORS
• Heat detectors
• fixed temp type heat detector
• rate-of-rise type heat detector
• Smoke detectors
• Photoelectric
• Ionization
• Flame detectors
• Ultraviolet light (UV)
Fixed Temperature Heat Detector
• Detectors are designed to alarm when
the temperature of the operating
• elements reaches a specific predefined
air temperature.
• They cover a wide range of temperature
• Types of fixed temperature heat
detectors:
• Electro-mechanical heat detectors-
Contains a bi-metallic strip as a part of
• electric circuit, that completes the circuit
when a particular temperature is
reached.
Rate of Rise Heat Detector
• It is a detector that triggers the fire alarm when the rate of temperature
increase in the surroundings rises above a certain rate. The air in the air
chamber will expand and close the contact.
Suitable for these places.
1. In places where large amounts of exhaust gases gather like interior car
parks and automobile workshops.
2. In places where large amounts of smoke enters like offices, rest areas,
holding rooms and seating areas in cafés and bars.
SMOKE DETECTORS (PHOTOELECTRIC)
• Uses a photocell coupled with a
specific light source.
• Basically smoke entering the
smoke detector chamber disrupts
the light beam causing an alarm
signal to be initiated
• More sensitive to smoldering fires

Fixed temperature heat detector

 Ionization Chamber Detectors

•It contains two electrodes at different

potential & alpha particle source that
ionizes air in the chamber.
•The sensing part of the detector
consists of two chambers - an open,
outer
chamber and a semi-sealed reference
chamber within.

• A low activity radioactive foil of Americium 241 is mounted in the reference

chamber which is an emitter of alpha particles.
• This enables formation of ion-pairs & causes current to flow between the
inner and outer chambers when the detector is powered up.
• As smoke enters the detector, particles become attached to the ions, causing
a reduction in ion-pairs and consequently current flow in the outer chamber.
• the drop in the ionization current is constantly monitored and an alarm is
triggered when it reaches a set point.
•The ionization current reflects air composition & rises as combustible gas
concentration rises.
Wet Chemical System
• Wet chemical systems are designed to
provide fire protection for commercial
kitchen hoods. They provide efficient,
automatic detector response with fast-
acting fire suppression with no danger
of re-flash or re-ignition. The
installation comprises gas cylinders,
steel piping, discharge nozzles, control
head, detector with fusible element
and manual pull station. The system
provides automatic actuation and can
be manually actuated through a
manual pull station. Upon actuation,
the system discharges a pre-
determined amount of agent to the
duct, plenum, and cooking appliances.
• A typical wet chemical system
installation is shown.
Suppression Gas System
• A suppression gas extinguisher
system consists of gas cylinders, steel
piping, discharge nozzles, heat, and
smoke detector and a control panel,
which monitors the space, activates
both visual and audio alarms before
releasing the gas.
• The gas discharged after a time delay
upon detection of fire to warn any
occupant to evacuate the room. Such
systems are usually provided for
electrical transformer room, switch
room and standby generator room
and should not be installed for room,
which is normally occupied.
• A typical Carbon Dioxide extinguisher
installation is shown.
Automatic Sprinkler
System
• An automatic sprinkler system is
intended to detect, control and
extinguish a fire, and warn the
occupants of occurrence of fire. The
installation comprises fire pumps,
water storage tanks, control valve
sets, sprinkler heads, flow switches,
pressure switches, pipe work and
valves.
• The system operates automatically
without human intervention.
• The sprinkler head has a liquid filled
glass bulb that breaks due to the heat
of the fire and release water that
sprays over fire.
• The installation is the most common
type and a typical sprinkler is shown.
External Fire Hydrant
• Fire hydrant installation consists of a
system of pip work connected
directly to the water supply main to
provide water to each and every
hydrant outlet and is intended to
provide water for the firemen to fight
a fire.
• The water is discharged into the fire
engine form which it is then pumped
and sprayed over fire. Where the
water supply is not reliable or
inadequate, hydrant pumps should
be provided to pressurize the fire
mains.
Foam Deluge System
• Foam deluge systems, sprinkler heads
are open and the pipe is not
pressurized with air. Foam Deluge
systems are connected to a water
supply through a deluge valve that is
opened by the operation of a smoke or
heat detection system. Foam is mixed
in with the water supply from a foam
bladder tank.
• The detection system is installed in the
same area as the sprinklers. When the
detection system is activated foam
water discharges through all of the
sprinkler heads in the system.
• Foam Deluge systems are used in
places that are considered high hazard
areas such as power plants, off shore
oil rigs, aircraft hangars and chemical
storage or processing facilities.
Advance fire safety
 Burj Al Arab
Benefits of fire safety engineering
• It safeguards life and can limit damage
• to property from fire;
• It supports innovative architectural
• design without compromising on safety;
• It ensures statutory approval for complex and innovative
building designs;
• Significant construction cost savings can be achieved if fire
engineering is introduced during the early stages of a design;
• It ensures safe building design without over-design and
unnecessary complexity;
• It provides reassurance to the design team that all aspects of
fire safety have been considered from a health and safety and
compliance perspective.
 advanced fire safety design services
• Computational Fluid Dynamics
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is a branch of fluid
mechanics that uses numerical methods and algorithms to
solve and analyze problems that involve fluid flows. Using
validated computer modeling tools, we can perform
calculations to simulate the movement of smoke, heat and
toxic gasses within the boundaries of complex building spaces.
• Heat Radiation Analysis
Building regulations set out requirements for the control of
the spread of fire between adjacent buildings. There is a 3D
graphic software package that enables us to calculate fire
temperatures and analyze complex facades. It enabled the
incorporation of windows in buildings with close boundaries
and is an excellent tool to calculate the spread of fire from
timber frame buildings during construction.
• Evacuation Modeling
Evacuation modeling allows us to assess crowd movement in
complex building designs to optimize and refine the escape
arrangements. It is widely used for stadia, passenger
terminals, large shopping centers and warehouses.
Burj khalifa
 Evacuation during emergency will be a
smooth process in Burj Khalifa
• Structure is fully equipped with safety
devices, quick response teams and has been
built with innovative factors such as
fireproof concrete and sills on the elevators
so that water from sprinklers does not
flood the shafts. Observing Dubai from the
• The highest-risk part of the Burj Khalifa 124th floor
• is its high speed elevators.
• To assist in the evacuation of occupants,
• designated elevators feature a "lifeboat
• evacuation" mode, allowing fire brigade personnel or trained
staff to transport occupants from upper portions of the tower to
designated discharge levels.
• The elevators include full
operating capability on both
primary and emergency power,
water resistant equipment,
means for visual inspection of
the elevator shaft and raised
elevator door thresholds on
each floor opening to minimize
the flow of sprinkler water into
the shafts.

There is also a 5,500kg capacity

elevator for firefighters and
building service work. For
those who choose to take the
stairs during evacuation, highly
fire resistant concrete walls
surround all stairs.
 Refuge areas
• "People cannot be expected to walk down 160 floors, so there
are pressurized air-conditioned refuge areas, approximately
every 25 floors where they could wait safely or rest on the
way down," said the American firm that designed the
building.
• The areas of refuge are separated from the main structure of
the building by a two-hour fire resistant construction and are
pressurized to minimize the migration of smoke into the
compartment.
• To ensure safety, the Burj Khalifa features a home automation
system which consists of LCD panels that display detailed
emergency information to specified groups of building
occupants. These displays can be found dotted around in key
locations such as individual residential units and areas of
refuge.
• Multi-alarm sensors that include smoke, heat and optical
sensors are located in all rooms throughout the building. In
emergency situations such as during a fire, the system will
immediately notify occupants in the area through an
emergency voice/alarm communication system in both Arabic
and English.
• Fire safety systems
• The main fire safety systems installed within the Burj Khalifa
are the fire alarm and sprinkler systems and smoke
evacuation systems. The length of the building, from
basement to level 160 is fully sprinkler-fed.
• "There will be offices located everywhere around the
perimeter of the building. A team, which will be onsite 24
hours a day, seven days a week have been trained and briefed
on what to do in all situations whether it's a fire, earth quake,
sandstorm etc," said Bassel Mehio, fire protection consultant
at Rolf Jensen and Associates.
• "We tried to confuse the wind… by changing the shape of the
building," Baker said.
• While the structure of the building had withstood wind-tests,
the terraces have also been designed in a way that that the
wind effects are actually lower than at ground level.
• The other major natural force that was used instead of being a
cause for danger was gravity.
• To make the building stable, a new concept of a buttress core
was adopted. "We took the weight of the Burj and pushed it
out and down to the wings," said Baker.
• The building has three wings and within the buttress core, the
elevators are placed at the Centre. "That keeps the building
from twisting which is very important," he added