Industry Meeting in Full Swing March 2, 2009
Posted by shawnpci in Fire Systems.Tags: FSSA, NFPA, wind turbines
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FSSA’s 27th Annual Meeting is is full swing here in Orlando, Florida. The first day was a tour de force of industry experts providing an excellent overview of technical issues facing our industry.
FSSA’s technical director, Tom Wysocki, provided a synopsis of relevant NFPA codes and standards that are in various stages of approval including NFPA 850 – Power Generation. Turns out this recommended practice (as opposed to a standard) is soliciting Requests on Proposals (ROP) until August 28 of this year. The next revision to 850 will incorporate new alternative power generation plants including wind, solar and geothermal.
Next, Dr. Mack McFarland of DuPont gave an excellent presentation on the Implications of Actions to Address Climate Change. He did a super job of distilling the myriad scientific issues surrounding climate change into a simple, easy to access hour-long presentation.
Dr. Mark Robin, also of DuPont, shared results of live fire test comparison testing of clean agents versus sprinklers. To no one’s surprise, the clean agent system provided complete suppression within seconds of detection while sprinklers did what they were supposed to do – control the fire. Of course, the test room was heavily damaged by heat, smoke and – you guessed it – water damage.
One of the more interesting aspects of Dr. Robin’s report dealt with the environmental impact of a “controlled” fire from sprinklers. Turns out that there are numerous nasty chemicals that are released during a fire event plus the nasties that are contained within the spent sprinkler water. Needless to say, suppressing fires with water creates its own environmental impact risks.
Finally, Tom Cortina, of the Halon Alternative Research Council, laid out the regulatory landscape that is affecting several of our fire suppressing agents. Given the recent change in Washington leadership and other states, it’s a safe bet that we’ll see more aggressive action on limiting fire suppression -based greenhouse gases regardless of their extremely limited emissions and benefit to preservation of mission critical functions and life safety.
FSSA is planning on making these entire video presentations available on-line for a fee in the very near future. Check-out out www.fssa.net for more information in the coming weeks.
FSSA Annual Meeting Dates Set February 7, 2009
Posted by shawnpci in Fire Systems.Tags: Protex Central
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The Fire Suppression Systems Association’s Annual Meeting is set for February 28 through March 3 at the Disney Contemporary Resort in Orlando, Florida.
FSSA is an international trade association of equipment manufacturers and installers dedicated to advancing the cause of fire suppression.
This year will feature several sessions on how our industry is responding to various issues including climate change. There will also be several opportunities for industry networking.
I’m biased, but FSSA is truly one of the best trade associations I’ve ever been associated with. It’s top flight. If you’ve never attended, I urge you to consider giving it a try. I’m confident that you’ll be glad that you did.
Wind Turbine Fire Reality January 11, 2009
Posted by shawnpci in Fire Systems.Tags: Protex Central, wind turbines
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One of my favorite definitions of a “low” fire hazard is: “A concrete vault, six feet under water.” By that definition, wind turbines could be considered fire hazards: they’re neither concrete nor six feet under water.
A quick look around the internet yields many a reference to wind turbine fires. Check out some of these links:
Bloomfield, NE wind turbine fire story and video
Bloomfield, NE wind turbine aftermath
Spanish wind turbine fire video
Palm Springs, CA wind turbine fire video
I’ve been on a bit of a cause of late, like Don Quixote, to find a willing participant in the wind industry that’s interested in fire protection for wind turbines.
I’ve made a couple of stabs with the energy companies and a manufacturer, but my inquiries have fallen on deaf ears. I actually had the opportunity to climb two towers and tour the interior of the nacelles (the box that can burn on top of the 210′ stick – see photo of what once was a nacelle above).
I’ve developed solutions for both fire suppression as well as fire detection in these hazard areas. I’m looking for an opportunity to promote them to the industry.
So, if you know of a good contact that I can trot off to see, drop me a line at shawn.mullen@protexcentral.net. Or if you’ve got other good references of wind turbine fire hazards, pass them along, too. TX!
Tracking Explosions Just Got Easier January 1, 2009
Posted by shawnpci in Fire Systems.Tags: dustexplosions, explosions, Fenwal, NFPA, Protex Central
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One of the special systems that Protex Central services and maintains is an explosion protection system designed and manufactured by Fenwal Safety Systems, a division of United Technologies.
Operating primarily in the grain rich area of the middle west, we have several applications that are protected with such systems. I recently came across a site that collects and tracks various dust fires and explosions from around the world.
Click here to follow the link: dustexplosions.blogspot.com
All too often, many of these situations could have been minimized or even avoided with the use of properly designed and installed explosion protection systems.
The National Fire Protection Association develops codes and standards related to explosion protection. You can learn more at their web site: www.nfpa.org
Onward and Upward 