Fire Prevention, Safety and
Emergency Preparedness
Fire Safety in Engineering Buildings & Facilities
Office of Engineering Safety
Texas Engineering Experiment Station (TEES)
& The Dwight Look College of Engineering
“A safe, healthful, and secure environment for scholarship and research.”
4/8/2015
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Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
Key Concepts
•
Fire Prevention
•
The Fire Tetrahedron
•
Stages of Combustion
•
Classes of Fires
•
Housekeeping & Storage
•
Flammable and Combustible Liquids
•
Electrical Fire Hazards
•
Fire Extinction
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Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
Goals of a Fire Prevention Program
•
Protect Life
– The primary goal of fire safety efforts is to protect building
occupants from injury and to prevent loss of life.
•
Protect Property
– The secondary goal of fire safety is to prevent property damage.
•
Protect Operations
– By preventing fires and limiting damage we can assure that work
operations will continue.
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Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
The Fire Tetrahedron
•
In order for fire to occur four things must be present:
– Oxygen
– Fuel
Fuel
– Heat
– Chemical Reaction
Chemical Reaction
•
The basic strategy of fire prevention is to control or isolate
sources of fuel and heat in order to prevent combustion.
•
When any of the four items are removed, the fire will go out.
•
Fire extinguishers function by removing one of the four
components of the Fire Tetrahedron.
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Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
Housekeeping
•
Good housekeeping habits are an important part of a safe workplace.
•
Why is good housekeeping important?
– To reduce amounts of flammable and combustible materials.
– To reduce ignition hazards.
– To ensure safe emergency evacuation of occupants.
– To allow for quick emergency response.
•
Work areas, aisles, walkways, stairways, and equipment should be kept
clear of loose materials, trash, scraps, etc.
•
Never block aisles, fire exits, emergency equipment, or alarm pull stations
with equipment or materials.
•
Avoid build up of combustible trash and waste such as paper, wood,
cardboard, etc.
•
Keep use and storage of flammables and combustibles to a minimum.
•
Clean up all spills such as grease, oil, or water immediately.
A delay could result in accidents.
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Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
Storage Guidelines
•
•
No storage is allowed
in corridors and
stairwells. A cluttered
hallway could slow
down emergency
evacuation.
Storage must not
exceed a plane of 18
inches below sprinkler
heads or smoke
detectors. Storage that
breaks this plane may
prevent sprinkler heads
from fully covering
room during a fire.
18’
plane
An example of how storage can
protrude into the 18-inch plane below
sprinkler heads.
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Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
Storage Guidelines
•
All storage must be at least
3 ft from electrical panels.
•
In some emergency situations
it will be necessary to access
panels quickly.
Improper Storage
in front of Electrical Panel
•
Maintain at least a 3ft clearance
from heating surfaces, air ducts,
heaters, and lighting fixtures.
•
Storage of combustible materials in
mechanical rooms is prohibited.
Improper Mechanical
Room Storage
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Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
Flammable and Combustible Liquids
•
Flammable and combustible liquids are potential fuel sources for
fires and are present in almost every workplace.
•
It is actually the vapor created by flammable and combustible
liquids that ignites and burns.
•
It is important to understand what materials in your work area are
flammable and combustible so that you may properly store and
isolate them from ignition sources.
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Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
How do I tell what’s flammable?
•
National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) 704 classification system
– The NFPA diamond is an easy way to determine the safety risks
associated with hazardous materials. To determine a materials
flammability refer to the red section of the diamond. A number in
this section will indicate the flammability rating of the material.
•
The following numbering system is used to indicate flammability
0 - will not burn
1 - must be preheated
to burn
2 - ignites when
moderately heated
3 - ignites at normal
temperature
For example, an
NFPA diamond on a
can of gasoline
would have a 3 in
the red section
indicating that
gasoline could ignite
at normal working
temperatures.
3
1
3
ALK
4 - extremely flammable
NFPA Diamond
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Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
NFPA Classification System
•
Where can I find NFPA diamonds?
– Product labels
– Material Safety Data Sheets (ask your supervisor for them)
•
How do I determine the flammability of chemicals that don’t use
the NFPA classification system?
– The flashpoint of a chemical may be used to determine its
flammability.
– Flashpoint information may be found on product labels or MSDS
sheets.
• The flashpoint of a liquid is the lowest temperature at
which the liquid gives off enough vapor to be ignited.
• The lower the flashpoint, the greater the risk for ignition.
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Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
Flammable and Combustible Liquids, Continued
•
Flammable liquids are considered flammable because their
flashpoints are < 100ºF. This means that flammable liquids burn
easily at normal working temperatures.
•
Combustible liquids have a flashpoint at or above 100ºF. These
liquids are less hazardous than flammable liquids but still pose a
risk.
•
The volatility of flammable and combustible liquids requires
special storage and handling requirements.
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Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
Storing Flammable and Combustible Liquids
•
Flammable liquids must be stored away from ignition sources in
cool, well ventilated areas away from incompatible materials
•
Limit the amount of flammable and combustible liquids to the
minimum amount necessary.
•
As a general rule, No more than 10 gallons of flammable materials
should be outside of approved flammable liquid storage cabinets
or approved storage rooms.
•
Room storage limits of flammable and combustible materials
depend on various factors such as sprinklers, and storage
cabinets. Refer to the table on the following slide for storage
guidelines.
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Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
I.S.U. Flammable Liquid Storage Limits
Table 1. Room Storage Limits for Flammable and Combustible Liquids
Class of
Liquid
Flash
point
(°F)
Boiling
point
(°F)
Non
Sprinkled
Building
Non
Sprinkled Bldg. &
Flammable Liquid
Storage Cabinet
Sprinkled
Building
Sprinkled
Bldg./Flammable
Liquid Storage
Cabinet
Class 1A,
Flammables
Class 1B
Flammables
Class 1C
Flammable
Class II
Combustibles
Class III-A
Combustibles
<73 °F
<100 °F
10 gal.
20 gal.
10 gal
40 gal.
<73 °F
>100 °F
10 gal.
40 gal.
10 gal
80 gal.
> 73 &
<100 °F
>100 &
<140 °F
>140&
<200°F
NA
10 gal.
60 gal.
10 gal
120 gal.
NA
30 gal.
60 gal.
60 gal.
90 gal.
NA
50 gal.
100 gal.
100 gal.
150 gal.
Note: Containers other than safety cans shall not be greater capacity than one (1) gallon. The number of
two (2) gallon safety cans shall not exceed five (5). The number of one (1) gallon safety cans in use
outside storage cabinets shall not exceed ten (10).
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Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
Preventing Electrical Fires
•
Electrical hazards are the cause of numerous workplace fires
each year. Faulty electrical equipment or misuse of equipment
produces heat and sparks that serve as ignition sources in the
presence of flammable and combustible materials.
•
Examples of common ignition hazards:
– overloading circuits
– use of unapproved electrical devices
– damaged or worn wiring
14
Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
Extension Cords
•
Extension cords are only approved for temporary use. They may
only be used for a period of three days or less. Instead of using
extension cords contact FP&M to install permanent wiring.
•
When using extension cords check for defaults such as frays,
brittleness, or broken wires.
•
Never place extension cords in high traffic areas where they can
be damaged by being stepped on or run over by equipment.
•
Extension cords and other temporary flexible cords must be used
in compliance with the National Electrical Code (NEC), NFPA-70 &
70e.
15
Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
Multi-plug strips
•
Multi-plug strips should only be used for office equipment such
as computers, printers, and fax machines.
•
Other common items such as microwaves, refrigerators, and
copy machines must be plugged directly into wall outlets.
This is a requirement of the State Fire Marshal and the Fire Code.
•
Multi-plug strips should have a fuse or circuit breaker
and be UL approved.
•
Laboratory instruments must be plugged directly into a wall
outlet.
Do Not Do This!
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Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
Avoid Improper and Hazardous Practices
•
Never use three prong adapters that allow a three pronged plug
to plug into a two prong outlet.
•
Never use any item with a damaged or frayed electrical cord.
•
Space Heaters are not allowed in campus buildings.
•
Never daisy chain or piggy back multi-plug strips and electrical
cords (plugging strips and cords into each other).
Do not use piggy-backed multi-plug strips
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Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
Compartmentalization
•
Buildings are designed to prevent fire, heat, and smoke from
spreading beyond locations of origination. Building elements
such as fire walls, fire dampers, and fire doors, are designed to
seal off one location from the next. This system is called
compartmentalization.
•
Compartmentalization increases the safety of evacuating building
occupants because smoke and fire are not able to escape into
exit passageways.
•
Containment of fire and smoke reduces property damage and
prevents small fires from growing into large fires.
•
In order for compartmentalization efforts to be effective fire
barriers must be maintained.
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Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
Fire Doors
•
Fire doors are designed to
withstand fire, heat and smoke for
a period of 20-minutes to 3 hours.
•
Did you know that corridor office
doors are fire doors and should
have a 20 minute rating?
•
Corridor laboratory doors should
have a 60 minute rating.
•
Fire Doors are required to:
– Be Self Closing: fire doors should
have a door closure that pulls
doors completely shut after the
door has been opened
self closing
positive latching
– Have Positive latching: a positive
latch locks a door in place so can
open swing open freely.
•
Never prop open a fire door!
19
Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
4 Reasons Not to Wedge Open Fire Doors
1. For the safety of your buildings occupants.
– If a fire occurs in a location where the fire door has been wedged,
smoke and heat will travel freely into exit corridors hindering or
preventing occupant evacuation.
2. It’s State Law
– Periodically the State Fire Marshal inspects our campus and
issues numerous citations for wedging or blocking open doors.
3 To reduce or prevent damage to property, research, personal
belongings, etc.
- Keeping your door shut will keep out smoke or fire originating in
other locations.
4 To hold open your door you may have an electro-magnetic device
installed.
- This device releases a fire door upon activation of the fire alarm
allowing it to close and latch.
20
Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
Maintaining Fire Barriers
•
Fire doors need occasional maintenance and repairs to function
properly and should be periodically checked. To test a fire door:
– Open the door fully and allow it to swing shut.
– The door should close and latch completely by itself.
Give the door a push after it closes to ensure that the
latch has engaged.
– If the door is not operating properly contact FP&M for repairs.
•
Ceiling, Floor, Wall Penetrations
– All areas should be properly sealed to prevent the escape of fire,
heat and smoke.
– Common penetrations include holes in walls, around ducts, pipes,
etc. These types of penetrations should be sealed with appropriate
fire-stopping material.
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Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
The Four Stages Of Combustion
Explosions excepted, most fires have quite humble beginnings &
grow through four stages:
1. Incipient Stage - At this stage, decomposition is occurring at the surface
of the fuel due to the influence of some form of heat. Products of
combustion given off at this stage are invisible to the eye.
2. Smoldering Stage - At this stage, up to 10% of the decomposing
products released at the surface of the fuel are visible.
3. Flaming Stage - Vapors from the decomposing fuel have ignited and are
at the stage where flames are self propagating.
4. Heat Stage - At this stage the burning has progressed to the point where
the fire is still small but generating sufficient heat to warm the air
immediately around the fire, sending warm products of combustion
upwards by convection.
•
The time required for a fire to develop through the first two
stages is usually quite long when compared to the last two.
•
Depending on conditions, the time involved going through
all stages may be anything from seconds to days.
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Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
Fuel
Fire Extinction
Eliminate or remove one or more of the
four elements of the fire tetrahedron by:
Chemical Reaction
Cooling - The most commonly used fire fighting medium is water.
Water absorbs heat from the fire and cools the fuel to a
temperature where it no longer produces flammable vapors.
Smothering - By excluding the oxygen in the surrounding
atmosphere, the fire will be extinguished.
Starvation - Starvation is achieved by removal of the fuel burning in
the fire. Sometimes combustible material can be removed such as
by shutting off gas valves or fuel flows.
Stop Chain Reaction - Stop or interrupt the chain reaction between
the fuel, heat and oxygen the fire will be extinguished.
Specific methods of extinguishing fires often involves a
combination of more than one of the four principles.
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Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
Fire Extinction and Electricity
•
Electricity presents a special hazard in a fire situation.
•
Electricity does not burn, it produces heat which may result in
one of the classes of fire.
•
If the electricity is removed (e.g. by switching off the power), the
heat source is removed and the remaining fire should be dealt
with according to its class.
•
Learn where the breaker or emergency disconnect switch is for
your work area. Switch off the power in event of a fire or
emergency.
•
If the source of electricity cannot be eliminated, a
non-conductive extinguishing agent should be used.
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Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
When should You Attempt to Fight the Fire?
•
If you can’t get within 10 feet of the fire, it’s probably too big for a
typical hand-held fire extinguisher. Call 9-911 (from TAMU campus
phones) or 911, and evacuate the area.
•
Before you begin to fight a fire, make sure to:
1. Evacuate the building.
2. Call TAMU Emergency services 9-911 (from TAMU campus phones)
3. Make sure that the fire is confined to a small area and is not
spreading.
4. Make sure that you have an unobstructed escape route to
which the fire will not spread.
5. Make sure that the extinguisher is the right type for the fire.
6. Make sure that you have read the instructions and
know how to use the extinguisher.
25
Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
Using a Fire Extinguisher
•
•
Keep your back to an unobstructed exit &
stand six to eight feet away from the fire.
Follow the 4-step procedure:
Pull, Aim, Squeeze and Sweep (PASS)
Pull the pin
This unlocks the operating lever and allows
you to discharge the extinguisher. Some
extinguishers may have other lever-release mechanisms.
Aim low
Point the extinguisher nozzle (or hose) at the base of the fire. Generally,
you must be within 10 ft of the fire, to use a hand-held fire extinguisher
effectively.
Squeeze the lever above the handle
This discharges the agent. Releasing the lever will stop the discharge.
Some extinguishers have a button instead of a lever.
Sweep from side to side
Moving carefully toward the fire, keep the extinguisher aimed at the base
of the fire and sweep back and forth until the flames appear to be out.
Watch the fire area. If the fire re-ignites, repeat the process.
26
Machine Safe–Guarding
After Using an Extinguisher
• Always be sure the
fire department
inspects the fire site,
even if you think
you've extinguished
the fire.
• When finished, return
the extinguisher to
the Fire & Life Safety
Officer to get
inspected & refilled.
27
Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
Classes & Types of Fires
& Labeling of Fire Extinguishers
Classes
of Fires
Types of Fires
Picture
Symbol
Fire Extinguisher
Label
A
Wood, paper, cloth, trash &
other ordinary materials.
Triangle
B
Gasoline, oil, paint and other
flammable materials.
Square
C
May be used on fires involving
live electrical equipment
without danger to the operator.
D
K
Combustible metals and
combustible metal alloys.
Circle
D
Star
Cooking media (vegetable or
animal oils and fats)
28
Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
Examples Of Fire Extinguishers
Water
Foam
Halotron
Gas
Carbon
Dioxide
Dry
Chemical
29
Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
Examples Of Fire Extinguishers
Water
Foam
•
Class A fires
•
Use on class A & B fires
•
Pump tank or stored pressure
•
Smothering and cooling
•
Reduces temperature
•
Water conducts electricity, so
DO NOT use for Class B & C fires
30
Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
Examples Of Fire Extinguishers
Halotron
Carbon Dioxide or CO2
•
A, B & C Fires
•
Gas stored under pressure
•
Interrupts the chemical chain
reaction
•
B & C fires
•
Displaces oxygen
•
Halotron is a new ozone-friendly
material that replaces Halon.
31
Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
Examples Of Fire Extinguishers
Dry Chemical
Dry Chemical, Class D
•
•
For multi-purpose A, B, C fires
For Combustible metals
– Titanium
– Magnesium
– Other (see MSDS)
Dry Chemical Agents
in Fire Extinguishers:
• Sodium bicarbonate
• Potassium bicarbonate
• Mono ammonium phosphate
32
Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
Inside the Dry Powder Fire Extinguisher
(gas-cartridge type)
33
Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
Inside the Carbon Dioxide Fire Extinguisher
(small size)
34
Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
Inspect your fire extinguisher at least monthly.
Have it pressure checked every 6 years.
35
Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
EXAMPLE: Using a Fire Extinguisher
Aim the fire extinguisher at the base of the flame
36
Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
EXAMPLE: Using a Fire Extinguisher
Stand safely back, and aim the fire extinguisher
at the base of the flame.
37
Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
EXAMPLE: Using a Fire Extinguisher
This fellow needs a larger fire extinguisher for this size fire.
38
Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
EXAMPLE: Using a Fire Extinguisher
Even children can learn to safely use a fire extinguisher.
39
Fire Safety & Emergency Preparedness
Methods of Application
Use your best judgment; get as close as you can safely;
then aim at the base of the flame and squeeze firmly.
40
Machine Safe–Guarding
If You’re On Fire?
STOP! DROP! ROLL!
• Listen to Sparky the Fire Dog (http://www.sparky.org)
STOP
DROP
ROLL
41
Machine Safe–Guarding
Need to Know More?
• Register For the Free
TAMU Hands-On Fire
Extinguisher Training
– call (979) 845-7715
• Fire Extinguisher 101:
A free, online course in
Extinguishing Fires
Where is your Fire Extinguisher?
– http://www.fire-extinguisher101.com
42
For your home or apartment!
Machine Safe–Guarding
Pingy – the world’s smallest fire extinguisher
43
Machine Safe–Guarding
Prepared by:
http://engineering.tamu.edu/safety/
44
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Machine Safe–Guarding
Fire Prevention, Safety and
Emergency Preparedness
Fire Safety in Engineering Buildings & Facilities
Office of Engineering Safety
Texas Engineering Experiment Station (TEES)
& The Dwight Look College of Engineering
“A safe, healthful, and secure environment for scholarship and research.”
4/8/2015
46