Despite the actions, or inactions, of the government as it relates to the budget or anything else it is responsible for, the third quarter of 2013 continued to display the increased, albeit slow, commercial construction growth experienced in the first two quarters. Reviews for new and major renovation projects in buildings and structures continued to increase throughout the quarter. Staffing changes occurred during the quarter at FSCI s Elgin, Illinois office which increased the number of qualified personnel available for the many plan review and consulting projects being processed by FSCI. Harrison Bradstreet joined FSCI and is assigned to the Fire Protection Division. Harrison brings more than seven years of fire alarm system experience to FSCI. Most recently Harrison worked for Affiliated Systems which is a fire alarm system contractor located in Downers Grove, IL. Also joining FSCI is George Michehl. George brings his nearly 40 years of fire protection experience to FSCI following his retirement from the Buffalo Grove (IL) Fire Department where he was in charge of the Fire Prevention Bureau for nine years. George previously worked for the Glenbrook Fire Protection District and the Glenview Fire Department when it absorbed the Glenbrook District. George served as the president of the Illinois Fire Inspectors Association and then as the association s executive director for an additional five years. George was instrumental in shepherding several important bills through the legislative process in Springfield including the fire safe cigarette law, the novelty lighter law, as well as laws related to fireworks. George has been assigned to the Fire Protection Division, but is expected to work, because of his vast experience in many areas of fire and life safety, in the Building and Life Safety, Consulting, and Training Divisions. During the 3 rd quarter FSCI lost fire protection consultant Rick Tracy to the Bloomingdale Fire Protection District. Rick spent two different periods with FSCI and moves on to work with Director Gary Kostal as a fire inspector for the district. FSCI wishes Rick well in his new endeavors. He will be missed at our office. FSCI continues to provide training classes for various groups around the country. James Schifiliti provided classes in Auburn Hills, Michigan (Fire Alarm Systems) and a webinar for Rutgers University (Requirements for Residential Sprinklers). Upcoming training will include Jim being back in Auburn Hills in December conducting a seminar on Building Code Basics, and for Rutgers University conducting two webinars. In October he will present another Residential Sprinkler Requirements webinar, and in December he will provide a webinar on Plan Review of Gas Suppression and Kitchen Hood Extinguishing Systems. Warren Olsen recently completed seminars for the NFPA in Pittsburg, PA on the National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code and for Rutgers University on the Significant Changes to the 2010 edition of NFPA 72. Warren is scheduled to present a session on NFPA 4, Standard for Integrated Fire Protection and Life Safety System Testing at the Tennessee State Fire Inspectors annual meeting in Murfreesboro in October and will be back in New Jersey in November for another Significant Changes to the 2010 edition of NFPA 72 seminar. Additionally, Warren will be presenting an Inspection, Testing, and Maintenance of Fire Alarm Systems seminar for the Illinois Fire Inspectors Association in December. Warren was recently named as an alternate to ICC s Commercial Fire Alarm Exam Development Committee. On the building, fire protection and life safety consulting front FSCI continues to be very busy with more than 20 projects actively being addressed by personnel in the Illinois and Michigan offices. Projects include work with Discover Financial Services, Meijer Foods Warehousing, Prologis (multiple projects), Summit Ridge Condos, and the Schaumburg Park District, just to name a few of the on-going projects FSCI is helping both private and public sector clients. Included in this Issue: Page 2-3: NFPA 4 Standard for Integrated Fire Protection and Life Safety System Training Page 3-4: New & Little Known Code Sections Page 5: Upcoming Seminars, Fire Prevention Week Upcoming Seminars: October 17 & 18, 2013 Basic Fire Alarm Plan Review 2 Day Class IFIA Darien, Woodridge October 25, 2013 Rutgers Webinar Requirements for Residential Sprinklers based on P2904 for the 2012 IRC FSCI Elgin, IL November 13, 2013 Significant Changes to the 2010 edition of NFPA 72 National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code Rutgers University, NJ December 5, 2013 Fire Alarm Inspection & Maintenance Testing IFIA Addison, IL For MORE Seminar Dates Click HERE Contact us today to reserve a seminar date at your location! 847.697.1300 judy@firesafetyfsci.com Illinois Office: 847.697.1300 www.firesafetyfsci.com Michigan Office: 248.545.3330
NFPA 4 Standard for Integrated Fire Protection and Life Safety System Training Page 2 In previous editions of the FSCI Newsletter I wrote about a new standard in the development stage dealing with integrated fire protection and life safety system testing and in a second article I provided some details regarding the first four chapters (Administration, References, Definitions, and General Requirements) of the new standard. This article will address the remaining three chapters of the document. The technical committee responsible for NFPA 4, and NFPA 3 Recommended Practice for Commissioning and Integrated Testing, met for its Second Draft Meeting in Indianapolis during the last week of July. The committee dealt with dozens of Public Inputs proposed for the document in preparation for the expected acceptance of the standard at the NFPA Annual Conference and Exposition to be held in Las Vegas in June of 2014. The document, as developed to this point, can be found at www.nfpa.org/4. Click on the tab for the Next Edition. In this issue I will discuss Chapter 5, Test Methods, Chapter 6, Test Frequencies, and Chapter 7, Documentation, as they are currently proposed for the standard. Some changes to the requirements discussed below may occur at or before the Las Vegas meeting. Chapter 5 applies to the testing methods of integrated systems for fire protection and life safety. When an integrated testing plan is developed the risks associated with the testing must be assessed by the integrated testing agent (ITa). Any dangers to the building, its occupants and contents, or the testing personnel shall be documented. The owner of the building shall be made aware of the dangers and appropriate mitigation procedures shall be enacted for the safety of all. Test methods shall result in the demonstration that the integrated systems perform in accordance with the specific design objectives and applicable codes and standards, and that all interconnections function properly. Test methods used may include simulated conditions which initiate activation of devices. Testing should include abnormal conditions such as the loss of primary power, waterflow, and the presence of smoke where any may be applicable. Chapter 6 covers the required frequencies of integrated fire protection of life safety system testing. In general the testing frequencies include: Upon initial installation; Periodic; and When system modifications occur. For new installations, the initial installation testing shall verify that the operation of the interconnected systems and functions perform as outlined in the commissioning plan or the integrated system test plan. Where a plan does not exist, one shall be created prior to the start of testing. Periodic testing shall occur at intervals that should have been spelled out in the original integrated test plan prepared before the building was first occupied. If a plan is not on record, a plan is to be developed within 5 years of the standard s adoption. The testing of any integrated systems shall also occur within 5 years. The standard also requires integrated system testing whenever new fire protection and life safety systems are integrated, whenever they are modified, when failures occur during testing or necessary operations, and when site-specific software changes occur which might affect the fire protection and life safety systems. Finally, Chapter 7 deals with the Documentation required by the standard. The chapter includes documentation requirement minimums, but does not prohibit the inclusion of documentation which may be required by others. The standard does not eliminate the contractor s need to provide forms which may be required by other NFPA standards. Such forms may include the Record of Completion, and Inspection, Testing, and Maintenance Forms required by NFPA 72. The final report completed for the integrated system testing shall include the status of each system and that each input and output was tested and operated as designed. Required documentation shall be submitted by the ITa to the building owner, and any other stakeholders (i.e. the AHJ) when requested. The test plan used is required to be a part of the required documentation package. Documentation shall be maintained for periods outlined in the chapter and closely resembles retention periods for documents found in NFPA 72. In closing, NFPA 4 will likely become a referenced document by model building and fire codes on or after 2016. That being said, the standard could very well be included in design documents soon after its expected adoption next summer in Las Vegas. AHJs, designers and contractors should become aware of this document as they all will play an important role within the contents of this new standard.
NFPA 4 Standard for Integrated Fire Protection and Life Safety System Training cont d Page 3 FSCI currently offers a 2- hour introductory seminar on NFPA 4. If you would be interested in having this seminar brought to your location please contact our office. Warren Olsen is FSCI s Vice President of Building and Life Safety. Warren chairs NFPA 72, Chapter 26, Supervising Station Alarm Systems and is a technical committee member on NFPA 3 and 4. NFPA 72 2010 edition Spot Type Smoke Detectors Section 17.7.3.2 has been significantly revised based on research conducted under the auspices of the Fire Protection Research Foundation. Earlier code editions prohibited the installation of spot type smoke detectors in the pocket of dead air space created where a wall and ceiling meet. This requirement no longer applies due to experimentation that conflicted with previous test data. The 2010 edition now specifies that spot type smoke detectors may be located on the ceiling or, if on a sidewall, between the ceiling and 12 inches down from the ceiling to the top of the detector. While spot smoke detection is now permitted is former dead air spaces, designers should attempt to keep these devices as close to the center of the protected compartment as possible. If not in the center of the compartment, the direction of prevailing air currents that would carry smoke from a low energy fire should be taken into account. It should be noted that this requirement does not apply to spot heat detectors. Heat sensing fire detectors are still required to be 4 inches from the ceiling and wall connection. Harrison Bradstreet, Fire Protection Consultant NFPA 13 2010 Edition NFPA 13 Section 11.1.5 deals with sprinkler system water supplies. Subsection 11.1.5.3 addresses fire pump sizing by stating that Pumps shall be sized to supply equipment that they serve. While this seems to be straight forward and easy to understand, the hydraulic calculations for a system are required to include an appropriate hose allowance. One might ask if the pump size must include the hose allowance. The appendix explains that a fire pump does not need to be sized to include a hose allowance if the system does not have a standpipe or interior hose stations. What this means is if you have a fire pump that supplies a sprinkler system in a mercantile building with storage less than 12 in height. The hydraulic calculations to the city supply need to include a 250 gpm hose allowance for an Ordinary Hazard design. The fire pump for this system does not have to be sized to meet the 250 gpm hose allowance, only the demand of the sprinkler system. Matt Davis, Senior Fire Protection Consultant
Page 4 IFC 2012 Edition It is important to understand the difference between emergency power and standby power. Emergency systems are designed to provide power for life safety systems such as emergency lighting, exit signs, etc. Standby power systems are designed to provide continuous power for critical building equipment such as elevators and fire pumps. Emergency power systems that are required: Emergency voice/alarm communication systems - Group A occupancies Exit signs and means of egress illumination Semiconductor fabrication facilities Membrane structures Highly toxic and toxic materials Occupancies with hazardous materials Standby power systems that are required: Smoke control systems Accessible means of egress elevators and platform lifts Horizontal sliding doors Occupancies with organic peroxides and other occupancies with hazardous materials Covered mall buildings, exceeding 50,000 square feet, emergency voice/alarm communication systems High-rise buildings Emergency systems must operate within 10 seconds of failure of normal power supply and standby power system must pick up connected loads within 60 seconds. Keith Frangiamore, President NFPA 25 2011 edition Standpipe Inspection, Testing, and Maintenance Once installed it is imperative that standpipe systems are maintained to ensure operation in the event of an emergency. Chapters 6 and 13 of NFPA 25 detail the required routine tests, methods and frequency for all types of standpipe systems. Section 13.2.6 requires that vane or paddle type and pressure switch type waterflow devices be tested on a semi-annual basis. In addition all valve supervisory switches are required to be tested semi-annually per section 13.3.3.5.1. Every five years standpipe systems need to be flowed and hydrostatically tested. Section 6.3.1 requires that the flow test be performed at the hydraulically most remote hose connection for each zone of the standpipe system to make sure that available pressure and flow match the system design. The Authority Having Jurisdiction must be consulted before testing to discuss the test methods and expectations. Manual wet standpipe systems, with the exceptions of combination type and automatic-dry standpipe systems must be hydrostatically tested at not less than 200 psi for a minimum of 2 hours every five years in accordance with section 6.3.2.1. Brent Gooden, Michigan Regional Manager
Page 5 Upcoming Seminar Information Continued from Page 1 December 6, 2013 December 17, 2013 Building Basics Plan Review of Gas Suppression and Kitchen Auburn Hills Fire Department Hood Extinguishing Systems Rutgers University Bordentown, NJ December 12, 2013 Rutgers Webinar Plan Review of Gas Suppression and Kitchen Hood Extinguishing Systems FSCI-Elgin, IL