Essay Sample on Fire Protection System

Fire protection system is always used in extinguishing or preventing the spread of fire in buildings, storage facilities among other places. The system is designed in such a way that it deals with fire threat in the events that it breaks out (Watts,2001). However, the fire protection might not work perfectly as designed if there are some obstructions in an indoor self-storage facility. The essay focuses on obstructions which can affect the operation of a fire protection system in a large indoors self-storage facility. The research further discusses the outcomes of the event that a notification system worked properly and if the notification system failed when the fire breaks out.

First, there is physical obstruction as a result of the poorly structured facility. Material such as cartons, chairs among others can prevent individuals from accessing fire extinguishers on time. The obstacles can block fire escape routes, and individuals might not be able to run for their safety. Also, when these materials are allowed to gather around the storage facilities, the risk of fire increases as some of them might spread the fire, such as cartons Grigg & Zenzen, 2007).

Another obstacle is lack of enough training to the occupants. Many people work in a large indoors self-storage facility, and in the event of a fire, individuals are required to vacate immediately and successfully. In such emergency, a lot of people might panic due to lack of training during that exact period of evacuation. Lack of training means that people are not well prepared to deal with fire and end up making poor decisions during the evacuation process. Another obstruction is delayed in emergency calls. Emergency responses play an essential in containing the fire before it spreads further and hence they need to be conducted immediately. However, the delay in calling emergency means that the fire can spread faster and the fire can run out of control (Watts,2001).

The notification system is designed to detects heat or smoke as a result of fire and set the fire alarm to warn individual within the facility. If the system is in good condition, it means that the occupants can be notified instantly which enables them to get out faster and efficiently before the fire spreads and this can save a lot of properties within a short time (Bruck & Thomas, 2007). Also, the notification system plays an essential role as far as extinguishing the fire is concerned. For example, firefighters can be able to put off the fire if it has not spread in the entire building, as such, if the notification system is in good condition, the occupants can alert firefighters on time to contain the fire before it spread out.

There are incidences where the notification system can fail to notify the occupants. In this case, the fire can spread for some time before it is detected especially if the fire originates from an undisclosed place thus making a lot of damages and even loss of life. People end up getting trapped since they realize the fire when the smoke is already huge. The fire brigade can find it hard to contain the fore since they will arrive late when the fire is already big (Sekizawa & Mizuno, 2017). For example, when the fire broke out in iconic John Hancock center, the residents stated that no single fire alarm went off. The fire department officials had to call for an extra workforce to assist the residents that had been trapped in smoky stairwells.

References

Bruck, D., & Thomas, I. (2007). Comparison of the Effectiveness of Different Fire Notification Signals in Sleeping Older Adults. Fire Technology, 44(1), 15-38. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10694-007-0017-5

Grigg, N., & Zenzen, M. (2007). M31 Distribution System Requirements for Fire Protection. Denver: American Water Works Association.

Sekizawa, A., & Mizuno, M. (2017). Analysis of response behavior of people in fire incidents where residential fire alarms successfully worked. Fire And Materials, 41(5), 441-453. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/fam.2434

Watts, J. (2001). Fire Protection Performance Evaluation for Historic Buildings. Journal Of Fire Protection Engineering, 11(4), 197-208. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/104239101400934388.