General Safety Program

Fire Suppression Systems

The four different types of suppression agents used are Dry Chemical ,Wet Chemical, Carbon Dioxide and Halon. Different agents are used for different fire hazards.

Hood Systems are located above fryers and grills and are used for exhausting cooking odors and grease.Because of their location above the fire hazard they are a good place to install fire suppression nozzles that can discharge either wet or dry fire suppression agent in case one of the fryers or grills should catch on fire. Because there is a heavy buildup of grease in the area above the hood ,called the plenum, this area is usually protected with fire suppression nozzles also. A specially formulated fire suppression agent is stored in pressurized vessels in close proximity to the hazard.

This type of system works in local application by chemically reacting and smothering the fire. Proper inspection and constant evaluation of the hazard should make sure this type of system will work when needed.

Carbon Dioxide systems are used to protect most solvent rooms. This type of system is a total flooding system and requires that the door and vents to the room remain shut during actuation of the system. This system is extremely effective but is dangerous if a person is trapped in the room, as it displaces oxygen, during a discharge. For this reason all CO2 suppression systems have a pre-discharge alarm which give anyone working in the space time to get out before Co2 is released.

Because Halon is a totally clean agent Halon systems are used to protect high tech areas such as computer rooms and high tech areas where minimal collateral damage from the fire fighting agent can be tolerated. Another nice feature of Halon is that at the concentrations used to extinguish the fire, life can be supported. Even though you can remain in a room during a halon discharge, all Halon system are equipped with a pre-discharge alarm to give occupants time to leave the area before halon is discharged. Halon's main drawbacks are that it has an ozone depletion potential and is extremely expensive to recharge.

All four types of systems can be activated either manually or automatically though the use of detection systems that monitor room conditions in the room being protected.