The LWF Blog

Fire Safety for Facilities Management Personnel – Fire Service Facilities – Part 268

September 2, 2024 10:56 am

Lawrence Webster Forrest (LWF) is a specialist fire engineering and fire risk management consultancy whose aim is to give information on best practice in fire safety for facilities management personnel through this blog series. In part 267, LWF discussed rising and falling mains, and the differences between wet and dry fire mains. In part 268, we talk about foam inlets and private water supplies.

Although the Fire Service most commonly use water-charged hoses, certain fires require the use of foam to safely extinguish, mainly oil-fired boiler rooms, oil storage tank rooms and transformer chambers – basically, anywhere there is risk of an oil fire.

In some buildings where there is a risk of oil fire, a system of foam inlets is necessary which enable the Fire Service to inject foam into areas at or below ground level where there is a risk. The system comprises a system of fixed piping with outlets in the area of risk and an inlet placed on an external wall of the building. The Fire Service may then use the inlet to deliver foam into the system from outside and connect to it in the relevant area for extinguishing the fire.

BS 5306-1:2006 – Code of practice for fire extinguishing installations and equipment on premises – Hose reels and foam inlets provides the necessary guidance for the installation of foam inlets.

 

Private Water Supplies

Although the Fire Service arrive at a fire on an appliance with a water tank, it may be that the carried water is not sufficient to control a fire. If this is the case, lines of hose are usually attached to public fire hydrants which source water from water authority mains. These hydrants are capable of providing water at a much higher rate than hose reels.

On some large and remote sites, however, the nearest public hydrant may be too far away and in these cases, the owner/occupier of the site needs to provide private water supplies for use by the Fire Service, in case of fire.

In part 269 of this series, LWF will continue talking about private water supplies. In the meantime, if you have any queries about your own facilities or wish to discuss this blog series, please contact LWF on freephone 0800 410 1130.

Lawrence Webster Forrest is a fire engineering consultancy based in Surrey with over 35 years’ experience, which provides a wide range of consultancy services to professionals involved in the design, development and construction and operation of buildings.

 

While care has been taken to ensure that information contained in LWF’s publications is true and correct at the time of publication, changes in circumstances after the time of publication may impact on the accuracy of this information.