Where firefighters come to talk training

Combination Standpipe/Sprinkler Systems: Have you encountered problems?

Recently we were doing training in a small mid-rise building here in OKC. We were pumping into the system at the FDC. Everything was going fine until we pumped 150 psi. Then a small union broke in a closet at the opposite end of the building. In a matter of minutes we had flooded about 25% of the second floor of this building. Ofcourse we immediately shut off operations, or so we thought. Ended up we had to shut the water down to the entire building to stop the water flowing.

This has got me to thinking? How many other buildings will experience this type of failure? How many already have?

It's nice that we keep the building from burning down but flooding it is just as damaging although not nearly as deadly.

Have you seen anything like this? How many times?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Bob Franklin on August 25, 2008 at 10:36pm

Hi Mike,

We had a simular situation, but this was with a fire on the 6th floor. Engine 15 had laid into the standpipe sytem and had pumped for about 45 minutes, when a security guard told the District Chief that the bank in the southwest corner of the building had water in it. The chief, thinking that it was from the fire above, sent a captain to check it out. The captain radioed the chief that the bank had 6 feet of water in it and the plate glass windows were stress and bowed out.

As it turned out, the contractor had never installed the 90 degree in the piping from the siamese to the clapper valve within the system. All of the water from engine 15 was in the bank and only the building fire pump had been suppling the hose lines. Funny how this got by the city building inspector as it was a 4-inch pipe.

Take care,
Bob

RSS

Welcome to
Fire Engineering Training Community

Sign Up
or Sign In

Or sign in with:

Policy Page

PLEASE NOTE

The login above DOES NOT provide access to Fire Engineering magazine archives. Please go here for our archives.

CONTRIBUTORS NOTE

Our contributors' posts are not vetted by the Fire Engineering technical board, and reflect the views and opinions of the individual authors. Anyone is welcome to participate.

For vetted content, please go to www.fireengineering.com/issues.

We are excited to have you participate in our discussions and interactive forums. Before you begin posting, please take a moment to read our community policy page.

Be Alert for Spam
We actively monitor the community for spam, however some does slip through. Please use common sense and caution when clicking links. If you suspect you've been hit by spam, e-mail peter.prochilo@clarionevents.com.