Fire suppression systems work to detect and control or extinguish a fire in order to minimise the damage it causes.
They are essential in ensuring high-risk environments are fully protected against fire risk. This could include industries such as ports and docks, waste and recycling, manufacturing, forestry, mining or transport, for example.
high-risk industries, increasing safety, while minimising downtime and damage to valuable assets, including vehicles and machinery.
How do fire suppression systems work?
Fire suppression systems are designed for install in high-risk applications, across processing, manufacturing and storage areas.
Modern fire suppression systems will use fire detection technology to identify fire, either through heat, smoke, thermal or video flame detection. This technology will trigger an alert through the system once a fire is detected, prompting deployment of a suppression agent. At this point, the system will sound an alarm to alert people working in the area of the risk, enabling safe evacuation.
Fire suppression systems work to detect and control or extinguish a fire in order to minimise the damage it causes.
They are essential in ensuring high-risk environments are fully protected against fire risk. This could include industries such as ports and docks, waste and recycling, manufacturing, forestry, mining or transport, for example.
high-risk industries, increasing safety, while minimising downtime and damage to valuable assets, including vehicles and machinery.
How do fire suppression systems work?
Fire suppression systems are designed for install in high-risk applications, across processing, manufacturing and storage areas.
Modern fire suppression systems will use fire detection technology to identify fire, either through heat, smoke, thermal or video flame detection. This technology will trigger an alert through the system once a fire is detected, prompting deployment of a suppression agent. At this point, the system will sound an alarm to alert people working in the area of the risk, enabling safe evacuation.
There are two main types of suppression systems:
- Manual – requiring an individual to activate suppression once a fire is detected.
- Automatic – immediately deploying an agent to suppress a fire once it’s detected.
Once they detect fire, fire suppression systems will often also automatically contact the local fire service or other selected stakeholders to protect your site, including out of hours.
The kind of suppression agent used by the system will vary depending on application.
For example this could include:
- Water – water mist systems use very fine water sprays to control, suppress or extinguish fires. The water mist cools flames and surrounding gasses, displacing oxygen and reducing radiant heat.
- Foam – foam pouring systems or foam deluge systems use a mixture of concentrated foam and water, which expands once released to create an airtight barrier around the fire, cooling the fuel source and extinguishing the flames.
What type of fire suppression system do you need?
Industries that manufacture, process or store materials, such as wood, energy, waste or recycled fuel (RDF or SRF), have a large fire risk. Those relying on the continued operation of vehicles and machinery to process or transport these materials also face further fire risks.
For those industries, having an effective fire suppression system is essential. That system should be specifically designed to protect the individual area and minimise its fire risks. There is no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to fire suppression, but there are certain systems that complement certain areas. For example:
Outdoor areas
If you’re protecting a large outdoor area, understanding what type of fire suppression system will be most effective can be difficult.
These facilities – such as ports, docks or wood processing – are exposed to extreme fire risks, due to 24/7 operation and huge outdoor storage facilities. Any fire suppression solution also needs to account for weather risk – as high-speed winds, coming from ports, for example, can influence how effective the system is in tackling fire.
For outdoor application, automatic fire suppression solutions are often most effective, as they’re fast acting, allowing for quick application to protect valuable assets and enable safe evacuation. Our Automatic Canon Systems offer direct targeting or zoned pre-programmed oscillations of fire suppression agent to protect a large outdoor area from fire with an adjustable nozzle, depending on the requirement.
Indoor storage
With indoor spaces, as well as cannon systems, deluge systems are often very effective where there are obstructions – offering a system of nozzles attached to a piping system. Once a fire is detected, a valve opens, which sprays suppression agent onto the protected area.
Automatic deluge and automatic cannon systems are often used in high-risk industries, such as waste and recycling plants, chemical and power plants and airport hangars. They’re particularly effective in these applications, as they are able to protect large areas, as well as valuable equipment. At Fire Shield Systems, we offer automatic deluge systems, which can be tailored to meet the precise requirements of your individual site.
If you’re looking to protect a smaller area – such as a server room or a specific piece of equipment within a high-risk area of flammable materials – an automatic local application protection system might be right for you. These systems are fixed to protect your valuable assets, with automatic release to save precious time if a fire does occur.
Vehicles and machinery
Many high-risk industries rely on the continued operation of vehicles and machineries to fulfil intense operations schedules. This creates new fire risks, and failure to protect these assets can not only endanger lives, but it can be extremely costly to your business.
To protect vehicles and machinery from fire, the Dafo hybrid foam system detects a fire within a vehicle or machine’s engine compartment, before alerting the driver or operator and releasing a foam that has been specially formulated to suppress engine fires.
Fire suppression in high-risk industries
For high-risk industries, a full fire risk assessment is essential to understand the individual risks, allowing you to select a suppression solution that mitigates these effectively.
Different suppression systems work best in different applications, there is no ‘blanket’ approach to effective fire suppression.
To understand the right fire suppression system for you, get in touch with our specialist team.
Call: 0800 975 5767 or email info@fireshieldsystemsltd.co.uk.
Contact us
Do you own or operate a business that needs fire protection?
Call us today on 0800 975 5767, or fill in our contact form, to speak with a member of our team.