1. Fire Suppression for your IT Solution
Presented by Alex Knost

2. Contents Drawbacks of Traditional Sprinklers
Photographs of examples
Alternatives to Sprinklers
Final Thoughts

3. Part I: Why Not Traditional Sprinklers?
Sprinklers use water
A lot of water (15-40 gpm)
Firefighters use even more water when they arrive
A typical fire engine can pump gpm
Water and building materials don’t mix
Water and IT hardware don’t mix either.

4. Water in Action: Blacksburg Middle School
March 14, 2016: Thunderstorm in Blacksburg
Lightning strike on roof at BMS
Roof ignited, prompting massive response
Water Damage forced closure of several classrooms

5. Photographs taken June 2016.
Left: A tarp covers the portion of the roof that firefighters had to cut away to access and extinguish the roof fire
Right: Classrooms 8A6 and 8A7 nearly devoid of ceiling tiles that were removed due to water damage

6. A tarp hangs from the drop ceiling in classrooms 8A5 and 8A6

7. Part II: Alternatives to Water Systems
Inert Gas
Clean Agents

8. Inert Gas Systems
Gases that displace oxygen are discharged into the room
Oxygen level reduced
Normally ~21%
Reduces to 11% - 15%
Typically use Nitrogen or Argon

9. Clean Agent System Uses carbon dioxide or other chemicals
Often safe for occupied spaces
Many do not leave residue or damage equipment
Pictured right: Diagram of Kidde FM-200 installation
Image source:

10. Stat-X Animated Demo

11. Part III: Final Thoughts
Consult with your fire department
Entry Plan – how will firefighters get into the building/room?
Ensure compliance with other codes
Close the Door!
Keep doors closed when possible
Closed doors inhibit spread of fire/smoke
Saves Lives
Protects Property
See Close the Door! A Civilian’s Guide to Saving Lives and Property on my website for further information
URL for website on last slide of this presentation

12. Final Thoughts (cont) – Fire Drills Save Lives!
Planning an office fire drill
Consult with your fire department
Is your Fire Alarm system monitored?
Executing an office fire drill
Time the evacuation
Following up
Have a security camera system? Review the footage after the drill to identify and correct mistakes.
Fire alarm systems, like security systems, can be monitored by a subscription-based service. When a monitored fire alarm system is activated, an alarm signal will be sent to the monitoring center. An operator at the monitoring center will dispatch the fire, rescue, and police resources deemed necessary. To prevent unnecessary dispatch of emergency services, learn how to notify your monitoring service of a drill so that they place your system into “testing mode”, and then to resume normal monitoring after the drill is concluded. Also learn how to report a false and unplanned alarm to your monitoring service in order to prevent unnecessary dispatch of emergency services.
Evacuation time – elapsed time between time that the fire alarm system is activated and the time at which the last occupant leaves the building

13. Visit radford.edu/aknost /fire_suppression for links to references