Fire Extinguishers

I had a safety specialist visit the bunker on an informal visit to point out any safety things I need to address.

He found a few that I need to fix.

The first he thing he noticed is that we don't have enough fire extinguishers. I have a few, but there's not enough nor of the proper size (I just put the small size you would use in a shop/house).

Can anyone advise on what size I need and a good place to get them? I found 10 mounting brackets so I'm "assuming" that's how many I need but the brackets were installed years ago so I wonder if the code has changed and I need more.

I'm thinking I need ABC throughout as well as ABCK in the kitchen.

Thoughts?

Since you mentioned "code", call you local inspector if you are going to actually have it inspected, and find out what he says.

Keep in mind, what the written code is what is "interpreted" can be two different things, as well as very by county (that's why it's always a good idea to talk to who is going to do the "interpretation").

If you have the bunker inspected for anything, lot of the guys (inspectors) know each other and I think your place (bunker) will be very unique and I'm sure they will talk to each other.

In our old building and our new place we have a company that we hired to come out, make recomendations of locations etc etc etc. They know that actual code and then they come out once a year to do the annual inspection that is required by our local laws. They don't charge much for the service and then we don't have to worry about it. You situation is totally different and you can monitor them yourself. But maybe the initial visit you could check with one of them type places to give you ideas on where they should be.

murph

Brian check with your code. In my area we have to have a 20# ABC extinguisher at every ingress/egress to our warehouse, plus we have to have no more than a 75' walk to a fire extinguisher. Interesting we do not have to have an extinguisher at the main door to our office but must at each door that connects the office to the warehouse even if they are only 10' away from each other.

Given the low cost of extinguishers it is easy to meet code and not get fined. One thing we did was invite the fire marshall in to do a walk through and ask for recommendations telling him we wanted to comply with the law but didn't know how and simply asked for his help. We later had the entire fire department come through for a tour.

They told us what we needed to comply, they told us a lot of other things they would also like but were not required. We developed a good relationship with the F.D. and now we have them in for an annual inspection. The best part is everything was free.

When we went to buy extinguishers we were able to 'shop' from many sources for the best deals we could get. Many of the services charge more to sell/install their extinguishers and we were able to save some money.

If you check around, you might be able to purchase used extinguishers that have been tested and refilled. New ones are not cheap to say the least, unless you go with the small household ones. Around here, there is usually a local fireman that does the service for a few towns, and they will come on an annual basis, check, and re-certify the extinguishers. We have to have vinyl signs over each extinguisher and they have to have a current tag on them and the seal not broken. If there is a local store that is closing, they will also sell the extinguishers, since they don't care about the next tenant coming in. When the local Bradly's store closed, I was managing the shopping center, and I took all the extinguishers when I knew the building was going to be demolished and a new one built on the site. The few that I left, disappeared the day that the wrecking crew arrived! I gave away most of them, and have a few in the house and garage. Most are date coded 1991 and will need to be hydro tested before they can be certified again. For some reason, the ones that I put into our store are also date coded 1991, but since they have been certified every year, they have never been hydro-tested since manufacture.

Thanks guys.

We're going to get the Fire Marshall out to take a look. From the sounds of your posts, I may need changes. The current fire extinguisher locations may no longer be appropriate since the areas are now empty. When it was loaded, the locations made sense probably don't any longer.

How about other fire supression systems?

We have a fire hose system in place but not activated. We have reserve tanks for this system (5000 gallon outside with large pumps & 2000? gallon pressurized inside) but has anyone had to change their water main to a 4" for a sprinkler or fire hose system?

Brian, we were asked to install a large auxilary pump to suppliment the warehouse sprinkler system. The cost was outrageous. Fortunately we were not required to do it. And also the deparment of public works told us that if we intalled the pump that was requested that we pull so much suction through an old water main that we would very likely collapse the main under the road leaving us with no water at all.

You got lucky on that one Bob...

I have to re-read the manuals on the fire supression system but what's making me scratch my head as I sit here at my desk is how much I recall it relies on electricity for it to work. I hope the ele. doesn't fail if there's a fire.
For the 2000 gal pressurized tank, there's a compressor.
For unloading the 5000 gallon tank, there's a pair of 10hp electric motors connected to pumps.

I have to check out the source but I recall it being stated that if there's a fire of any significant size in the bunker, the fireman won't go in anyway. I wonder if I can get by with fire extinguishers only since the only thing I then have to do is get people out. The heck with the contents.

I believe that I have found the system for you...... click here..... then on the right hand side of the page, click on movie.....