User Manual

6
Siemens Switzerland Ltd
Building Technologies Division
Extinguishing
As these buildings are open to the public they must be equipped with the standard firefighting equipment
designed to suppress incipient fires at the earliest possible stage. An adequate number of hand-held fire
extinguishers must be provided and situated in easily visible locations throughout the building. For general
purposes the recommended type is the foam extinguisher, which is suitable for the majority of fires that can be
expected in such environments, prevents re-ignition and is easy to use.
Water hose reels should also be provided to prevent a fire getting out of control. These are easy to use for
untrained persons and have the advantage of a continuous supply of water, in contrast to the hand-held
extinguishers which may soon be empty. At such a stage, limiting the spread of the fire becomes more important
than the preservation of the objects or local room décor. The damage caused by a raging fire can be devastating.
Modern, purpose built museums and libraries will generally be equipped with an automatic sprinkler system,
however, in many cases it would also be possible to install such a system to provide partial cover in historical
buildings.
In small historical buildings the presence of an adequate number of strategically placed fire extinguishers may be
sufficient; however in larger museums water hose reels and partial coverage with a sprinkler system are strongly
recommended.
Large historical buildings and museums may also contain areas requiring special attention and special solutions.
Such areas include archives, electrical plant rooms and kitchens and an optimal solution can be provided for each
of these applications.
Archives An ASD system ensures the earliest possible fire detection and can be programmed to
activate a gas/water combined extinguishing system. This combination has proved to be an
ideal solution for archive applications. The nitrogen gas effectively extinguishes the fire,
while the fine water mist cools the stored objects to below the flash point and prevents re-
ignition.
Kitchens Commercial kitchens present a very serious fire hazard, with the added danger that fire may
spread through the kitchen’s own air extraction system to the rest of the building. The
critical areas (e.g. cooking range, deep fat fryers, ovens and air extraction system) should be
protected by specially designed extinguishing systems. Wet chemical fire extinguishers
(Class F) should also be provided.
Plant rooms A gas extinguishing system can provide efficient fire protection for electrical and electronic
installations in plant rooms. Any fire will be extinguished immediately, no residues will be
left behind and fire damage can be restricted to an individual piece of equipment.
In all cases, regular service and maintenance are indispensable to ensure that the extinguishing systems and fire
extinguishers are in perfect working order whenever they need to be used in an emergency situation.