Fire Places?

Fire place installations and safety standards are regulated by the building codes, both IRC for residential occupancies as well as the IBC code standards for commercial installations.  If you have questions concerning a fire place, the building department is the appropriate city department to inquire.

Paint Booths?

The fire codes prohibit spray painting on a regular or repeated bases regardless of how much or the size of the area to be painted unless in a spray booth.  Any one time that an area greater than 9 square ft. is proposed to be painted, this also would require a paint booth.  Paint booth standards are found in both the State Adopted NFPA 33 and the City Adopted IFC Chapter 24.

Explosion Proof Electrical Wiring inside the booth

Appropriate Ventilation / Exhaust fans w/filters

Smooth cleanable surfaces

Extinguishing system or sprinklered

High Piled Storage?

Many factors go in to determining if stored items are high piled.  Typically, high piled storage is considered high piled if it is a normal combustible material and it is stored 12' or higher.  This storage, in general, as well as more hazardous materials of lower heights are to be protected by sprinkler systems.

When do I need to sprinkler my building?

Sprinkler systems for buildings are not always required, but always recommended.  Sprinkler Systems are required based upon certain factors:

What is the building made out of? (Construction Type)

How big is the building? (Fire Area)

How will the building be used? (Occupancy Type) 

In general, an existing building, having already been approved for occupancy in the past, will not need a sprinkler system in the future unless one of the three factors above are changed. 

Fire Extinguishers?

You need one.  Typically 2A10BC for normal situations within 75 ft of travel distance within a building.  Call the fire department if you are not sure.

How do Fire Sprinkler Systems Work?

There are a number of sprinkler systems, but two basic or common ones.  Wet systems and Dry systems.  The difference between a wet system and dry system is that the pipes used are either full of water and ready to discharge water if a sprinkler head opens (wet), or there is no water in the pipes and a valve is opened to allow water into the pipes if a sprinkler head is opened (dry).

WET systems have less maintenance and require less "moving" parts.  The main disadvantage of the faster delivering wet system is that it must be installed in a heated building and cannot be installed in unheated attics, etc. due to freezing.

DRY systems require special valves and air compressors to maintain air pressure on the dry pipe area at all times.  They are popular in buildings and areas not heated.  Often times a combination of wet and dry systems are used.

Does an alarm pull box set off the Sprinkler System like in the movies?

NO!

Can an alarm system set off sprinkler systems by mistake?

In the rare installation of a deluge type system initiated by an alarm, it could happen theoretically.

If one sprinkler head opens, do all the rest open automatically, like in the movies?

              NO!  Each head is equipped to only open at a certain "high" temperature.  There is no other initiation device .