I was speaking with an engineer Fren regarding CA fires…he mentioned something that I found interesting. He brought up the fact that all commercial buildings (specifically identified Schools) are required to have sprinklers - these sprinklers once triggered they continue to run until manually turned off. He said the volume of water going through those pipes could have been one of the reasons that water was scarce. Also went on to talk about water reservoirs using pumping stations and if power was cut due to Gov mandate because of high winds- they would flip over to diesel generators. They typically last 24 hours. If you don’t have a dude in a diesel truck refilling these generators they just turn off and no water is pumped. Thoughts?
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When I have worked on commercial buildings in CA, their sprinkler systems were closed circuit. Meaning the water was all in house and pressurized. One time a company working alongside us busted a sprinkler head and the whole system drained out. The fire dept came and refilled and tested the system.
A lot of buildings have fire sprinkler systems. Similar to the fire hydrant system they are only designed to combat a single fire incident at a time. Multiple fires at a single location or single fires at multiple locations would overwhelm the systems and prevent fire suppression (note I said suppression and not extinguishment).
An easy way to find out if this was a contributing factor would be to FOIA fire department records. A water flow alarm would sound upon sprinkler activation and send a signal to the alarm company and then sends the signal to the fire department. These are specific alarms on the alarm panel so they are easy differentiate from other alarms or 911 calls.
People forget, fire suppression uses a lot of water and water pressure. Like you said, a single fire or maybe a few big buildings near one another would likely start to stress the system... An entire street or city and you're SoL.
Source: Maui resident.
It could definitely have an impact, especially have you had a bunch of buildings in it number of areas all running their sprinkler systems at once. But please note that the valves are designed to be heat sensitive and the only open where there is a fire, although I would imagine if the building is burning down from the outside, the firewood progress through the building, anyway and affected different zones.
Often these sprinkler systems are run by dedicated diesel generators and pumps in the basement. Does he even have extra tanks to ensure that the system remains pressurized by the buildings water supply. The jury is still out as to what the water supply was doing during the fires as far as I know
The investigation into this is going to be during the Trump Administration- no mo’ money for you if fuckery is found
They claimed leaking water heaters, etc. from burned buildings wereto blame for low pressure. Seems there should be an off valve in place every so often to stop water flow to damaged areas like sprinkler systems in your yard. If one section gets burned up you can shut the water off to the houses. (Maybe have a different pipe for the hydrants?)
Each house has a water meter and a shut off valve so the house can be isolated from the distribution system. Locating the valve and the tool to shut it off is another story.
We have an evil and incompetent government. We can go to the moon (cough) but we can't figure out how to sustain water and water flow? Totally on purpose. IMO Engineers are too smart to see the big picture. That opinion comes from 45 years if working with them.
If those "engineers" can't see big picture they are not engineers at all. They were only educated and have diploma.
"Engineers are too smart to see the big picture" Yep !
It's also worth noting that the State of California requires automatic fire sprinklers in all newly constructed homes. But maybe these sprinklers don't give any real protection when the fire is started on the home's exterior.
Yes, when sprinklers trip, you have to use the shut-off valve to get them to stop and then each sprinkler head has to be manually serviced to allow it to hold water again. There's basically a little stick on each sprinkler head that holds it shut, and it's designed to melt at low temperature to trigger and once one goes, the others are meant to pop-out due to the sudden drop in pressure. This is why hotels have those signs warning you not to put clothing hangers on the sprinkler heads in your room. If you bump the stick you'll trigger the system and make a mess.
Excellent, thanks
If building occupancy is over a certain amount and/or public (varies) sprinklers are required. Only sprinklers in the fire room/area will be activated. Yes, they will run until manually disabled. The volume of water one sprinkler will put out is surprisingly low. Generally 30gmp or less depending on application. There are many variables though.
I can not speak to reservoirs and pumping. That is not something I have in my area.
Noice, thanks