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Introduction
Buildings are places where people permanently reside for one reason or another. Most structures have been in use for many years and provide general facilities for people to live and work. During this long period, structures are exposed to several natural and artificial hazards that can cause minor or major damage to the building and disrupt construction activities. Such destruction or disruption of work in the case of danger can jeopardize the lives of residents and result in considerable financial losses, both direct and indirect. A fire risk in various spaces is the possibility of a fire-threatening life, structural safety, and building property (Masoumi et al., 2019). With the rapid development worldwide, fire hazards in buildings have undergone significant changes in severity and versatility and have become most relevant in recent years.
Fire protection can be described as a combination of prevention practices, managing the increase and consequences of accidents or intentional fires, and maintaining losses at an appropriate rate. At present, fire safety in structures is provided by regulations as recommended by construction standards and codes. In the prescriptive approach, building fire safety is provided by active and passive fire protection systems. Active building protection systems are designed to save property and people directly during a fire. Passive systems are designed to prevent fires. They are primarily intended to provide sufficient time to carry out fire and rescue operations and to minimize monetary losses.
More and more often, there are reports in the media about fires in shopping malls and businesses, most of which are accompanied by loss of life and significant property damage. Hence, fire safety at trade enterprises is relevant today. Complying with building fire safety requires developing an evacuation plan and verifying automatic fire extinguishing systems and manual fire extinguishing equipment, which should be available on-site. Today, fire safety in enterprises is carried out by using automatic fire alarms and fire fighting installations, which quickly and accurately identify the location of the fire, timely notify people to organize an evacuation, localize the seat of the fire and prevent its further fire alarm systems that quickly and accurately locate fires and provide timely notification of evacuation. Fire control systems are a combination of technical means installed behind the protected object, designed to detect, localize and eliminate fire without human intervention, protecting people, material assets, and the environment from the effects of fire hazards. The basic members of the Fire Services System are state government agencies, local authorities, social service institutions, and individuals who provide fire safety based on the countrys legislation.
Often the process of organizing fire safety itself causes many difficulties. Developers need to understand the risks, given the purpose of the building. It is necessary to consider the number of people in the building and their occupations. Each organization has a regulatory document that establishes a fire safety regime, determines and equips places for smoking, determines the places and the allowed amount of raw materials, semi-finished products, and finished products in the premises at the same time, establishes the process of cleaning hot waste and dust, determines the sequence of switching off electrical appliances in case of fire and after working hours, regulates the procedure for temporary fire and other fire hazardous works, the procedure for checking and closing facilities after work is completed.
The activities of people and, in particular, their caution and safety measures influence the possibility of a fire. Employees of enterprises should know and comply with fire safety requirements at work, as well as observe and maintain fire safety regime; take precautions when working with flammable and combustible liquids, other flammable materials and equipment; know the characteristics of the fire hazard used or manufactured substances and materials; in case of fire detection to report it to the fire department and take possible measures to save people, property and fire suppression.
Construction, reconstruction, technical re-equipment of production and other facilities, the introduction of new technologies, and production of fire hazardous products without prior examination of design and other documentation for compliance with fire safety regulations is prohibited. Financing of works for new construction, reconstruction, restoration, an overhaul of buildings and other objects, expansion, and modernization of facilities may be carried out only with a positive conclusion of comprehensive state expertise, which must include a positive expert opinion of the State Fire Supervision Authority as part of a comprehensive state expertise.
Implementing measures to reduce technological production processes fire hazards is necessary to carry out preventive work at enterprises. In order to involve engineering and technical personnel and other employees in the development and implementation of these measures, enterprises create fire-technical commissions, which include: the chief engineer (chairman), head of fire protection of the facility, power engineer, technologist, mechanic, labor protection engineer, and other specialists. The commissions tasks are to identify violations and drawbacks of technological regimes that may lead to fires, develop measures to eliminate them, assist the fire supervision authorities in establishing a strict fire safety regime, and organize mass explanatory work among personnel. Volunteer fire brigades are also created at enterprises to prevent fires in the shops and their working areas and have combat crews equipped with firefighting equipment in case of fires.
The main causes of fires in enterprises are:
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violations of the technological process;
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electrical equipment failure;
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inadequate preparation of equipment for repair;
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spontaneous ignition of oily rags and other materials prone to spontaneous ignition;
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non-compliance with the schedule of the planned schedule, wear and corrosion of equipment;
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failure of stop valves and lack of stoppers on the repaired or preserved devices and pipelines;
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sparks during electric and gas welding works.
During a fire, a complex fire situation is created in the building, which is why it is important to work out complex fire-fighting measures. This complex includes preventive measures and the arrangement of fire extinguishing and explosion protection systems. Fire preventive measures are divided into organizational, technical, regime, and operational. However, the main responsibility lies with the buildings fire safety equipment. Therefore, they must be of high quality and definitely in good working order. Fire services systems are integral to the reliable and safe functioning of any building and should and must be clearly described, as peoples lives depend on them.
The Fire Services System in a Building
Fire services systems are an integral part of business owners operations. Fires can break out in an instant and spread to other facilities and structures in a short period. Businesses that invest in fire protection systems understand their importance. These installations reduce the loss of buildings, structures, expensive equipment, documents, and inventory during a fire. Fire suppression systems, smoke detectors, and sprinkler systems are all components of fire protection that help detect fires and protect people in buildings and equipment (Kodur et al., 2019). Many people die yearly because of malfunctioning fire protection systems or employees lack of safety precautions (Ebekozien et al., 2020). The United States leads in the number of fires, with 1.2 to 1.4 million fires annually (ODell et al., 2019). Modern automatic fire protection systems can independently detect a fire, warn of it, start extinguishing it, and even help people evacuate.
Fire-fighting service system a complex of technical means and organizational measures to prevent the impact of fire hazards on people and limit the material damage from it. The fire maintenance system includes an automatic water fire sprinkler system, indoor fire water pipeline, automatic water fire suppression system, fire warning and escape management system, automatic fire fighting system of kitchen facility, and automatic gas fire extinguishing system. Also, an integral part is an automatic powder fire suppression system, automatic fire alarm system, automation and dispatching of fire extinguishing systems, smoke protection system, fire protection system, and lightning safety system.
Fire protection systems work in different ways, although they have a general mission: to identify fire and defend the structure, its residents, and valuables. One of the main advantages of these systems is that they save money in the long run. If the likelihood of a fire in a business is very high, the company could incur huge losses if a fire occurs. Another advantage of some fire services systems is the automatic dispatch of emergency services. These systems instantly suppress the fire and notify the supervisory authority to summon rescuers to the companys location.
There are certain fire services system requirements, including installation in buildings only by the design documentation, while any deviations from the approved design are unacceptable. The next requirement is the location in the room to promptly detect the seat of fire in any place in the room, alert people, and begin its elimination (Paszkiewicz et al., 2021). It is also mandatory for the design documentation to include measures for the removal of extinguishing agents after the fire has been extinguished. All fire alarm system receivers shall be located in a room with personnel on duty 24 hours daily. Manual fire detectors shall be installed along the evacuation routes in locations accessible for activation after a fire occurs. Automatic fire-extinguishing installations shall be mandatorily provided with a sufficient amount of extinguishing agent, a device for monitoring performance, a device for delaying the supply of extinguishing agents for the time necessary to evacuate people, and a device for manual start. In addition, any fire safety system of the protection facility must be operational around the clock, even if the fire has damaged communications.
Fire and security systems are often integrated into a single complex that performs an expanded range of functions with one common center for signal reception, processing, control of sensors, and sirens. A competent, professional security and fire safety system design is necessary to achieve maximum efficiency. The main task of the security and fire alarm system is to receive, analyze, transmit, and provide the owner with technical means of information about the fact of unauthorized intrusion of unauthorized persons into the protected area or object. The functions of the alarm system:
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provide full continuous control of the guarded object, premises, and territorial space;
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to signal attempted intrusion into the perimeter, physical impact on the outer limits of the area;
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turn on annunciators when necessary;
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to transmit in due time a signal about fire occurrence and its location;
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to respond to false environmental changes as infrequently as possible;
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transmit information in an adapted, simple, understandable way;
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independently diagnose the working condition of the monitoring devices;
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to record attempts of unauthorized access to the security network;
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function autonomously in case of power failure thanks to a backup power supply;
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control the battery charge of wireless controllers;
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to transmit an alarm signal to the central security console, to the duty officers console;
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monitor and timely notify about failures in operation.
The design of security and fire alarm systems is determined by the specifics of the equipment to be used. The effectiveness of this complex depends on the qualified distribution of controllers in the protected area and facility and the degree of coordinated interaction between sensors and the control panel. Determining the source of the alarm plays an important role here. Depending on this, security and fire complexes are divided into the addressable, threshold, addressable and analogous.
Addressable complexes are installed on large and medium-sized objects and territories. They allow pinpointing the place of a dangerous situation (fire, violation of protected borders). Inside, the controllers installed location circuits and signal exchange protocols, so when the device is triggered, it is possible to determine the alarms address accurately. Unaddressed or threshold consists of simple sensors connected to a specific loop. In response, it displays the number of the loop connected to the controller; the location is not defined. They are installed on small objects, inside which it is easier to find the seat of the fire.
Addressable-analog ones are reliable and efficient due to constant information from sensors about environmental conditions (ambient temperature, degree of smoke in the air, and the integrity of the boundaries). The control panel analyzes the incoming signals. A distinctive feature is the constant interaction of sensors with each other, and the control panel allows for detection of malfunctions promptly within the security circuit. Malfunctions are eliminated immediately after detection, so the alarm system always works properly. Another difference is that the percentage of false alarms is minimized because the control panel decides whether to give an alarm. Analysis of information received from all sensors allows for more accurate determination of the state of the protected object, based on which a final decision is made. Installation of high-sensitivity sensors allows the alarm system to be configured for warning signals.
Fire alarm, warning, and evacuation control systems in case of fire should be installed at sites where exposure to fire hazards may result in injury or even death. The safe evacuation of individuals from structures, facilities, and buildings in case of fire are considered provided if the interval of time from the time of detection of the fire to the termination of the evacuation of individuals to a safe area does not exceed the time required to escape people in case of danger.
Fire detection, notification, and evacuation control systems in case of fire shall provide automatic detection of fire within the time required to activate the fire alarm systems to organize the safe evacuation of people in the conditions of a particular facility, taking into account the acceptable fire risk. Automatic fire alarm systems must provide information to the personnel on duty about detecting a failure of communication lines and technical means of warning people about the fire and evacuation management, control of fire services system, and fire extinguishing equipment. Fire detectors and actuators of automated fire suppression and warning systems must be located in the protected area to ensure timely fire detection anywhere in the area. Fire alarm systems shall provide light and sound signals of fire occurrence to the control panel in the room of the personnel on duty or to special remote warning devices.
Application of Fire Services in a Building
The need to install fire protection at any facility and building is not in doubt. The design of the complex should be carried out under the guidance of specialists, as carefully drafted design solutions to allow not to worry about protecting the building from fire. The design is carried out in several stages:
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Analysis of the facility, the study of the features of the interior arrangement of the room or the building as a whole. Careful study of fire loads and resistance to high temperatures.
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Automatic control and dispatching of fire protection complex, considering the analysis of existing rules and regulations.
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Calculations required for the layout of the fire services system.
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Drawing up a scheme and placement of equipment in the drawings.
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Making an explanatory note, cost estimates.
Special attention is paid to measures to ensure fire safety in designing and constructing modern buildings and structures. The measures and development of space-planning solutions include designing technical systems and fire protection means. They include automatic fire extinguishing installations, fire alarm systems and installations, evacuation control and alarm notification systems, smoke protection systems, and fire-fighting water supply systems. Ensuring operability and readiness to perform functions of complex technical systems requires regular technical operations and organizational actions, constituting a set of measures for maintenance and operational and scheduled repair. However, for fire services systems and means, it is necessary to consider the current requirements of regulatory and normative technical documents in the field of fire safety.
In the premises of the control room or fire station and other places where alarm devices and control units are located, instructions on the procedure for actions of duty personnel in case of fire signals or malfunctions in fire alarm systems and automatic fire extinguishing systems should be posted. The control room should have telephone communication, an electric lamp, and natural and emergency lighting. Control rooms, operators rooms of specialized workshops, and fire extinguishing stations should be provided with a diagram of fire alarm and fire extinguishing installations, as well as instructional materials on managing fire extinguishing installations and actions to notify of an accident and fire.
On the control panels of control rooms, on fire automation units, near each control unit, and on switchgear of fire extinguishing systems, signs indicating the protected premises or process equipment should be posted. In the installations of water and foam fire extinguishing, functional diagrams of the harness should also be posted on the control units, the types and number of sprinklers in the section should be indicated on the plates, and the valves and taps should be numbered following the harness scheme. Functional piping diagrams should be posted in pumping automatic fire extinguishing systems.
Receivers, control devices, and stations of fire warning and extinguishing systems should be installed in rooms with round-the-clock duty personnel. In justified cases, it is allowed to install receiving and control devices in rooms without staff on duty, provided that fire notifications are transmitted to the fire station or other premises with a permanent round-the-clock presence of people and ensuring control of communication channels. In this case, measures should be provided to prevent access from unauthorized persons to the receiving and control devices.
The signals from the fire detection and control devices of the fire alarm and automatic fire extinguishing systems shall be displayed on the centralized monitoring desks of the fire protection system. Automatic fire extinguishing systems installed and put into operation must comply with the design documentation and requirements of regulatory and technical documents. Any changes in the design of the system, reconfiguration of protected premises, and other alterations are allowed to be carried out with the consent of the design organization and informing the state fire supervision authorities. Transfer of installations from automatic to manual start is not allowed except in cases specified in regulatory documents.
Manual start devices of automatic fire extinguishing systems shall be sealed, protected from unauthorized activation and mechanical damage, and installed outside the possible combustion zone in an accessible place. Indicating signs inside and outside the premises shall be used to determine their location. It is forbidden to use the pipelines of automatic fire extinguishing systems for hanging or fixing any equipment to connect production equipment and sanitary appliances to the supply pipelines of automatic fire extinguishing systems. It is also impossible to install shut-off valves and flange connections on supply and distribution pipelines.
The premises where control units, pumping stations, and fire extinguishing stations are located must have emergency lighting and be permanently locked. The premises of fire extinguishing and pumping stations should be provided with telephone communication with the control room. Keys to the premises should be with the service and operational personnel. At the entrance to the premises, there should be a board with the inscription: Fire extinguishing station. Premises protected by volumetric fire extinguishing systems should be equipped with self-closing doors. Inside the protected premises, there should be a light signal in the form of an inscription on the light boards and an audible warning signal. A light signal should be installed at the entrance to the protected premises, and an appropriate signal with information about the supply of extinguishing agents should be installed in the room of the duty personnel.
Modular autonomous fire extinguishing systems should be used to protect explosion and fire-free and fire-hazardous premises, the area or volume of which does not exceed the values of the indicators protected area or protected volume of the corresponding installation. As a rule, these installations are operated in rooms with no permanent staff. Premises equipped with modular autonomous fire extinguishing installations may be provided with primary fire extinguishing equipment at 50% of their norms for these premises. Introducing preventive maintenance systems at enterprises can significantly reduce the time to restore the performance of systems and plan the financial costs. Existing trends toward integrating building engineering systems into a single managed complex and, as a consequence, the desire for unification of protocols and communication interfaces do not exclude the fact that each installation or system is unique in structure, composition, and operating conditions. It follows that the list and timing of scheduled maintenance and preventive maintenance, serviceability parameters, and functional readiness of the systems must be determined individually for each installation and complex.
In practice, the accompanying technical documents of the manufacturers of individual products and systems serve as the basis for the operational regulations. In the final instructions, the set of individual measures is supplemented by performance criteria and measures for systems and complexes as a whole, which are determined based on information from the design documentation and the requirements of regulatory documents. In theory, regulations and operating instructions should be compiled and approved even before putting systems into operation jointly by specialists in design, installation, and operating organizations. Organizational and technical measures that are carried out to ensure the quality of the fire services system can be divided into two groups.
The first group consists of scheduled maintenance and preventive maintenance activities. Equipment manufacturers and project developers determine the volume and timing of scheduled activities. At that, works are performed irrespective of the equipments current condition. As for comprehensive tests and checks of performance, their volume and frequency are additionally regulated by the current regulatory and normative technical documents. Operative restorative repair, unlike planned activities, is performed in case of equipment failures and malfunctions. That overhaul and modernization, in which equipment is replaced by analogs having other functional or operational parameters, should be highlighted. Works on major repairs and modernization require the introduction of changes in the executive documentation and in some cases, even the coordination of these changes with the projects developers. The preventive maintenance system is a complex of scheduled maintenance and operational rehabilitation repair. By its content, restoration or preventive maintenance is a complex of operations for dismantling the old and installing and commissioning new equipment.
The fire alarm system is one of the main security systems of a modern building. Its reliable operation depends on the safety of people and the prevention of significant material losses. Therefore, it is important to understand the elements and how the fire alarm system works. The fire alarm system scheme consists of detectors sensors detecting the fire signs in the facility, control, and information-reception panels, which receive and process signals about triggering of sensors, data transmission channels, and notification units devices ensuring notification of people in the facility about the fire. The automatic fire alarm system is arranged so that when any of the sensors trigger the signal via data transfer channels goes to the control panel, which processes the information and sends it to the control computer. At the same time, the sirens are activated, warning people to evacuate.
Detectors are sensors that detect the appearance of various signs of fire. Fire detectors work based on the analysis of these factors. Smoke detectors are mounted on the ceiling because smoke rises and concentrates just below the ceiling in the event of a fire. When smoke appears and accumulates in the space under the ceiling, it penetrates the device housing. This triggers the optical sensor system. The optical system consists of an LED, which generates a beam of light, and a photocell, which produces an electrical impulse when light strikes it. A feature of the design of the optical system is that in the normal state, the beam of light from the LED does not fall on the photocell. If, however, there is smoke in the housing, the light is refracted on its particles, resulting in the photocell being illuminated and generating an electrical impulse.
Smoke detectors are also sensitive to the ingress of water vapor or gasses, which cause the light rays to be refracted. This leads to the false triggering of the fire alarm system. Therefore, such detectors are not installed in showers, bathrooms, kitchens, and other rooms. Also, they are not installed in places for smoking. Installing smoke detectors is advisable where a fire can emit a sufficient amount of smoke from the smoldering insulation of electrical wires, fabrics, and other materials. They are installed in warehouses, laboratories, places of placement of electrical equipment, and industrial plants (Cwikla et al., 2018). Heat detectors are also mounted on the ceiling because the heat generated by combustion rises upwards. The difference between the threshold and integral sensors depends on the operating principle. Threshold detectors react to an increase in ambient temperature above a set limit. Modern devices of this type are built based on replaceable fuse links.
Integral sensors react to the rate of temperature change. Their operation is based on the measurement of the electrical resistance of metals, which depends on their heating temperature. A voltage of a stable value is continuously applied to the terminals of the metal control element of the integral sensor. The measuring device measures the amount of current flowing through the circuit, the value of which depends on the resistance of the metal. When a fire occurs in the control zone of the sensor, it begins to heat. This increases the elements resistance, and the current value decreases. The electronic board measures the speed of its change. It is set to trip when the rate of temperature change exceeds a certain value. This rate of temperature increase is typical for exposure to open fire. When the sensor is triggered, a signal is formed, which is transmitted via communication channels to the receiving module. Integral sensors demonstrate high efficiency in detecting the ignition of petroleum products, flammable liquids, fuels, and combustible solids.
Flame detectors are a sophisticated type of fire detector. They are triggered by open flames or smoldering materials without smoke emission. The basis of such a device is a photocell, triggered when it is exposed to the full range of the optical spectrum or only a certain part. These are rather expensive sensors mainly used in industrial conditions (usually in the oil and gas industry). False alarms from fluorescent lamps, bright sun, welding arcs, and electromagnetic interference of the optical spectrum are typical for cheap devices of this class. False alarm prevention is provided with the help of special filters.
Combined detectors are modern fire detectors that respond to two or three signs of fire at once. Most often, they combine the functions of smoke and heat detectors (two-channel detectors). Some models also have a flame detector function (three-channel detectors). In critical industrial applications, four-channel sensors can also be installed and equipped with a carbon monoxide sensor. Depending on the design and operation of the fire alarm system, combination detectors can be set to activate when any of the signs of fire occurs or only when they simultaneously occur.
The regulations establish the principle of how a fire alarm system should work. According to this principle, in addition to automatic operation, it must be possible to actuate the alarm system manually. For this purpose, manual call points are installed in the facility. A manual call point is an alarm button in a housing with a protective cover. When pressed, the system is triggered, and the signal is transmitted to the alarm panel. The detector is arranged, so it is blocked, and the signal does not stop after releasing the button. The detector can be unblocked only with a special key, which is kept with the employee responsible for fire safety. Equipping the fire alarm system with manual call points allows anyone in the building to sound the alarm when fire signs are detected. This ensures that the system can be triggered even if the mechanical part fails. Panic buttons must be installed in all industrial and public buildings where many people are present. They are mounted on walls at the height of 1.5 m at intervals of no more than 50 m (Ingason & Li, 2019). The data transmission channels connect the fire detectors and the control panel to each other. They are used to transmit signals between them. A signal from a triggered sensor is sent to the control panel, which generates an alarm signal to the dispatcher console. Also, signals between the control panel and all sensors are regularly exchanged to monitor the detectors serviceability.
Data transmission channels are loops formed from wires with copper conductors. They are laid separately from the other cable lines. The wiring must provide the possibility of access to the loop in order to monitor its condition. Technical solutions are also provided to prevent mechanical damage to the line. The control panel is the main part of the fire alarm system, based on a powerful processor. This devic
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