We did a fireworks retail/storage facility last year and did extensive research into protection levels. Unless you treat it with 50 millisecond ultra-high speed SH nozzles, and I can guarantee your customer isn't paying $2.5m for it, it's just OH2 mercantile- pretty much the same in the back where they limited storage to (I think) 8'.
The sprinkler protection is designed to prevent a fire starting in other than the fireworks from ever reaching the fireworks. If the stuff goes, yup- it goes. I recall a comment from a learned source that remarked ESFR at 12' high wouldn't douse it. Just as a little something extra, we used QR's, installed close to the deck, and kept it to 100 sf/head. It certainly didn't add much to the (guess) 10,000 sf building, and if we ever ended up in court, we could say we exceeded code minimums, took reasonable precautions, and the next step wasn't "reasonable", spending a million on quasi-governmental SH when your competitor's infrastructure cost is a tent. Since this was a remote location, they already had the cost of a tank and pump in this small building. The fireworks industry trade association is who recommended OH2 in their guidelines, and that's all you'll find in #13- mercantile. We furnished the info we collected to the AHJ (in this case, a knowledgeable and reasonable man!) and he verified and accepted it. If your firm inspects the building, or if you are in there when product is present, I offer two pieces of advice: 1. Don't park adjacent to the building, walk a little ways. 2. If you hear SSShhhhhhhhhhh, RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN TO THE NEAREST EXIT. Some of the reports of fires we read were scary- people having less than 30 seconds to get out, maybe it was 90 seconds. Didn't matter. RUN Let me know if you need more info for your AHJ, we could dig it up. glc -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2007 12:56 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Fireworks Found this article on the web. Does not give the answer but it sure makes it seem that OH2 may be a little light. David Bryan http://www.nfpa.org/assets/files/PDF/Journal0902fireworksstorage.PDF -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [email protected] Sent: Tue, 10 Apr 2007 12:44 PM Subject: Fireworks I thought this had been discussed sometime in the past, but couldn't find anything in the archives. How do you design a sprinkler system for a small building that's used for retail sales of Class C (1.4G) consumer fireworks? The contractor is telling me OH II, but I'm not finding anything in NFPA or IFC to back that up. Help? Ed Kramer Littleton, CO _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) ________________________________________________________________________ AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at AOL.com. _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field)
