Fire codes

Eire Hazard Properties ofElammahle Eiquids, Gases, and Volatile Solids, Keport 325M-1984, National Fire Codes, Vol. 8, National Fire Protection Association, Batterymarch Park, Quincy, Mass. 

National Eire Protection Association 470 Adantic Avenue Boston, Mass. 02210 National Fire Codes, 1987 ed., issued in 11 volumes. One volume is devoted exclusively to ha2ardous chemicals, but most other volumes have some coverage of material ha2ards, use of materials in fine prevention or extinguishing, ha2ards in chemical processing, etc. More than 200 standards are described. 

Fire Codes, Vols. 1—16, National Fire Protection Association, Boston, Mass., annual. 

Wood Shingles and Shakes. Early roofs in the United States were primarily hand-spHt hickory or cypress shakes. The natural beauty and style of these materials make them popular. Fire-retardant treatment and underlays may be needed to meet local fire codes. Wood shingles are sawn cedar having a uniform thickness. Wood shakes are usually hand-spHt and resawn. 

In the fire codes, the atmospheric boiling point is an important physical property used to classify the degree of hazardousness of a Hquid. If a mixture of Hquids is heated, it starts to bod at some temperature but continues to rise ia temperature over a boiling temperature range. Because the mixture does not have a definite boiling poiat, the NFPA fire codes define a comparable value of boiling poiat for the purposes of classifying Hquids. For petroleum mixture, it is based on the 10% poiat of a distillation performed ia accordance with ASTM D86, Standard Method of Test for Distillation of Petroleum Products. 

Vaulted. Vaulted tanks are installed inside a concrete vault. The vault, itself a Hquid-tight compartment, reduces the fire protection requirements as the NFPA and the International Fire Code Institute (IFCI) recognize these tanks as fire-resistant aboveground storage tanks. The vault provides a two-hour fire wall, thermal protection that minimizes tank breathing losses and pollution, secondary containment, and baUistic protection. 

National Fire Codes N Compilation o/NFPA Codes, Standards, Kecommended Practices, Manuals, and Guides, Vol. II, National Fire Protection Association, Md., 1987. 

Volume 1 of National Fire Codes (National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, Massachusetts) contains recommendations (Code 30) for venting, drainage, and dike construction of tanks for flammable liquids. 

An annual publication. National Fire Codes for the Prevention of Lkist Explosions, is available from the National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, Massachusetts, and should be of interest to those handling hazardous powders. 

The issues in these evaluations are safety as related to toxicity and flammability, environmental impact as related to the generation of volatile organic compounds and global warming, product performance as related to insulating properties, conformity to fire codes, and the like, cost and availability, and regulatory requirements. 

Replacement air must be able to flow freely into the area from which the exhaust air is being drawn. It may be necessary to add door or wall louvers in order to provide a path for the make-up air. (Make sure that this action does not violate fire codes.)... 

Miller, H. and H. Emmons, 1981, Documentation for CFCV, the Fifth Harvard Computer Fire Code, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, October. 

Gas storage cabinet use may be required by local, state, or national codes. These codes vary by location and the designer or user of the cabinet is referred to these codes for further information. One source of building code information in the U.S. is the Uniform Building Code and the Uniform Fire Code. ... 

The Uniform Fire Code requires that pyrophoric, flammable, or highly toxic gases be within ventilated gas cabinets, laboratory fume hoods, or exhausted enclosures. ... 

Uniform Fire Code. Whitter, CA International Conference of Building Officials, 1994... 

Before performing any inspection or maintenance on a flame arrester, the associated process eqnipment and piping shonld be taken ont of service or isolated. The work area mnst be proven by test to be free of any harmfnl gases or vapors. It shonld also be verified that all piping is clean and free of obstrnctions and debris. All plant, company, local, state, and federal safety and fire codes and standards shonld be followed. 

Revision of Safety and Fire Codes for buildings and other structures. 

Finely divided aluminium powder or dust forms highly explosive dispersions in air [1], and all aspects of prevention of aluminium dust explosions are covered in 2 recent US National Fire Codes [2], The effects on ignition properties of impurities introduced by recycled metal used to prepare dust were studied [3], Pyrophoricity is eliminated by surface coating aluminium powder with polystyrene [4], Explosion hazards involved in arc and flame spraying of the powder are analysed and discussed [5], and the effect of surface oxide layers on flammability was studied [6], The causes of a severe explosion in 1983 in a plant producing fine aluminium powder are analysed, and improvements in safety practices discussed... 

All aspects of prevention of magnesium (and aluminium) dust explosions in storage, handling or processing operations are covered in two recent US National Fire Codes [1]. Effects of various parameters on ignition of magnesium powders were studied [2], Maximum explosion pressures of 7.9 bar, with maximum rate of rise of 884 bar/s have been recorded [3],... 

The US fire code covers installation and use of gaseous oxygen-fuel gas systems for welding and cutting, for the thermodynamically unstable fuels acetylene, MAPP (methylacetylene-allene-propene-propane mixtures), and the stable hydrocarbons propane or butane. 

The recent US National Fire Code covers all aspects of equipment, installation and safe operational practices necessary for bulk oxygen storage at consumer sites. 

The new US National Fire Code covers the precautions necessary to prevent fires or explosions during crushing of the solid, or during handling of the molten element. 

At present, there is no one computer fire code sufficiently comprehensive to compute this fire, including the people s response. In fact, no combination of present codes can solve this problem with the required engineering accuracy. To get an approximate illustrative solution to this case, a number of different computer fire codes must be used in succession and hand fit data transferred from one to the next. The computer programs used to make this (low accuracy) prediction and some of their often severe limitations will be indicated. 

Figure 2. The rate of heat release, Mw, predicted for the fire room by computer fire code FIRST. The resultant heat release consists of contributions from an upholstered chair, a bed, and a dresser. These latter two show severe burning limitations by the limited oxygen supply.

The illustrative examples could be produced only by using both fire dynamics and human factor information, which contains many crude approximations to the real world and omits completely many important effects. However, it is clear that real progress is being made toward attaining a sufficiently accurate predictive understanding of fire and its consequences so that a performance code can eventually be attained. The computer fire codes need to be made more comprehensive. There needs to be a mechanism set up to evaluate the validity of computer fire codes for use with a legal performance code, just as is done with all other legal codes. 

As soon as a really Comprehensive Computer Fire Code, including human reactions and hazard effects, is available, we will be able to obtain toxicity data for humans. Every fire in which there are deaths is a toxicity test run with no control. Surely, of the 6000 or so such fires in the U.S. every year, a few hundred will be in sufficiently well-defined conditions that a comprehensive fire code will be able to predict where the bodies should be found. If the bodies are not found where expected, the rat data can be modified appropriately. 

Mitler, H.E., "The Physical Bases for the Harvard Computer Fire Code", Division of Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Home Fire Project Technical Report No. 34, Oct. 1978. 

According to fire code, propane storage tanks cannot be closer than 10 ft from a house. This requirement is designed to prevent flammable vapors from entering the house, not to protect the house from a potential explosion. 

Actually, fire pumps are usually designed with discharge pressures of 100-125 psig so that the hose and monitor nozzle streams will have an effective reach. In addition, the size of the monitor is governed by requirements in the fire codes.15... 

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