FIRE FIGHTING PROVISION IN HARAIYA SEZ MASTER PLAN

Introduction

Fire safety imposes every aspect of human behavior. The term fire safety refers to fire
prevention, limiting the spread of fire and smoke, extinguishing the fire and the chance of quick
and safe exit. Fire safety is the reduction of the potential harm to life as a result of fire in
particular area. The industrial village is one of the most fire hazardous areas due to different
types of industrial buildings, high hazard chemicals storage, and high volume of fuels storage and
high level of electricity consumption.

Therefore fire protection system must be taken into consideration while establishing the
industrial village. Due to life safety concern, firefighting provision must not be compromised in
any case.

One of the methods for extinguishing fire in industrial area is by providing external hydrant
systems. Fire hydrant systems consist of suitable capacity reservoirs, arrangements to impart
pressure to the water, means to convey the water to various locations and suitable water outlets at
the required locations. In order that such system could function efficiently, it will be necessary to
give guidance for the provision, installation, inspection and maintenance of this system.
This firefighting provision covers minimum requirements of firefighting system in industrial
village.

Provision of firefighting provision by Nepal National Building Code

As per Nepal National Building code, NBC 208 : 2003 “SANITARY AND PLUMBING
DESIGN REQUIREMENTS” have made Fire Fighting Provision on clause 4, as listed below;
 For water supply for wet riser system a storage tank should be available with arrangement
for replenishment of water supply through public supply mains or by an alternate source
of supply at the rate of about 1000 ltr/minute.
 Where this is not possible the capacity of the static tank will have to be increased. The
storage should last for 90-120 minutes at a nominal pumping rate of 2400 ltr/minute.
Storage available from swimming pools, ornamental pools are considered as
supplementary and are not acceptable as replacement for fire storage tank.
 The minimum capacity of fire tank should be capacity of 100000 liters for storage of
hazardous building (In industrial village case)
  The flow rate for fire hydrant system recommended as 2400LPM at pressure not less than
0.3 N/mm.sq. at the farthest point of hydrant system.
 The minimum size of main is recommended as 100mm diameter.
 The storage last should be 90 to 120 minutes at nominal pumping rate of 2400LPM.

Considering the provision of Nepal National Building code and other relevant firefighting codes,
the minimum firefighting provision is recommended in Industrial Village that is Water Based
Fire Fighting External Hydrant System
Water is the cheapest firefighting means of firefighting system and easily available in all regions.
Pressurized pumping system is attached with water source to make readily available during
emergency situation.
There are four basic components of External Hydrant fire protection system in industrial village
are;

a) Water Reservoir for fire fighting

b) Fire Fighting Pumps
c) Mains
d) Fire hydrants

Water Reservoir for firefighting:

The water reservoirs to feed the fire hydrant system should be provided underground, at
Ground level or at higher level. The capacity of water reservoir is 100 cubic meter as per Nepal
national building code 208. The fire reservoir tank should be modular tank, and made of
increments of 1.2mm Color Bond and  Zincallume High Tensile Steel Sheet coated with Cream
color, which are CNC Punched  and CNC rolled and bolted together to form the tank shell. This
shell is then anchored to the ring beam with bolt chairs and Hilti chemical anchor fasteners. The
tank is light in weight, having more than 50 years of life span, and Installed only in 10 working
days.

Fire Fighting Pumps:

Firefighting pumps are designed to maintain the required pressure in the hydrant system.
The static firefighting pumps shall conform to the requirements given in Indian Standard IS
12469: 1988. As per Nepal National Building code 208, the capacity of pumps should be able to
supply 2400LPM at minimum pressure of 3kg per centimeter square at farthest point of yard
hydrant. The Fire pump should be Skid mounting type packaged system.
Mains:
As per Nepal National Building code 208, the minimum size of the pipe is 100mm diameter for
Hydrant system. The firefighting mains should be Seamless, ASTM Grade-B of schedule 40.
Underground mains should be laid not less than 1 m below ground level, where soil conditions
are unsatisfactory, masonry or equal supports should be provided at regular intervals. When
located near buildings, the main should be at least 2 m. away from the face of the building. The
size of main should depend on the output and pressure requirements and the total number of
hydrants to be installed on a single system. However, the minimum size of mains should be not
less than 100 mm.
Adequate number of sluice valves distributed according to the general layout of the installation
should be provided for the purpose of isolating any portion of the installation for purposes of
repairs, etc.
The mains should not be laid under buildings, large open storages and roads carrying very heavy
traffic as far as possible. Firefighting mains should not be utilized for any other purpose.

Fire hydrants
Fire hydrants, namely, stand post type, conforming to IS 908:1975 should be provided.
For use in industrial establishment, only stand post type hydrants should be provided.
Normally, the hydrants should be provided at intervals of 100 meter but this distance may be
suitably increased or decreased depending on the risk in the area desired to be protected.
Hydrants should be located at a distance of not less than 2 meter from the face of the buildings.
This distance may suitably be increased up to maximum 15 m where hydrants are installed to
protect hazardous storages or processes so that the hydrants remain approachable and workable
even in the case of a serious fire. All hydrants should be readily accessible to the fire appliances
and for firefighting operations.
In case of industries having their own fire brigades, the hydrant accessories should be provided
centrally on each of the fire appliance and at the fire station. However, in the case of industries
which do not have their own brigade or where it is intended that the trained workers will engage
in interim firefighting, the appropriate essential accessories should be provided near each hydrant
point in hydrant boxes of adequate size. In such cases, delivery hoses should be provided at the
scale of two, 63 mm hoses generally conforming to type A of IS 036 : 1988, duly bound with
instantaneous couplings in 15 m lengths and one branch pipe duly fitted with a nozzle (preferably
universal branch conforming to IS 2871 : 1983). The key and, other accessories should be
provided according to the peculiar needs of each system.